A special book at a great price – only until June 13.
With more than 16,000 new books headed our way during the next month, we are making space at our Covington warehouse to keep us from storing books in our cars and under our beds.
So for the next 30 days we are offering “James Krenov: Leave Fingerprints” by Brendan Gaffney at a significant savings – $29, down from $49. This book is simply the best woodworking biography I’ve ever read.
Brendan spent years piecing together the story of Krenov’s movie-ready life, from the wilds of Russia, to halfway around the world in Sweden to Mendocino, California. That’s where Krenov founded the famous woodworking school that bears his name.
Before becoming a woodworker, Krenov’s life was spent doing everything from working in a factory to writing a travel guide. He picked up the tools later in life and quickly became one of the most skilled and thoughtful craftsmen alive.
His first three books inspired many of the woodworkers of the late 20th century to pick up the tools and work to a very high level. Krenov changed the trajectory of the craft for the better.
But his life could be a struggle at times, even when he was the driving force behind the College of the Redwoods (now the Krenov School of Fine Furniture). Gaffney, a graduate of the school, paints a balanced and nuanced view of Krenov. And he tells the story with hundreds of archival photos, maps and documents.
This is an excellent price on an outstanding book.
I just finished up a stick chair inspired by old Welsh ones I study. This chair’s stretchers are particularly low and oval in cross section. The armbow is rounded throughout (using spokeshaves) and features elliptical coves on the ends of its shoe. Plus the stick arrangement is quite Welsh, with negative space between the short sticks and the long ones.
The chair is suited for lounging, with a slouchy 22° lean to the back sticks and a seat that’s tilted an additional 5° back. The comb is positioned just 10-3/4” above the arm to support the sitter’s shoulders as they lean into the back.
The chair’s seat and arm are red elm, which resists splitting, with the rest of the chair in straight-grained red oak, which is flexible and strong. All the joints are assembled with hide glue, which we make here, and are wedged for durability.
Slightly proud and burnished tenons.
The chair is finished with a soft wax (also made here). It offers a low luster and looks better the more you use the chair. The finish isn’t terribly durable, but it is easily repaired (just add more soft wax). The front legs have painted “socks” on the feet. This is a traditional touch that protects the feet from scuffs and knocks (and looks good).
Compact and comfortable.
How to Buy the Chair
The chair is $1,700. That price includes shipping and crating to anywhere in the lower 48. If you wish to buy the chair, send an email to lapdrawing@lostartpress.com before 3 p.m. (Eastern) on Friday, May 16. Please use the subject line: “Elm chair.” In the email please include your:
U.S. shipping address
Daytime phone number (this is for the trucking quote only)
If you are the “winner,” the chair will be shipped to your door. The price includes the crate and all shipping charges. Alternatively, the chair can be picked up at our storefront. (I’m sorry but the chair cannot be shipped outside the U.S.)
My chairmaking efforts have been slowed this year by writing projects (“Build a Chair from Bulls%$t” and the revised edition of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest”). But coming up I have a low Irish chair and a new chair design that is struggling to be born.
The spruce soundboard of the harpsichord built by John Brown, with wildflowers painted by Richard Platt.
Most of the readers on this blog know John Brown as a chairmaker and writer. But as I have gotten to know his family and friends, I’ve learned he was much more. I knew JB was a boatbuilder, and his cuttyhunks still fetch good money. He was also a jet pilot, a fine art painter and a man of letters. But I didn’t know that he ever built musical instruments. One of JB’s sons has to part with a harpsichord made by the late John Brown. If you are interested in Baroque-era instruments, please read on.
— Christopher Schwarz
Here’s a unique opportunity to own a harpsichord made by the great John Brown, decorated with British wildflowers by renowned artist and musicologist Richard Swaby Platt, a great friend of JB. Though JB was of course best known as a chairmaker, magazine columnist and author of the seminal book “Welsh Stick Chairs,” he built other things, too – including this Flemish-style harpsichord, which started out as a kit from harpsichord revolutionary Wolfgang Zuckermann (though JB made it his own).
The instrument is currently owned by JB’s son Ieuan Einion, a writer and musician who lives in France. “I don’t really want to part with it because of its sentimental value to me but I’m running out of space (it is one of seven keyboard instruments I have, including three harpsichords),” writes Ieuan. “I would be happy for it to go to someone who appreciated JB’s work and philosophy, and wanted part of his history; a serious musician who wanted a light, easily transportable instrument might be better advised to look elsewhere.”
I asked Ieuan to describe the instrument, as I know little about this form. “JB’s harpsichord was built from the kit that WZ produced after his move to England, not using the sides provided by Zuckermann, but replacing them with solid teak on the straight sides (15m thick) and laminated teak on the bent side (2 X 7mm glued). This has the effect of turning an Italian harpsichord into more like a Flemish one,” he writes. “Italian harpsichords were extremely light and were fitted into a heavier outside case from which they could be removed. The single most important development in Flemish instruments was that the soundboard was joined to the outer case.”
The teak, which had been destined for high-end boatbuilding, adds some heft; the JB harpsichord weighs 40-45kg, Ieuan estimates. It is 86 cm wide, 22 cm deep and 190 cm long.
“There are 54 keys BB – e” – with brown naturals (cherry?) and black accidentals (ebony or grenadilla?). It has two sets of strings (referred to as 2 x 8′), which can be engaged independently or together, and a lute stop. It can be tuned to A = 415 hz or A = 440 hz.”
“Zuckermann’s great achievement was making a hitherto specialist instrument into a project achievable by the home builder, which is probably what attracted JB to it, accompanied by his love of baroque music,” writes Ieuan. “We played one of JB’s favourite works, the Telemann viola concerto with the family band at his memorial event in 2008.
“The JB harpsichord has not been played since the 1990s and will require a good service from someone who knows what they’re doing, mostly fine tuning and replacing where necessary the plectra, checking the dampers etc (maybe two-three days work for someone who knows what they’re doing).”
Ieuan is asking U.S.$20,000. Interested parties, please click here to send him an email.
Editor’s note: Last month we launched our Mind Upon Mind series, a nod to a 1937 Chips from the Chisel column (also featured in “Honest Labour: The Charles H. Hayward Years”), in which Hayward wrote, “The influence of mind upon mind is extraordinary.” The idea being there’s often room for improvement. (You can read the entire Chips from the Chisel column here.)
To that end, we asked you: What else have you thought of, tried out and improved upon?
We’ve received some great submissions from LAP readers who have built projects from our books and had ideas on improving the design, construction or finishing of a project.
Here’s one of our favorites, from John R. Brauer in Lisle, Illinois.
Leveling Legs
I don’t have the budget for a Fat Boy scribing tool, but I have a sliding bevel. I bent a machine bolt, cut the head off and used a wing nut to attach a pencil (wrapped with paper tape for friction). Adjust to height and tighten.
Do you have a clever idea for an improvement? Email kara@lostartpress.com. You can read more about the submission process here.
Signed by the author, Christopher Schwarz. The first 500 customers get a free merit badge.
Our latest book.
The latest book from Lost Art Press shows you how to build a comfortable and sturdy chair using only materials and tools from the home center. No jigs. No specialty tools. Literally anyone can do it.
If that’s all you need to know, you can buy the book in our store here. It’s $21 and is made in the USA. (Or you can buy the complete set of our pocket-sized books – including this one – at a special price here.)
One of the seven chairs I built while writing the book.
Still unsure? Here’s how we did it. The chair’s legs are made from hickory tool handles. The spindles are 5/8” dowels. The arm is plywood and the seat and backrest are construction pine. Most of the cutting is done with a jigsaw or small tabletop band saw. All the mortises are made with a drill and home-center bits.
What about all the compound angles? Isn’t that difficult? Nope. We developed a way to drill all the mortises for the sticks with ease. You just clamp the arm and seat together like a sandwich and drill the mortises according to the patterns. (You can download free full-size patterns for the chair via this link.)
“Build a Chair from Bulls%$t” is short – just 112 pages, written by me and fully illustrated by Keith Mitchell. You can read the book in just a few hours.
The first 500 customers receive a free merit badge.
If you are intimidated by chairmaking, the materials or the tools, “Build a Chair from Bulls%$t” will remove any doubts, fears or excuses. And what if you can’t afford the $21 to buy the book? No problem. You can download the entire book for free here. (Don’t worry. You won’t have to register or give up your email. Just click and the book will download to your device.)
The physical book is nicely printed in the USA and is worth owning. “Build a Chair from Bulls%$t” is one of our “pocket books” – inexpensive but well-made books. It measures 4″ x 6.5″. The text is printed on #70 matte-coated paper (acid free). The book’s pages are gathered into signatures and then sewn together – a step few publishers bother with today. The book block is then glued and reinforced with fiber tape and covered with heavy cloth-covered boards. This is a permanent library-grade book – designed to last a couple centuries.
