Lost Art Press

Roorkhee Chair in Black Leather

Posted on by Lost Art Press

This afternoon we finished up a mahogany Roorkhee chair in black leather with some changes to the strapping and arms that you might find interesting if you plan on building one for your home.

The leather is “Black Ridgeline” from Brettuns Village and it is beautiful stuff. It has been dyed entirely through, so the cut edges are as black as the exterior. The Ridgeline is quite supple and feels like a 20-year-old leather jacket.

That’s the good news.

The Ridgeline is only 4-ounce stuff, so it’s a little thin (about 1/16”) and prone to stretch, especially in the seat and arms. So we did a couple things to make the leather work.

1. We added a polyester liner between the two layers of the arm pieces (you can glue it in place with rubber cement or a special contact cement for leather). This liner reduces stretching with thin leathers without adding a lot of bulk.

2. Instead of sewing or riveting the seat, we added three buckles so you could pull the seat tighter if the leather stretched. The belting is 3/4” wide.

As usual, we used the No. 9 copper rivets at the stitched seams.

All in all, I’m quite pleased. And I hope the customer will be, too.

— Christopher Schwarz

P.S. If you are using the vegetable-tanned leather I recommended in the article in Popular Woodworking Magazine, then stretching is not a big concern. It holds its shape quite well.

As Mechanically as Possible

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“Now, in order to have anything good made in stuff, or in hard material, we must seek out the artist to provide us with a design, and then a workman to carry it out as mechanically as possible, because we know that if he puts any of his coarser self into it he will spoil it.”

— Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead, founder of the Byrdcliffe Arts Colony, in “Grass of the Desert” (1892)

A Firsthand Look at a Gragg Chair by Don Williams

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A couple weeks ago I got to look over Don Williams’ version of the Gragg chair, an incredible early-American example of a steam-bent elastic chair.

Made from oak that Don harvested himself, the chair is incredibly lightweight, flexible and comfortable. It’s like sitting in an exo-skeleton that is hinged in all the right places. And if I didn’t already know a good deal about Samuel Gragg’s chairs, I’d have guessed that the chair was a contemporary design.

OK, so if you aren’t up to speed on Gragg’s work, check out Williams’ article on building the chair in the current American Period Furniture journal, the annual publication of the Society of American Period Furniture Makers. Read this blog entry I wrote about the chairs as Williams was building them. And check out several kinds of Gragg chairs here.

Williams is considering making these chairs for market and is perfecting the tricky jigs and techniques required to make them. And he’s tweaking a couple joints to prevent the chairs from failing (he’s seen enough of those while at the Smithsonian).

— Christopher Schwarz

‘The Art of Joinery’ & Beer. And Bourbon.

Posted on by fitz

Here’s a known fact about Christopher Schwarz: he enjoys beer. And here’s a little-known fact about me: I do not enjoy beer. (But I do love bourbon.)

With the 2012 Woodworking in America Midwest conference coming up in about two weeks, I suspect there might be a bar bill or three to cover. I suspect it will exceed my credit card limit. So, on eBay, I’ve up for auction two of the three copies of the long-sold-out 2008 hardcover “The Art of Joinery” I have in my woodworking library. (I’m hanging on to the last one … until I need money for a kidney transplant.) There is no reserve, and the starting bid on each is 99 cents.

Both of these books are signed by Christopher, and on one copy, Chris drew in a mustache on the frontispiece portrait of Joseph Moxon. I do not know why. There was probably beer involved.

All proceeds will be used to cover libations at Woodworking in America (and one bottle of ibuprofen). So if you win, you can be proud that your money is going to an excellent cause (Pappy van Winkle 15-year, and IPA).

Click here for the mustachioed Moxon auction. For the non-graffito version, click here.

— Megan Fitzpatrick

p.s. The image uploader at eBay is screwy at the moment; I’m told the auction pictures should show up within a couple hours.

Update on ‘Grandpa’s Workshop’

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Our shipment of “Grandpa’s Workshop” arrived late yesterday and – thanks to some help from friends – we got the first 400 packed up before bedtime.

The printing quality of the book is top shelf – it was worth the delays and headaches. I think you will be pleased by both the story and the physical object itself.

If you ordered the book from Lost Art Press, your book (or books) will be in the mail today or tomorrow. If you are waiting for it to arrive at one of our retailers – Lee Valley Tools, Lie-Nielsen Toolworks, Highland Hardware, Tools for Working Wood or Classic Handtools in the U.K. – their books are on the way.

After publishing four new titles in 16 months, I have decided what I want for Christmas: a loading dock. But that’s not gonna happen.

— Christopher Schwarz