Lost Art Press

Help Defend The Wood Whisperer

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As some of you might know, The Wood Whisperer.com (Marc Spagnuolo and family) has been besieged by a DDoS attack this week. In fact, as I write this, I can’t even get onto his site.

As a survivor of Internet malice – remember when the pornographers took over the Woodworking Magazine site for three long days? – I know these attacks are expensive, time-consuming and personally all-consuming.

I cannot think of any other Internet woodworker who has been more generous with his time, advice and technical expertise. He has personally lent a hand to many bloggers to help them tidy up their sites and get them running smoothly. And he has built perhaps the biggest and most cohesive woodworking community on the Internet.

And now he really needs our help. Consider joining his Guild, buy a shirt (thank Shiva the “May the Schwarz be With You” shirts are long gone), or do what I did: Send the dude some cash via a PayPal donation. I sent $100, which is a drop in the bucket. But put together enough drops and my basement is leaking again.

— Christopher Schwarz

Staples, and Becoming Unglued

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To ship the oversized “Make a Joint Stool from a Tree” book we did some research and settled on making our own custom wraps using corrugated cardboard and heavy-duty staples.

The bad news is that customers are reporting that the staples are cutting the cardboard and opening the package at times. The good news is that the USPS has generally been helping us out and taping up the packages and doing its best to deliver the book without damage.

The next wave of books, which goes out tomorrow, will have additional reinforcement.

If your copy is damaged, send an e-mail to john@lostartpress.com and we will get you a replacement.

Our apologies for the trouble.

— Christopher Schwarz

New Download: The Anarchist’s Tool Chest DVD

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OK, after a technical hiccup, we have this worked out.

The 60-minute movie about the tools in “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” is now available for instant download in our store for $8. The download includes all the extras available on the DVD: the slideshow of the step photos, the SketchUp file and a text document that further explains some of the tools I chose and why.

This purchase is available for domestic customers through this link. International customers can also purchase this by sending $8 via PayPal to john@lostartpress.com. You will then receive a link to download the files.

Note that this download is a big file – 700 mb – so it will take some time when you order it. The download is one file – a zipped file. After you download it, it will decompress into a folder containing the video (an .mov file) plus the extras.

— Christopher Schwarz

A Box Inside a Box that’s Inside a Box…

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Whenever visitors stop by, they look at the secretary I’m building, scratch their heads and say something like: “I don’t get how this works.”

So here is a photo of the secretary’s gallery inside the top drawer, which is missing its drop-front right now. I think this project is starting to look like something.

As I was fitting the gallery inside the top drawer and fitting the top drawer inside the carcase today, I had an odd thought: How do people do this process with only power tools? It’s not a snide remark, really, just my plain ignorance. I’ve never fit a drawer with power tools, so I have absolutely no clue how it’s done.

I think I know what my old boss, Steve Shanesy, would say: Build it right, and it will fit perfectly the first time.

But I know that’s not typical. Even a little bit of bow or wind can jam a drawer.

The only thing I could come up with is using a dull block plane and then sanding away the tool marks. And I once saw cabinetmaker Troy Sexton fit a drawer on a 8” jointer – no lie – and he wasn’t even wearing Depends.

Surely one doesn’t use a belt sander?

— Christopher Schwarz

Shipping Update on ‘Make a Joint Stool from a Tree’

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More than half of the orders for “Make a Joint Stool from a Tree” were dropped into the mail stream on Saturday. Then we ran out of packing material.

We spent all day Saturday trying to find the corrugated material that we’re using for this oversized book, but all the vendors we use were sold out. Luckily, one of the vendors was right by a store that sold growlers of beer. We bought a growler of Sierra Nevada’s “Ruthless Rye,” so the day was not an entire loss.

We have more packing material on the way and shipments will resume on Monday.

All our technology did do a bad thing, however.

A handful of people who bought “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” in 2011 will be receiving a copy of the joint stool book. If you get one of these books in error, could you please send an e-mail to John Hoffman at john@lostartpress? He’ll e-mail you a return label for the book. Our apologies in advance for this mistake.

— Christopher Schwarz