Lost Art Press

This Saw Goes to 10

Posted on by Lost Art Press

While at the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking and Lie-Nielsen Toolworks during the last 15 days I took a lot of notes that I will be vomiting into my blog this week. Some of the entries require me to purchase some liquid plastic, wax paper and Wesson oil.

Or is that the shopping list for my next house party?

No… that’s the woodworking list.

Anyway, one of the cool little things I saw at Lie-Nielsen Toolworks last week will excite both the tool collectors and users.

Lie-Nielsen has added an extra inch of length to its much-beloved dovetail saw. The saw’s blade now comes with a 10”-long blade instead of a 9”-long blade. What does this mean for you?

If you are a user, it means the saw is a little faster in the cut. The Lie-Nielsen saw was already fast. This added length (and a tiny bit of extra weight) makes it noticeably faster. After using the new saw for a few days, I don’t think that it affected the balance of the tool. I was worried that it would be more toe-heavy as a result – a bad thing in my opinion.

The longer saw is now being sold by the company. The price of the longer saw is the same. And the 9” saw has now been discontinued.

And that will make the tool collectors tingle.

The 9” saw will now pass into legend and increase in price on the secondary market, just like the Lie-Nielsen bronze No. 9, the company’s chamfer guides for drawknives and the small bronze shoulder plane kit it used to sell.

So take care of those 9” saws for your children, especially the early ones stamped “Independence.”

— Christopher Schwarz

A Tool Chest at the Lie-Nielsen Shop

Posted on by Lost Art Press

In “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest,” I make the case that a traditional-scale tool chest is the right size and shape to hold all your tools and make them easy to get to.

Not everyone believes me. That’s OK. But after working out of a traditional and large tool chest since 1997, I am confident in my opinion.

The one thing I don’t like about my large tool chest has nothing to do with my tool chest. It has to do with my car. I have a small two-door hatchback. And while I can haul an incredible amount of tools and lumber in that car, the hatch is too small to receive my chest.

This makes me grumble because I’d like to work out of a chest when I’m traveling. Right now I wrap all my tools in old socks and pile them in some luggage. I am regularly mocked for it by students and other instructors.

So I’ve been meaning to design a traveling tool chest that fits in my car and holds a working set of tools. I’ve been looking at historical examples of chests, and this week I found one that I am quite fond of.

It’s owned by Thomas Lie-Nielsen of Lie-Nielsen Toolworks, and it was hiding below a bunch of tools in his personal shop next to his home. The interesting curved detail on the lid caught my eye, and after we finished shooting a DVD and a couple videos for YouTube, I dug the chest out and went over it with a tape measure.

There are some really great things about this chest, and some disappointments. Here’s the good and the bad.

1. Good: The size is about right for my tools and my car. It’s 33-3/4” long, 15” high and 20” deep. It has two sliding trays, a tool holder and even a small sawtill. I think this chest would work for me.

2. Bad: The carcase is nailed together. The skirts are mitered and nailed. Still, it has survived a long time.

3. Good: The top panel is very attractive.

4. Bad: The coved detail on the top is just nailed on. It’s not a raised panel.

5. Good: The sliding tills are made from some great rough material. The bottom of one of the tills is an old painted sign.

6. Bad: The lower tray is locked into the chest by the runner system.

7. Good: The chest has survived a lot of abuse.

8. Bad: A big section of the bottom is rotted. And is that a mouse hole?

9: Good: The proportions of the chest are very pleasing. And the thing is painted black. Sweet.

10. Bad: I’d have to redesign this chest to suit my taste in joinery and function.

I made a nice detailed sketch of the good parts. So that’s a start.

— Christopher Schwarz

Introducing SuperWoobie

Posted on by Lost Art Press

I wouldn’t crap you – you’re my favorite turd, right?

So listen carefully. Deneb Puchalski of Lie-Nielsen Toolworks has made a great leap forward in woobie technology. He has created a woobie so perfect, so supple, so sensual that I am running out of words that I feel comfortable using about a rag.

Today I was teaching the first day of a class at Lie-Nielsen’s new classroom facility in Warren, Maine – more on that later in the week. As I and the students were sharpening our irons I started looking for something with which to wipe off my wet tools.

Hmmm. Where is my woobie? Did I leave it in Connecticut? Was it stolen? Mayhaps.

So I ponder the options. I can go to the restroom and ball up a lot of toilet paper and make myself an ersatz woobie. It’s a shameful wiper. But I admit I have done this before.

About the time I am looking for the bathroom, Deneb mentions that the blue rags hanging below the table are “charged with oil.” I reach down and touch… SuperWoobie.

CareBears farted eclairs. Smurfs burped lemon bars.

It was magical. This cloth was so oil-filled and wonderful and soft and…. In my hand was a 3M microfiber cloth that had been soaked in jojoba oil. It was the woobie I had always been looking for. I wiped down all my tools with it and it held tons of oil.

Deneb says he charges them with oil and then uses them until they get “funky.” Then he runs them through the wash and recharges them with oil.

You heard it here first, an interview with Deneb, father of the SuperWoobie.

— Christopher Schwarz

Thomases All

Posted on by Lost Art Press

I am not easily surprised or struck speechless. But this morning at 8:55 I was both.

This was the final day of class for “By Hammer & Hand” at the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking in Manchester, Conn. The students have been working like dogs building three projects, including the dovetailed schoolbox from “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker.”

As I walked into the school I was struck by the fact that almost all 13 students were wearing “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” T-shirts (yes, we will soon have more of these in stock). This wasn’t too surprising — many times students buy my T-shirts because they don’t have anything clean to wear for the next day.

Because of this interesting fact, we will start carrying Lost Art Press thong underwear next year.

Anyway, the other odd thing was they were all wearing name tags again, just like the first day of class. Whatever — I was behind schedule and it was time to start class.

Before I could open my mouth much, they handed me a wrapped present. That has never happened in all my years of teaching. Usually they just give me grief.

I opened it. It was a copy of “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker.”

“Thanks guys,” I said. “I hate to tell you this, but I own THOUSANDS of these.”

They told me to look inside. They had all signed their names on the inside with their first name listed at “Thomas” – the apprentice hero of the book. Then I looked closer at someone’s name tag. It read “Thomas.” But his name was David. Rick’s name tag? Thomas. They all were wearing “Thomas” name tags.

That was pretty cool. So I went over to the bowl filled with name tags and made one for myself. Mine said “Sam” — the doofus of the novel.

— Christopher Schwarz

The Best Wood for a Tool Chest

Posted on by Lost Art Press

In “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest,” I profess a love – actually it’s more of an uncomfortable lust, the kind so weird that you can’t look the other person in the eye the next morning – for Eastern white pine.

But Eastern white pine can be difficult to find outside of its range on the Eastern seaboard and the Great Lakes area.

I’ve had several readers ask me for alternative choices for woods for the shell of a tool chest. I do have a few ideas to share, but before I do that, here’s the “how to fish” portion of the blog entry: Look for a cheap, lightweight wood that is indigenous to your area. Buy it in 4/4 or 5/4 in the rough and dress it to 7/8” or 1” thickness and you will be fine.

Don’t buy 3/4” surfaced material — that’s too thin.

So if you are in the deep South, look for cypress. Out West? Sitka spruce. Europe? Scots pine. In the Middle West, look hard for Eastern white pine, it’s out there.

If none of these options pan out for you, use poplar, which is widely available in most parts of the United States.

If you have other suggestions, post them in the comments below.

— Christopher Schwarz