Lost Art Press

SOLD: New In Box Marples Holdfast

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SOLD Here’s another tool that I forgot I owned. I purchased this “new old stock” holdfast years ago with the intent of installing it on a bench. And then I stashed it at the bottom of my tool chest.

This is the M146 holdfast, a traditional English form. You install the holdfast in your bench by installing a metal collar in your bench. The holdfast adjusts coarsely up and down thanks to teeth on the post. Then, to secure the work, you turn a screw on the top.

I’ve used these holdfasts before and they work well. The only downside is that they work only when installed in the metal collar.

This one is perfect and in the box. The instructions are included as are all the parts and screws you need to install it in your bench. It’s a nice accessory for an English bench. Made in Sheffield, England.

Price: $50 plus domestic shipping.

Terms of Sale Every day I can sell a tool I’ll list what I know about the tool, its history, plus photos of it. While you can ask me all the questions you like about the tool, the first person to send me an e-mail that says: “I’ll take it,” gets the tool. Simple. To buy a tool, please send me an e-mail at christopher.schwarz@fuse.net.

Payment: I can accept PayPal or a personal check. As soon as the funds arrive, I’ll ship the tool using USPS. If you want insurance, let me know. I’m afraid I can only ship tools in the United States. Shipping internationally is very time-consuming and paperwork-heavy. My apologies in advance on this point.

If you don’t like the tool when you get it, I’ll be happy to refund your money if you return the tool. But postage is on you.

— Christopher Schwarz

SOLD: New In Box Millers Falls 733 Ratchet Brace

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SOLD: A near-perfect 733 ratcheting bit brace from Millers Falls. It is new in the box, unused and with the original packing material.

I purchased this 8″-sweep brace from a seller in Texas who found an entire pallet of these tools years ago. I purchased one, put it in a tool chest and forgot about it. The wood is perfect, like the day it was made.

The only apology is a spot of discoloration on the knurled chuck. I believe it was there when I bought it. The ratchet works perfectly. This tool is like it just like it came off the assembly line.

Price: $60 plus domestic shipping. (SOLD)

Here are the terms. Please read them if you are interested in buying one of my tools.

Terms of Sale Every day I can sell a tool I’ll list what I know about the tool, its history, plus photos of it. While you can ask me all the questions you like about the tool, the first person to send me an e-mail that says: “I’ll take it,” gets the tool. Simple. To buy a tool, please send me an e-mail at christopher.schwarz@fuse.net.

Payment: I can accept PayPal or a personal check. As soon as the funds arrive, I’ll ship the tool using USPS. If you want insurance, let me know. I’m afraid I can only ship tools in the United States. Shipping internationally is very time-consuming and paperwork-heavy. My apologies in advance on this point.

If you don’t like the tool when you get it, I’ll be happy to refund your money if you return the tool. But postage is on you.

— Christopher Schwarz

In Excess: I'm Selling About 100 Tools

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During 17 years of serious and studied woodworking and 14 years of editing a woodworking magazine, I have purchased more tools than I could ever wear out. And so starting today, I am going to be put these tools up for sale here on the Lost Art Press Blog.

The prices will be reasonable, and the tools are almost all user-grade.

I purchased most of these tools to study them or experiment with them as I explored the world of handwork. I purchased every one of them with my personal salary. None were gifts. None were purchased by my employer.

Why am I selling them? Several reasons.

• Most of them are duplicates of what I own and use now. They have been packed away in my tool chests and aren’t seeing any use. I would much rather that they be put to work.

• They take up a lot of space in my shop at home.

• I have been working on a new book since February that recently came into perfect focus. To complete the book, I need to sell all of these excess tools. But I cannot say more than that at this point because I am still in negotiations with the book.

Here are the terms. Please read them if you are interested in buying one of my tools.

Terms of Sale
Every day I can sell a tool I’ll list what I know about the tool, its history, plus photos of it. While you can ask me all the questions you like about the tool, the first person to send me an e-mail that says: “I’ll take it,” gets the tool. Simple. To buy a tool, please send me an e-mail at christopher.schwarz@fuse.net.

Payment: I can accept PayPal or a personal check. As soon as the funds arrive, I’ll ship the tool using USPS. If you want insurance, let me know. I’m afraid I can only ship tools in the United States. Shipping internationally is very time-consuming and paper-work-heavy. My apologies in advance on this point.

If you don’t like the tool when you get it, I’ll be happy to refund your money if you return the tool. But postage is on you.

The vast majority of these tools are sharp, set up and ready to use. I’ll note any defects in my description.

Finally: I want to thank you in advance for your business. The sale of these tools will help me greatly with my book endeavor, but it’s probably not what you think. I’m not at all desperate for cash. And I’m not buying a CNC machine. It’s more philosophical than that.

— Christopher Schwarz

'The Essential Woodworker' Now Shipping

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We’ve received our print run of Robert Wearing’s “The Essential Woodworker” and have started shipping out orders to customers on a first-in, first-out basis. At the current pace, we should have all the pre-orders in the mail sometime in the coming five days.

I just received my personal copies this morning, and I am pleased with the more expensive paper and the printing quality overall. And we hope you will be, too.

This book has been, hands down, the most successful book in the short history of our little publishing company. And for that, I’d like to thank each of you. We ordered a fair number of copies of this book, but because of the strong orders, we probably will run out before the end of the year.

And now I can move onto Lost Art Press’s next projects, which include the Andre Roubo translation project and two other books in the works that we aren’t quite ready to announce.

— Christopher Schwarz

Turning up Traditional Techniques

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While I’m enjoying the food and culture of London and Paris this week with my wife and girls, I have squeezed in some serious work for Lost Art Press. In London, Maddy and I turned up two antique English woodworking books (one from 1875) that I have never seen in the United States.

One is quite promising and features plans for a treadle table saw and an absolutely ingenious freestanding leg vise. The writing is also delightful — the author mentions that he has used the leg vise for chaining up a monkey and a trained squirrel. No lie.

I also spent an afternoon in London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, which I have been writing about all week and inspired several forthcoming entries about the English Arts & Crafts movement.

In Paris, Lucy and I spent today soaking in some impressionist paintings (for her) and stunning Art Deco and Art Nouveau furniture and housewares at the Musée d’Orsay. Sadly, I couldn’t take photos at the M.O., as the locals call it, because American woodworkers need an education in Deco and Nouveau.

But the highlight of the trip was a brief visit to the Librarie du Camée at 70 rue Saint-André-des-Arts. This bookstore is surrounded by art galleries and other bookstores and feels so much more like the Paris of your imagination than the Paris surrounding the monuments (I wanted to put a gun in my mouth at Versailles).

The store is about the size of a half-decent American closet, but is absolutely crammed with books dealing with traditional crafts, including housewares, tools, horology, textiles and even making perfume. And, of course, there is a large section devoted to woodworking.

I spent about an hour going over all the shelves. I could have dropped about 1,000 Euros without regret, but I restrained myself (for now). Instead I picked up some more modern books so I can get my rusty French skills back on track.

Two volumes were a reprint of “Menuisier En Baitiments,” an 1882 book describing the craft in great detail, including many plates I’ve never seen. I also bought a new book, “Les Rabots: Histoire, Technique, Typologie, Collection” by Pierre Bouillot and Xavier Chatellard, which is an enormous and comprehensive book on Continental handplanes of all types. And I bought a third book — not a reprint — describing machine and hand woodworking operations circa 1965.

Also hanging out in the closet was a husband and wife team from Washington, D.C., who tipped me off to a tool museum and library that I’ll have to visit during my next visit to Europe in September.

Then it was off to get some iced coffee and start devouring the books. Right now, it’s a bit like reading “Riddley Walker,” but I’ll get my French back up to speed.

— Christopher Schwarz