Lost Art Press

Signed Copies of 'Handplane Essentials' Shipping

Posted on by Lost Art Press

Lost Art Press now has 300 copies of my new book “Handplane Essentials” in stock, signed and ready to ship. This 312-page book is a compilation of many of the things I’ve written about these fantastic tools during the last decade for Popular Woodworking, Woodworking Magazine, The Fine Tool Journal, Lee Valley Tools’s newsletter, my blog at Woodworking Magazine and my blog at Lost Art Press.

To be honest, if you have followed my work closely for the last 10 years you won’t find anything shockingly new in this book (not that there’s anything “new” in woodworking anyway). But I have tidied up the text, organized it so it makes sense, added a bit here and snipped out a bit there. And it’s collected all in one nice volume: hardbound, printed on nice paper with a full-color dust jacket. The book was produced entirely in the United States. All production occurred in our offices in Cincinnati. The book was printed at a plant in Ohio.

You can also purchase this book from my employer, F+W Media, and even get it for a discount from Lee Valley Tools starting in September. So why should you buy it from me?

A cool drawing of a sock monkey.

I have signed all of these 300 copies of “Handplane Essentials,” and my 8-year-old daughter, Katy, helped. Katy is learning woodworking and helps me on many projects. She signed most of the books, each with a unique little drawing. There are chickens, some smiley faces, a couple turkeys and even one very nice rendition of her beloved sock monkey.

If for some reason you don’t want a copy signed by Katy, just let us know on the order form. We have a box of books that are signed by me alone.

The book costs $35, plus $4 shipping anywhere in the United States. You can read more about the book or place an order by clicking here.

As always, thank you for your support. Lost Art Press wouldn’t exist without you.

— Christopher Schwarz

Unsolicited Testimonials for ‘Handplane Essentials’

“I have several books on hand tools, and the hand planes, written over the last 50 years. My woodworking library is bigger than any Barnes and Noble, Woodcraft, etc. I love books. I consider your book on Handplanes to be the definitive book on the topic.”

— David Ragan

“I read your book for the second time this weekend and it was better that the first reading! You not only hone the tools, you hone the woodworker as well.”

— Greg Barringer

“Sometimes woodworking books are just LAME and really repetitive. I am an advanced woodworker and I can’t get enough info on handtools (planes), they are just so much fun. Since having my kids I have really appreciated hand tools because they can be in the shop with me without a respirator and earplugs! Your writings and videos are excellent because you have a great way of not expressing the common, ‘experienced condescending arrogance,’ that is sooo annoying in woodworking. Great work.” — Mike Berkshire

Woodworking in America: Update

Posted on by Lost Art Press

I am not able to put into words to convey the depth of what I am learning here. The information is so relevant and voluminous that my brain is almost on overload – and yes I am taking notes. Over the last two days I attended “Anatomy of a Masterpiece” by Jeffrey Greene, “Measure Twice or Not at All” by Jim Tolpin, “Unlocking the Secrets of Traditional Design” by George Walker and “Early American Furniture: Casework and Detailing” by Jeff Headley and Steve Hamilton, as well as the keynote address by Thomas Moser. Wow! The best part of this event is the Q&A sessions. Yesterday I got to sit with Jeff Greene, and Jeff Headley and Steve Hamilton, for an hour and a half and ask whatever question I could think of, from glues to tools to shell and fan carvings. There were only four of us in one session and 10 of us in the other! Do you know what it would cost to get these guys to put down their tools and focus on all your questions?

Jeff and Steve go 100 percent and they travel heavy. They brought a number of their pieces and of course they all come apart. Someone asked Jeff about secret compartments and within a minute he had taken the pigeonhole assembly apart from a slant top desk to show all the compartments and how they are made. Man this is gold!

Greene’s presentation consisted of a well-detailed trip through the development of furniture from the Jacobean period to the Federal. Included were a number of slides that showed close-ups of details that indicated a change in design. Greene also covered the reasons why the styles changed. I can now tell the difference between a Queen Ann and Chippendale piece. Greene also talked about the regional differences in furniture between Rhode Island and other parts of the Colonies. And get this, he is producing approximately 50 pieces a year working alone!!!

Jim Tolpin gave a very thought-provoking talk about the difference between machine and hand-tool work and design. The evening was capped off by a presentation from George Walker concerning the use of classic column orders in determining the size of a piece of furniture. The Marketplace (Lee Valley, Lie-Nielsen, Blue Spruce, Benchcrafted and the Society of American Period Furniture Makers (SAPFM), to name just a few, was great. SAPFM was running the Hand Tool Olympics, led by Mike Siemsen. The first day’s contest was ripping a board. The cut was timed and examined for square. Fortunately, it was pine and the saws were sharp. I thought I did good ripping the 3′ board in 20 seconds but was informed that Deneb Puchalski of Lie-Nielsen had done it in 10 seconds. I felt better when I was told he was considered ineligible to win a prize. My elation was deflated when Mike said I was also ineligible. Oh well.

More later.

– John

Never miss a chance to use hand tools!

Posted on by Lost Art Press

So how would I describe Lost Art Press? To say we are hand tool enthusiasts, purveyors of the lost art etc, is all true but it doesn’t quite capture our real spirit. I prefer woodworking adventurers. You know like the people from “Land of the Lost” wandering around the dangerous and fantastic. So to keep in the spirit of LAP while on vacation I agreed to jump into an ocean kayak and head directly toward a pod of dolphins. I had seen these young girls do this numerous times and it looked quite easy so what could go wrong?

While hauling the kayak out past the breakers, the bow caught a wave and slammed into my chin causing a small chip in my tooth. As those of us over 40 realize, it is just as easy to get hurt as it was when we were in our 20’s, the difference is the length of time it takes to heal. Like the time a helpful student pointed out an error of mine with a left that put my nose into the shape of the letter “C”. It took three months for the swelling to reduce and my nose to look close enough to call straight. I also nursing a groin pull but that’s another blog entry.

So anyway, I had this chipped tooth that needed to be fixed. I dismissed the obvious dremel with sanding disc as so 90’s. I wanted a hand tool. Ah an emery board!! Now I had to violate certain hand tool maxims like not using the entire length of the tool. My mouth was in the way which caused excessive wear in small areas of the board which required me to float the entire board prior to next use. But the grit was perfect! I say about 20 or so strokes did the trick. And now the photos…

Hand tools are fun!

Here I am embarrassed to show my horrible injury!

Wawaweewaweee! Another hand tool miracle!

Always Seeing Red

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I’ve owned two Volkswagen Karmann Ghias. The first one was a 1970 with chunky taillights, a good deal of Bondo, rotting rubber, a faded paint job and an incredible dual-port engine.

My second Karmann Ghia (the one I have now) is a 1968. It’s a California car. Rust-free and (thanks to the readers of my “Workbenches” book) completely restored.

With my first Karmann Ghia, I couldn’t drive anywhere without someone stopping me and asking me about the car. Even a nun once asked me if I had dual carbs (I didn’t). With my current 1968 Karmann Ghia, I’ve probably had one person make a comment in the last two years.

What’s the difference? The paint color. My first Ghia was a Porshe red with an all-black interior. My current Ghia is a historically accurate two-tone job: Lotus white on the bottom and black on the top.

There is something about the color red that makes us crazy. When I was in graduate school I took every film class I could get into and still graduate as a journalist. And I took complementary classes in color theory (“Hmm, theoretically that leaf is green.”)

I don’t think color theory is bunk. Warm colors (yellow, red and orange) are stimulating. Cool colors (blues and greens) are calming.

This is important to remember when finishing furniture. People don’t want their furniture to calm them. How much blue aniline dye do you think gets sold every year? People want their furniture to stimulate them.

Woodworker Warren May explained it to me better than anyone else. He makes a lot of furniture out of black cherry, a native hardwood here in Kentucky. Every year he makes a number of Kentucky-style pieces on spec and puts them in his showroom in Berea, Ky., where he also sells a twanging fleet of dulcimers.

May’s showroom is awash in windows and natural light. But he knows that when he first builds a spec piece in cherry it’s not likely to sell. However, once the piece has spent a few months in his showroom soaking up UV rays, the cherry catches fire and someone gets a love connection with a sideboard or a serpentine table. He’s watched this happen year after year.

From the day May explained it, I wanted to find a way to accelerate the aging of cherry to create the effect as soon as possible. After looking into it, the magazine’s staff found that we weren’t alone. There was a lot of advice out there on how to age cherry, from a bath of lye to potassium dichromate to dying shellac.

I favor approaches that use the fewest number of chemicals that can turn my eye sockets into places to keep my pencils, so the first two options were out. The dyed shellac worked, and I’ve used that on a number of occasions.

But the best approach we found was to apply a coat of boiled linseed oil and let the project sit in the sun for a day. (Small projects can be treated in a tanning bed. We tried this and got some strange looks.) The cherry quickly reacts to the oxygen and ultraviolet light to darken. Then you can add a topcoat finish and be done with it.

Of course, I’m kinda weird because I like green-colored furniture. Some of my favorite Arts & Crafts pieces from the Byrdcliffe colony and Gustav Stickley are green. What gives? Well the theory is that we evolved in the jungle and so we can see more shades of green than any other. (Anyone who wants to test this theory is welcome to come to the beer garden at Mecklenburg Gardens in Cincinnati and dispute me. The 100-year-old vine-wrapped patio will convince you I’m right.)

This shouldn’t surprise you too much. I’m the guy who sold the red, attention-getting car for something that allows me to be an anonymous, green-loving simian.

— Christopher Schwarz

Vacation!

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Greetings from Lost Art Press. The Elves, Sharon and myself are headed to Duck, N.C., for the week. We are closing during this time and will re-open on Sunday, Aug. 9. We will stay on the email to answer any queries.

We have gotten a number of questions concerning the Chris’s new book “Handplane Essentials.” We are unable to take pre-orders for the book on our site due to technical issues (we are trying to get this feature available). However, Lost Art Press will have the book available in early August. The book will be signed by Chris for our customers and we will have plenty of books.

Thank you for your patronage and we always look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

John