My new blog on Substack, “The American Peasant,” is free to everyone until Dec. 15. After that, some posts will be for subscribers (such as where I talk trash about Captain Kangaroo [JK]), and others will be free. Subscriptions are $5 a month. Or $60 a year. And you will be able to try it out free for 14 days.
Here are the two most recent entries. Click on the image to read the post.
Our warehouse people must have had some extra coffee today because they managed to get our first batch of Special Edition Engraved Lump Hammers into inventory and all linked up with our fancy computer system.
You can buy them here for $165 (free shipping in the United States). They are very nice, and you deserve it.
— Christopher Schwarz
Apologies for intruding on your Sunday with commerce a second time. My daughter Katherie posted a batch of Soft Wax 2.0 in her store and I completely forgot to put something up on the blog. It’s here, just in time for waxing something before the holidays.
Notes on the finish: This is the finish I use on my chairs. I adore it. Katherine cooks it up here in the machine room using a waterless process. She then packages it in a tough glass jar with a metal screw-top lid. She applies her hand-designed label to each lid, boxes up the jars and ships them in a durable cardboard mailer. The money she makes from wax helps her make ends meet at college. Instructions for the wax are below. You can watch a video of how to use the wax here.
Instructions for Soft Wax 2.0
Soft Wax 2.0 is a safe finish for bare wood that is incredibly easy to apply and imparts a beautiful low luster to the wood.
The finish is made by cooking raw, organic linseed oil (from the flax plant) and combining it with cosmetics-grade beeswax and a small amount of a citrus-based solvent. The result is that this finish can be applied without special safety equipment, such as a respirator. The only safety caution is to dry the rags out flat you used to apply before throwing them away. (All linseed oil generates heat as it cures, and there is a small but real chance of the rags catching fire if they are bunched up while wet.)
Soft Wax 2.0 is an ideal finish for pieces that will be touched a lot, such as chairs, turned objects and spoons. The finish does not build a film, so the wood feels like wood – not plastic. Because of this, the wax does not provide a strong barrier against water or alcohol. If you use it on countertops or a kitchen table, you will need to touch it up every once in a while. Simply add a little more Soft Wax to a deteriorated finish and the repair is done – no stripping or additional chemicals needed.
Soft Wax 2.0 is not intended to be used over a film finish (such as lacquer, shellac or varnish). It is best used on bare wood. However, you can apply it over a porous finish, such as milk paint.
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS (VERY IMPORTANT): Applying Soft Wax 2.0 is so easy if you follow the simple instructions. On bare wood, apply a thin coat of soft wax using a rag, applicator pad, 3M gray pad or steel wool. Allow the finish to soak in about 15 minutes. Then, with a clean rag or towel, wipe the entire surface until it feels dry. Do not leave any excess finish on the surface. If you do leave some behind, the wood will get gummy and sticky.
The finish will be dry enough to use in a couple hours. After a couple weeks, the oil will be fully cured. After that, you can add a second coat (or not). A second coat will add more sheen and a little more protection to the wood.
Soft Wax 2.0 is made in small batches in Kentucky. Each glass jar contains 8 oz. of soft wax, enough for about five chairs.
On Monday or Tuesday we will begin selling our Special Edition Lump Hammers that feature a machine engraving designed by artist Jenny Bower. We’re making 200 of these this year and hope to make another batch next fall.
These lump hammers have the same characteristics as our regular lump hammers with two differences: the floral engraving on one face of the head, and the octagonal hickory handles have all been hand-scraped by our own Megan Fitzpatrick.
Machinist Craig Jackson took Jenny’s drawing and translated it into fluid toolpaths that his CNC mills could follow. The process took many hours of work both for Jenny and Craig. And the engraving requires an entirely new machine setup to achieve.
We are delighted with the result. And I am simply working up the courage to start using such a beautiful tool. (Oh, who am I kidding – I immediately beat the snot out of some legs that I was driving into mortises).
If you already own one of our lump hammers, consider getting this one for formal occasions and weddings.
The special edition hammer is $165 and ships free to U.S. customers. If these special edition hammers do not sell out, we will see if there’s any interest from our international retailers in carrying a few. No promises.
We love working with Jenny (and you, too, Craig) on these joint projects and like the touch of floral sexiness they bring to our tools (check out our engraved Brass Center Finder for more).
— Christopher Schwarz
A film about Windsor chairmaker Richard Grell is available for viewing here and includes George Walker, co-author of Euclid’s Door, From Truth to Tools, By Hound & Eye, and By Hand & Eye.
The documentary, titled “The Master Craftsman: Richard Grell,” was created by Phillip James Sieb and assisted by Philip C. Leiter for Hudson Community Television, a non-profit station based out of Hudson, Ohio. It begins with footage from NBC Cleveland in the 1970s. The news reporter is sitting in one of Grell’s Windsor chairs next to a fire.
“You’ll be dreaming of spending part of a cold winter relaxing in front of a fireplace in a Windsor chair by Richard Grell,” the reporter says. “It will cost you $250 up, depending on the style. How available are these chairs? Well, he’s now taking orders for Christmas.”
The news clip then switches to footage of Grell, saddling a chair outside on fall day.
“The Windsor chair is something that you just can’t go buy in a store,” Grell says. “You can’t buy a handmade chair that’s built around you, to fit you, your size, the color, the style that you want, so I’m trying to bring back being able to build chairs, custom-made, for the people.”
After some more 1970s footage, the documentary moves to modern-day Hudson, Ohio, and Grell’s idyllic shop. He talks about his family’s generations-deep love of woodworking, his start in chairmaking 50 years ago, why he prefers hand tools, making a living selling furniture and looking for ideal trees in the woods on his property.
“A lot of years of my life looking at these trees as they’ve grown,” he says, his hand on a tall, straight hickory. “I love them.”
Walker, credited with archival research in the film, is interviewed throughout, speaking about the history of Windsor chairs, furniture design and creative freedom.
“Chairmaking itself is this real specialized craft,” Walker says. “It’s something that goes back millennia.”
Also interviewed are Grell’s wife and business partner, Gay; a client, Kathy Russell; and a woodworker/ER physician, Dr. Rafi Israeli.
About Grell Walker says, “He is an extension of this craft tradition that has gone back many, many generations. He is not reproducing Windsor chairs. He is making his own chairs that are refinements of chairs that have gone before him.”
Thirty minutes long, it’s a perfect morning coffee accompaniment. Enjoy!
— Kara Gebhart Uhl