Almost every horizontal surface in our workshop and office has a knife on it. As does every drawer and till. Shop knives are essential tools for opening boxes, cutting rope and 100 other workshop tasks. So we are always on the lookout for inexpensive, quality knives.
This year I heard about Jose Da Cruz knives that are made in Portugal and brought a few of them in for testing and use. They are available in large and small sizes. And with a variety of handle materials. And the price is right: About $20-$23.
I won’t buy a folding knife unless the blade locks firmly. Standard non-locking pocket knives aren’t safe enough for daily and rough use. I like my fingers and still have all of them.
The Jose Da Cruz knives lock a lot like the Opinel knives – via a locking brass ferrule. The knives are made well and, for the most part, well-finished. My favorite handle material was the small “green oak” folder. The wood isn’t flashy, but it is interesting and nicely finished. Plus, it is one of the versions that has a hole for a lanyard – a useful feature.
The steel is great for a shop knife. I suspect it is plain old O1. It takes a good edge easily and stays sharp for a long time.
Good knives are good friends. And this is definitely a good one.
— Christopher Schwarz
To read previous entries in the gift guide, click here.
There are lots of ways to scribe cabinets to a wall or to scribe the legs of a chair to their final length. My favorite scribing tool – hands down – is the Tooley Park Fat Boy Scriber.
Made by Philip Sewell, a cabinetmaker in the U.K., this clever tool is well-made and extremely useful. The tool’s aluminum body surrounds a Delrin wheel. The wheel is locked using a knurled knob on the side of the tool. A second knurled knob locks a pencil in place in the wheel. The controls are easy to use and cinch down very well.
When used for scribing chair legs, you level the chair’s legs, then use the scriber to mark the lines for sawing. The tool’s flat base keeps it planted firmly on the benchtop as you mark the legs.
There are a lot of versions of the Fat Boy on the Tooley Park website, many of them for specialty applications. I use the standard Fat Boy (without holes for a profile attachment).
— Christopher Schwarz
To read previous entries in the gift guide, click here.
You might have noticed that we’ve been having problems getting three new products up in the store and running smoothly. Well they are now up and available for immediate shipment. We released them simultaneously so you can save on shipping if you planned on buying more than one. Here’s what’s new:
‘Henry Boyd’s Freedom Bed’
For many years I have been obsessed with Henry Boyd, an early Cincinnati woodworker who invented a revolutionary bedstead, built a sizable furniture-making business that shipped work all over the country, helped enslaved people escape to freedom and then almost disappeared from history.
There’s been a little written here and there about Boyd. The Smithsonian has one of his beds (as does The Golden Lamb in Lebanon, Ohio). But this guy was so badass that there should be a school named for him. Plus a marker where his factory stood. And an exhibit on his life at the history museum (and there is now, thanks in part to Suzanne Ellison).
Years ago, Suzanne started digging into public records on Boyd because we knew we wanted to do a book about him. And what Suzanne found was a story that contradicted the fables about Boyd that have been spread around. And the real story – of an enslaved black man who survived and thrived despite all odds – is even more impressive than the fables.
To bring Boyd’s story to life, I sought out Whitney LB Miller, a local TV journalist, friend and woodworker. Whitney has the traits of every great author I know: an unfailing work ethic, incredible courage (because writing a book will change you), and a personality that is large enough to breathe life into characters on a page.
Whitney gladly took on the important task of both writing about and illustrating Boyd’s life for “Henry Boyd’s Freedom Bed.” The story is intended for children ages 3-8, but I think anyone would enjoy the tale – plus the three pages of biographical information on Boyd at the back of the book.
This book is – I hope – an important step in reassessing, acknowledging and celebrating the unheralded work that people who were black and enslaved played in the history of our country’s furniture. Boyd should be a name known to every woodworker, and I hope this book helps change that.
We have another book in the works that takes a more hands-on look at the achievements of enslaved black woodworkers. It has been in development for several years now. More information on that book is to come.
You can read all about the Boyd book (and a deluxe edition that is available) here.
‘Workshop Wound Care’
Woodworking is a hazardous pursuit – that goes without saying. So what is incredible to me is that there isn’t much guidance about what you should do when you hurt yourself in the workshop.
Yes, there have been a couple articles in woodworking magazines during the last couple decades. But these have been somewhat shallow and are most likely buried by 10 years of woodworking magazines in basements across our country. Good luck digging them up when you hurt yourself.
Scrapes, cuts, bruises and worse happen every day in the workshop. What we need is a quick and authoritative field manual. Do (this) when you (hurt that). And that’s why “Workshop Wound Care” by Dr. Jeffery Hill was born.
Dr. Hill is an emergency room physician and a woodworker. He knows exactly how you are going to injure yourself. And he knows what to do to help you get better fast.
When I first read Dr. Hill’s manuscript I was struck by how basic the first aid gear is that he recommends. You can get almost all of it in a quick trip to the drugstore. There’s nothing exotic or terribly expensive. And there’s not a lot of it, to be honest.
In fact, after reading Dr. Hill’s book, I threw away a lot of stuff in our shop’s first aid kit.
It’s a no-nonsense guide that quickly tells you what you need to do in almost every situation, from the most minor to the most dire. This book is important. At the least, it will help you heal faster and get back to work. And it might just help you save a severed digit. Or someone’s life.
And just in time for prime hat season (?), we have a new khaki twill hat that is embroidered with the English A-square featured on the front of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest.” This is a dad hat in look, feel and fit. Fairly roomy. Six panel. And it has an adjustable strap for pinheads. We looked at a ton of hats, and this one rose to the top for comfort and fit. It is made in China (sorry we cannot find a USA hat that satisfies customers). The embroidery was done by a family business here in Covington. One size fits most.
The two most comfortable chairs I make are my lowback and this Gibson armchair, which is a design that originated in Ireland.
In 2019 I went to Ireland and studied many historical examples of this chair and now make a version that is similar to the Irish Gibson, though it is definitely not a reproduction. I made a bunch of small changes, such as planing flats on the chair’s back sticks, to further improve the chair’s comfort.
Gibson chairs look quite unusual the first time you see them. The back leans so far back (25°) that it looks like a chair for sleeping or for dentistry. The truth is that the chair is perfectly suited to sitting by a fire and talking to friends. Because of the interplay between the geometry of the seat and the back, you sit fairly upright but in great comfort.
In fact, the first ugly duckling prototype I built of the Gibson is the most coveted chair in our family when we’re sitting around talking.
This version is made entirely from red oak that has been split, sawn and shaved so the components are lightweight but incredibly strong. The joints are assembled with hide glue (which is reversible) so repairs in the far future are easy. All surfaces were finished entirely with hand tools, so the chair has lovely scalloped surfaces and eased edges.
The seat is not saddled. However, you can sit in it for hours in comfort. The chair’s low seat height, the tilt of the seat (5°) and the back work together to take pressure off the right places on your legs and buttocks. This chair does not benefit from a saddled seat.
The chair is finished with General Finishes “Blue Moon” acrylic, a water-based paint that allows the texture of the oak to show through and is quite durable.
The seat height is 14-1/2”, a very typical seat height for a Gibson. The chair’s overall width is 24”, its height is 33-1/4” and its depth is 27-1/4”.
How to Purchase This Chair
This is the first Gibson chair I’ve sold (aside from a janky second prototype). So I’m a little in the dark about how to set a price. The chair takes about as long to build as a comb-back. And the materials are about the same cost. So I am asking $1,200 plus shipping.
This chair is being sold via a random drawing. (I’m sorry but the chair cannot be shipped outside the U.S.) If you wish to buy the chair, send an email to lapdrawing@lostartpress.com before 3 p.m. (Eastern) on Monday, Nov. 14. In the email please use the subject line “Chair Sale” and include your:
First name and last name
U.S. shipping address
Daytime phone number (this is for the trucking quote only)
After all the emails have arrived on Nov. 14, we will pick a winner that evening via a random drawing.
If you are the “winner,” the chair can be picked up at our storefront for free. Or we can ship it to you via common carrier. The crate is included in the price of the chair. Shipping a chair usually costs about $250 to $300, depending on your location.
— Christopher Schwarz
Here is a picture of my friend Narayan sitting in my first Gibson chair to show the typical posture it promotes.
I don’t like the look or feel of plastic. So whenever I can find a tool that uses natural materials, I’ll opt for that.
I have to clean my fingernails every day to remove sharpening grit, paint, oil and other gunk. Most brushes for fingernails are plastic and ugly. So I was thrilled to find a wide selection of them at The Best Brushes (honestly, the company’s entire catalog is fantastic).
I’ve tried a few of the fingernail brushes there. I really like the “make sense” brush there. But the Gardener’s Hand & Nail Brush is half the price and works just as well. The body is oiled beech, and the tampico fibers strip the gunk quickly from my nails.
Like all natural products, you have to expect some natural processes to occur. After a few months, my brush developed a small split. It is cosmetic, and this is something that wood does – especially when subjected to repeated soakings and dryings.
So don’t expect plastic perfection. We keep the nail brush in this lovely enamel soap holder, also from The Best Brushes.
We’re brush people now.
— Christopher Schwarz
To read previous entries in the gift guide, click here.
