Lost Art Press

Two Wests Inside Me

Posted on by Lost Art Press

My Grandma West spent a large part of her life observing my grandfather, Joe, and my uncle, Tom, at work – either on a house or in the shop. Both were skilled woodworkers, among other things, but each had a different way of looking at the craft.

“Joe could look at a staircase or some other project and knew exactly how everything should go together,” she told me once. “Tom could look at the same project and knew exactly how everything could go wrong.”

When the two worked together, it was a struggle at times.

Though my DNA doesn’t indicate it, I inherited exactly equal parts of Grandad and Uncle Tom. The Grandad chain of DNA is the “hell yes we can build this just let me get my toolbelt” polymer that puts my feet on the floor every morning at 6:30 a.m. The Uncle Tom part of the double helix is what makes me draw out every angled joint in full size to see how everything intersects before I’ll pick up a tool heavier than a pencil.

Most times, it’s a good combination of traits. Grandad offers the “go fever,” while Uncle Tom keeps me out of trouble.

But other days, I’m immobilized. I can see everything that might go wrong with an operation. But then I wonder: Can I really see *everything*? Could I be missing something obvious? And then I go back over all my drawings and the cutlist. Twice. Thanks, Uncle Tom.

Meanwhile, Grandad is tapping his foot. He would be done and onto the next task.

This week, both men are working in my shop. I had an oak seat to saddle, and it was a riddle. The seat is made up of two boards. On one of the boards, the grain is mild. On the other board, the grain has a wild grain reversal right at the seat’s pommel.

Is this a good thing? A bad thing? I draw it out and try to figure out how the scorp should move. But I don’t know what’s going on inside the glue joint between the two boards. So I set the seat aside to think about it some more. Perhaps I should cut the seat apart? Get a look at the grain inside? And then glue the boards back together?

Grandad rolls his eyes, and scrounges for a Pepperidge Farm Bordeaux cookie in the kitchen.

That’s when I know I need to listen to another deceased woodworker, Joseph Moxon.

“Therefore you muſt examine the Temper of your Stuff, by eaſy Trials, how the Plane will work upon it, and ſet your Iron accordingly,” Moxon wrote in his chapter on fore planes.

This is one of the most important sentences in Moxon. And I think about it every day: “Easy Trials.”

Of course. 

I step up to the chair’s seat with a scorp and take the lightest cuts possible across the grain of the seat at various angles. I remove about 1/64” of material with each pass, but I can clearly see a difference in how the wood cuts as I adjust the tool’s angle. 

It doesn’t look like I am accomplishing anything. But I am finding out everything that can go wrong. I adjust the tool and take off a 1/32” of material. Then I bear down harder and take 1/16”.

I find the rhythm that allows me to take heavier and heavier cuts. And I have a good roadmap of the work ahead thanks to my earlier “easy trials.”

And I am alone in the shop. With the work.

— Christopher Schwarz

2 Good New Tools

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I hesitate to talk much about tools from other makers (Anarchist’s Gift Guide excepted). It doesn’t seem fair because of my work with Crucible. But occasionally I break my rule when I find something interesting or well done.

As always, my opinions are unsolicited. I pay full price for my tools. I have no relationship with either of these manufacturers.

Accu-Burr Burnisher

The Accu-Burr is one of those tools that makes you wonder why it has never been made before. It’s a carbide burnisher that turns two hooks on a card scraper in one motion.

The burnisher has three grooves for three different hooks – 5°, 10° and 15°. After stoning the edge (and face if you like) you place one of the three burnisher’s grooves on the edge of the card scraper. Plus a drop of oil to make life easier. Then you run the Accu-Burr over the edge with moderate downward pressure.

And then you are done – both corners of the card scraper are deformed with a nice hook. 

It worked for me the very first time (I’ve been sharpening card scrapers almost daily for 26 years). But there are detailed instructions and a video to guide you.

The burnisher works on both straight and curved scrapers with ease. You can buy an Accu-Burr (patent pending)  from Heartwood Tools. It’s quite clever and well-made in the USA.

Benchmark 6” Rule in Black

Months ago I discussed our efforts to make a black satin rule that had only 8ths and 16ths (no 32nds or 64ths). Well Benchmark beat us to it. 

The company offers a 6” and 12” in black with white markings, which are nice for old eyes. And the price is excellent: $5.99 for the 6” rule and $7.99 for the 12”. Based on a close inspection, I suspect these rules are made in the same factory (or use the same manufacturing process) as the SPI black rules that I recommended last year. The Benchmark has the same bloom pattern on the rule’s finish.

I’ve been using the Benchmark 6” rule for a few weeks and like it. I wish it were made in the USA, but if it were, it sure wouldn’t be this price.

— Christopher Schwarz

Shipping Now: ‘The Stick Chair Journal’ & ‘The Belligerent Finisher’

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We have two new titles for sale today: “The Belligerent Finisher” by John Porritt and The Stick Chair Journal No. 1 . Both are available for immediate shipment.

“The Belligerent Finisher” is a hands-on, no-secrets finishing book that details how John Porritt adds years of age and patina to a piece. John is a life-long furniture restorer and chairmaker in Upstate New York. In his book he shows the simple processes and common chemicals he uses to make beautiful, tactile surfaces.

In my 24 years of working with woodworking authors, I have never met anyone as generous as John is with finishing information. Most professional finishers and restorers keep their techniques to themselves.

We are thrilled to offer this book – our first title devoted to finishing. 

The Stick Chair Journal No. 1 is a personal project. After 10 years of being out of the magazine business, I realized that I missed it. The Journal is the publication that I wished existed when I first became interested in chairmaking. It’s about techniques, tools and what we call “big thoughts” related to chairmaking. And there is a complete plan for a chair that you can build and even sell if you like.

Plus no ads. No “advertorials.” No sponsored “stories” masquerading as editorial.

Even the way we print the Journal is unlike any magazine I know of. Many magazines are bound by staples, called “saddle stitching”. Others are sheets of paper that are glued at the spine, called “perfect binding.” Both methods make an object that I consider temporary.

We print the Journal in signatures. Then sew and glue them together – just like our books.

The Journal is an annual publication – I’m already deep into working on issue No. 2.

Another difference: When you buy the printed Journal, you also get the pdf for free. Plus a download of the full-size patterns for the chair featured in that issue.

One last detail: We have printed 4,000 and will not reprint the issue. Once the printed copies are gone, they are gone for good. We are making this available to all our retailers worldwide. But it is up to them as to whether they carry it.

Diving back into the world of periodicals might be a financial mistake – but it makes me endlessly happy. So let’s see what happens.

— Christopher Schwarz

‘The Stick Chair Journal’ Woodcut

Posted on by fitz

Editor’s note: With the first Stick Chair Journal shipping out very soon, we wanted to highlight the woodcut on the cover. >>Stay tuned for a shipping date!<<

Making a Woodcut

When making a woodcut you need to make sure to remember two things:

  1. The printed image will be a mirror of the image you see on the block you are carving. 
  2. You have to remove the areas in the woodblock that will not be printed. 

In short, this means that the black lines you see on the finished image are the places you didn’t cut any wood away on the block. To make a woodcut, you have to think in the negative and in mirror.

Stick Chair Journal No. 1

I started this woodcut using a photograph of the beautiful chair featured in the Stick Chair Journal No. 1, made by Christopher Schwarz. 

I made some sketches to see how the print would look. For sketching, I recently started using black paper and white pens. In essence, this is exactly the process used in making a woodcut. 

Rough sketch – face on
Sketch face on with diagonal lines

I initially wanted to create a ‘grey’ background behind the chair, similar to my wood engraving of a Welsh Highback Chair but the diagonal lines proved to be too distracting for the cover. 

3/4 with diagonal lines

So we decided on a blank background instead, to really make the chair stand out. This woodcut also became the design of the Stick Chair Merit Badge.

A woodcut is a play between white and black lines (or, in the case of this cover, green ink and Kraft paper). Though I like seeing a silhouette of a chair, for my woodcuts I like to add some lines to it to mimic light.

I added white lines to the parts of the chair that would be illuminated from a light source coming from the right. Every stick therefore has a white line running from top to bottom.

Design drawn onto wood with pencil

With the design complete, I traced the outlines of the image onto the wood using carbon paper and a fine pencil. I used a piece of cherry wood that was more or less the correct dimensions for the cover.

As you can see, I didn’t mirror the design before carving it. So much for Rule #1.

Next was removing all the “white” in the image – all the parts that won’t receive ink. This is the most enjoyable part of making a woodcut. After all the planning has been completed, carving the design into the wood is a very pleasurable experience.

Carving the block
Nearly there

A first quick printing reveals any areas that were not completely cut away.

The first printing usually doesn’t look very good but it shows you where to remove more wood. And it looks like the chair is moving from right to left because of the cartoon-like lines on the right.

When there is a large white area present, ink sometimes ends up on the high spots that need to be cut away deeper.

The finished woodcut

I removed the high spots so they wouldn’t receive ink and cleaned up the rest of the chair. With the woodcut printed to my liking, I scanned it in so it could be used for the cover of The Stick Chair Journal.

The Journal will ship this week and I am very happy and proud that my woodcut adorns the cover.

— Rudy Everts, aka Underhatchet

Our Sale’s Final Seven Days

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The once-in-15-years sale ends on Aug. 31. That is the final day you can save 40 percent on 13 of our titles, including many of our most popular books. Every item that is on sale can be seen here. 

Also good to know: Aug. 31 is the last day you can purchase the “Build a Stick Chair” video at the introductory price of $50. After that date, the price will be $75.

For those of you who have purchased books during the sale, thank you. The sale has reduced a lot of our excess inventory that we hoarded during the pandemic. With any luck, we will never have to do this again. 

We’ve heard from a lot of customers during the last two weeks that they have taken advantage of the sale to complete their collection of our “anarchist” titles. Or purchased books for woodworking friends and family members. A lot of you bought hats (sorry we are now all out of those).

I’ll post one more reminder right before the sale ends. But for now, let’s get back to talking about woodworking.

— Christopher Schwarz