The latest issue of Quercus Magazine is an important one. In the March/April 2022 issue, Editor Nick Gibbs pays tribute to chairmaker John Brown. It’s a heartfelt, first-person account of his work and friendship with JB, and it fills in a lot of interesting details about their working relationship.
Most importantly, it is an unromantic account, much like Chris Williams’s outstanding book, “Good Work.” As JB’s life recedes into the past, I have watched a lot of mythology get built up around his name, his words and his work.
I never met John Brown, but the people whose stories I trust come from his family, his close friends and his working associates, such as Gibbs and Williams.
As Gibbs writes, JB was a complex character. Occasionally contradictory at times in words and deeds. So Gibbs’s account is very much worth reading. As a bonus, it is beautifully written and is accompanied by essays from Williams, myself and Kenneth Kortemeier.
I won’t spoil it for you. If you are interested, please do pick up a copy.
In addition to the John Brown tribute, the issue is filled with a lot of practical hand-tool information. Some of it quirky, some of it fun. One of the things I like about Quercus is the variety of points of view, both geographically and skill-wise. Oh, and Gibbs likes the written word, so the balance between images and words is my speed.
No, Gibbs didn’t pay me to write this. Nor did he ask. In fact, I’m a little salty with him right now because he is putting me on a future cover. As many of you know, I would rather do naked somersaults down the middle of Main Strasse in Covington with lit sparklers in my butt than have my face appear in print. But I don’t want to be all like “Stop. Don’t. Come Back.”
One of our lump hammers that was engraved by Jen Bower for the fifth anniversary of Crucible Tools.
(Note: This piece is more about writing than it is about woodworking. So if you’re in a “chisel and mallet” mood, I’d move along. — CS)
When I come up with an idea for a book, it is so fragile that I’m afraid to speak it out loud.
Several years ago I decided to explain one of the core ideas behind “The Stick Chair Book” to friends to see if they could help me flesh out a couple things.
I explained my idea in five minutes. Then, for the next 45 minutes, I couldn’t get a word in edgewise as my idea was mutilated, and my reasoning behind it was slashed to pieces.
I walked away from the conversation a bit shaken – ashamed I had even brought up the idea. I put the book’s outline away for almost two years before I could bear to examine it again.
This is why I’m leery to talk about future book ideas. I have dozens. And whenever I’m interviewed for a podcast or have woodworking visitors, I get asked – with genuine curiosity – about the unwritten books ahead.
My answers are terrible, and so I usually pull a Bob Dylan. “I don’t know.” “A book about a snail who finds love in unlikely places.” “Another workbench book.”
The truth is, the only good answer to that question seems to be a completed manuscript. “Here, this is what I’m working on – fully fleshed out. Read it, then you can tell me if it’s a good idea or not.”
Book ideas are funny things. When they are just ideas, they can seem profoundly stupid or awesome. If I expose an idea to others too soon, it will almost certainly die, whither or change entirely. And that’s not a good thing. Diluting a crazy idea with someone else’s sanity might sound like a positive step. For me, it’s not. I’d rather a crazy idea remain purely bonkers, untouched, so that it can either take root or self-immolate.
Sometimes that means that I have to create a “urinal pitch” for my books as I write them. The urinal pitch is a couple of harmless sentences about the project that I can tell to friends and neighbors until the book comes out. The real idea remains subtext. How does that work? Here are some examples:
Urinal pitch: Here’s a furniture style that hasn’t been explored much. There are lots of interesting forms to build.
Subtext: Here’s the missing link between the 18th and 20th century furniture styles. Campaign furniture set the stage for Danish Modern, Mid-Century Modern and even Bauhaus. It’s a crime that this style is unacknowledged.
Urinal pitch: Roman workbenches are easy to build and surprisingly effective.
Subtext: There is an entire world of workholding out there if you are willing to sit down and use your body instead of vise screws. Speed comes from less workholding.
In the coming days, you’ll have two opportunities to listen to Monroe Robinson, author of “The Handcrafted Life of Dick Proenneke,” talk about his experiences serving as caretaker of Dick Proenneke’s cabin for 19 summers in Lake Clark National Park.
There will be a live broadcast on Thursday, April 7 (rescheduled from Thursday, March 24), 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Pacific (12 p.m. to 1 p.m. Eastern), on Johanna Wildoak’s “Wildoak Living” radio program on KZYX, Mendocino Public County Broadcasting. The broadcast will be live-streamed on the KZYX website here.
The program will also be archived in the KZYX jukebox for about two months. You can look for the program by date and time of broadcast here. It will also appear as a podcast on all major podcast platforms. Simply search for “KZYX.”
On Thursday, March 31, the Friends of Dick Proenneke and Lake Clark National Park will host a webinar on Zoom discussing “The Handcrafted Life of Dick Proenneke” at 5 p.m. Alaska time (6 p.m. Pacific, 9 p.m. Eastern).
Panelists will include Monroe Robinson; Fred Hirschmann, founding member and current president of the Friends of Dick Proenneke and Lake Clark National Park; Cheryl Linder, current board member of the foundation (and pictured with Dick Proenneke on Page 349 in “The Handcrafted Life of Dick Proenneke”); and Susanne Green, a National Park Service representative for the foundation and current superintendent of Lake Clark National Park and Preserve.
“The Handcrafted Life of Dick Proenneke,” signed by Monroe, will be for sale as part of the Zoom event. It will be priced at $60, including shipping. Proceeds above the wholesale cost of the books will be donated to the Friends of Dick Proenneke and Lake Clark National Park. You can also donate directly to the foundation here. The foundation is currently raising money for numerous projects, including creating an endowment for the long-term preservation and interpretation of Dick’s cabin and the Twin Lakes basin and continuing reproducing and purchasing artifacts and belongings for the Proenneke site. Funds from the foundation recently helped replaced the sod roof and cure the mold growth at Dick’s cabin.
“The mission of the foundation includes assisting the National Park Service with future restorations of the structures and handcrafted items of Dick Proenneke, providing interpretative staff for the site and preserving the wilderness of Twin Lakes drainage,” Monroe says.
The webinar is open to the first 500 attendees who register. To attend, you must register in advance here. After registering, you’ll receive an email containing information about joining the webinar.
If you’ve ever seen me cut dovetails, whether in person, on video or in still photos, you have almost certainly seen my beloved Woodjoy Tools “Precision Dovetail Template.” I bought it in 2006, and have used it on every one of my dovetailed projects. I also recommended it in Popular Woodworking too may times to count, and in every class I’ve taught that involves dovetails…at least until a few years ago, when Woodjoy’s founder, Glenn Livingston, retired, and the tool was no longer available. Then, I lamented to every class I taught that my favorite dovetail template was no longer available (and to keep an eye on eBay and other secondary markets). And I started begging Christopher Schwarz to make a similar one.
Yes of course there are lots other dovetail templates on the market – I’ve used most of them and even own some of them. Or you can use a sliding bevel for layout. You can also simply start cutting – no lines required – a la Frank Klausz.
But I always loved the small size (which makes it easy to use at either edge of the board), light weight (every ounce counts when packing tools for teaching gigs) and relatively low price of the Woodjoy template.
So I kept bugging Chris (it’s my superpower), and finally wore him down. He said if I could get in touch with Glenn and work out a deal with him, we’d do it. So I did.
I am delighted to announce that coming next week, we will have available the Crucible Dovetail Template; it will be $49 (and Glenn gets a royalty on every one sold).
The Crucible Dovetail Template marks out the two most-common dovetail slopes, 1:6 and 1:8 (I use 1:6 on almost everything, simply because it looks nice to my eye), and allows you to easily and accurately lay out the angled and straight parts of the joint.
Ours is milled from solid steel, which helps to ensure a perfect 90° at the corner (all the excess is recycled). The template measures 5/8″ x 1-11/16″ x 3″. The angled sections are long enough to mark out tails in 1-3/8″ stock. The straight section of the tool is long enough to reach fully across two 3/4″-thick boards (for those who gang-cut dovetails). There’s also a handy hang hole, just like on the original.
And now I’ll have to find something else about which to pester Chris. I feel certain it won’t take me long.
— Fitz
Note: Once we are able to keep up with production, we’ll offer these to our retailers (it’s up to them whether to carry it, of course).
Katherine “Soft Wax” Schwarz has just put up for sale in her etsy store a fresh load of Soft Wax 2.0 – our favorite (and non-toxic!) finish.
As we know, you can’t sell anything on the interwebs without a cute animal photo, so here’s Bean, the three-legged shop cat, wishing he was inside where the treats are (gotta pay for those treats somehow, Bean!).
Notes on the finish: This is the finish I use on the trays of all my tools chests, and that Chris uses on his many chairs. 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.
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 at least two chairs.
