My daughter Katherine is home from college for the weekend and made a big batch of Soft Wax 2.0. It is now up for sale in her etsy.com store. And, as you can see from above, it is endorsed by the almost-never-seen Funky Winkerbean.
If I died tomorrow, Funky would likely get up on his hind legs and immediately propose marriage to Lucy. That is how much he hates me.
This is the finish I use on my 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 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 using a waterless process. Each glass jar contains 8 oz. of soft wax, enough for at least two chairs.
We have been hard at work getting products restocked during a time when many raw materials are hard to find. How bad is it? The company that makes our coffee mugs by hand put it this way:
“We’re running out of clay.”
“Wait. There’s a shortage of… wait…. dirt?”
“Yes.”
So I’m going to say this but once. If there’s something in our store that you want for Christmas, please don’t wait to buy it. We are trying to maintain our stock just like we always have since 2007, but it is rough out there. Here’s some good news: Last week, we had a wave of things arrive at the warehouse. More good news: We have a second wave coming in this week.
Here’s the first wave.
Lost Art Press Handmade Coffee Mugs
Gosh we love these mugs. They’re handmade by an artists’ collective in the Midwest, so each one is just a wee bit different. They are a fantastic value at $35 each. The first run sold out in hours. We re-ordered as many as the collective could handle (before they ran out of dirt), so I wouldn’t tarry on these.
Lost Art Press Caps from Ebbets Field
We hope to stock these hats for a long time. Made in the USA, these hats are cotton and are built to last a long time. If you own a cap from Ebbets then you already know how great they are. If you don’t, I think you’ll be impressed by the build quality and detail. These are the nicest ball caps I’ve ever seen.
Lost Art Press Pencils
Yes, our pencils are back in stock. These pencils are made to our specifications in the USA. They are thicker than normal pencils, have a beefier lead and are perfect for the shop. We put all the money into the wood and lead, and none into a silly eraser. We use these pencils every day at the bench.
Now that it is finally getting cooler, I am looking forward to wearing my moleskin work vest. These are made by Sew Valley here in Cincinnati and we now have stock on all the sizes. Also, we have a few Crucible dividers in stock with another batch arriving this week.
Sorry for all the sales talk. Man, I need a shower now.
I’ve had a few questions lately about fitting the lid to the Anarchist’s Tool Chest, so I’m betting there are at least 10 other readers who need the same answers.
In a non-class situation (that is, when I have the leisure of waiting on stock prep), I wait to cut lid parts to final size until the carcase is completely done. That way, I can measure the glued-up carcase at the top, then cut my rails, stiles and lid panel so that the lid assembly is a perfect fit (including an extra 1/8″ or so at the front and sides) to the top edges of the carcase.
Here’s my “stunt lid” assembly (a teaching tool) aligned with the top edges of my ATC. I aim to have this assembly overhang the chest edges by about 1/16″ on either side, and between 1/16″ to 1/8″ at the front.
Then, after I glue up the lid assembly, I can set it atop its chest and show the dust-seal pieces to the lid to mark them off the work instead of measuring. I’m far more likely to get good results that way.
By showing the dust seal pieces to the work, I can get the perfect width and thickness without using numbers.
Once the lid is done, it’s time to attach it. At the back, it is flush to the carcase – the hinge gains get cut into the top of the back edge of the chest, and the underside of the lid’s back rail, and you end up with a gap of about 1/16″ to 1/8″. Yes, a little dust can get in, but I’ve had tools in my first ATC in my basement shop for more than five years, and they’ve remained rust-free. For five years before that, my shop at home shared space with my books and computer…so it was well heated, air conditioned and humidity controlled. In either case, that little gap? No problem.
During the last few months I have pushed my work back into the realm of the old-style stick chairs that caught my attention in the 1990s. This latest example explores what I love about the early lightweight chairs, which were built with whatever materials (Branches? Curved sticks?) were available.
This chair is built using black cherry from the Ohio River Valley. It is assembled using hide glue, so the joints are reversible should it ever need repairs (in 100 years or so). Like many early chairs, all the components are shaped by hand, and so this chair has a lot of texture.
Wille Sundqvist standing in front of two tool chests. The tool chest mentioned in the story below is the one to the left.
Many of you have asked how the crowdfunding campaign to save Wille Sundqvist’s tools turned out, which we first wrote about here. With a goal of $4,000, the campaign raised $19,183 in just a couple days. Here’s what happened.
When Jögge Sundqvist’s father Wille Sundqvist died in 2018, Jögge and his two brothers assumed that many of Wille’s tools, sculptures and items from his shop would go to them, particularly to Jögge, who has been instrumental in keeping his father’s legacy alive by teaching traditional carving methods via books, videos and classes around the world. Wille lived his last years in Högland, a small village in the Bjurholm Municipality.
And although Jögge and his brothers have been in agreement throughout the entire process of dealing with their father’s estate, there have been others who have not; as so often happens with families, wills and second marriages, things got complicated.
Wille made many horses in his lifetime, including this one in 1991.
The only items that were given to Jögge and his brothers were three horses their father made when he was between the ages of 12 and 16 years old. This is the one that was given to Jögge.
For the first 10 years of Jögge’s life, he and his family lived in an apartment where his dad had his little workshop in the boys’ bedroom. Jögge and his brothers slept on stacked beds next to their father’s workbench, chopping block, axes and saws, and a beautiful tool chest with a precise interior with parts that flipped in and folded out so that every tool had its special place. It’s a long and private story, but even after offering to spend what translates to nearly $1,800 USD months prior to this most recent auction, Jögge and his brothers were unable to gain ownership of their father’s tool chest.
Eventually Wille’s house was sold and all its contents were put up for auction. If Jögge or either of his brothers wanted anything that was still available, they were going to have to buy it. When a Facebook announcement came up about the auction Jögge instinctively posted something along the lines of hoping that the people who buy his father’s remaining tools and things take care of his father’s heritage and share his stories.
In less than 20 minutes Jögge received a message from Ty Thornock.
Jögge first met Ty several years ago. Jögge was teaching up north and Ty, who lived close by, sent Jögge a message and said he wanted to say hi and have a fika (coffee).
“So we did,” Jögge says. “We had a coffee. And that was right after my father’s death. And then all of a sudden he shows me a spoon he made with some kolrosing in it. And it was a picture of my father, in the spoon blade. And I was totally – it was so nice of him. It was so gentle and so warm and he did it in such a beautiful way. And I was so happy to have that spoon. So this is one of the treasures now in my home. He actually gave it to me. He was such a nice guy.”
The spoon Ty made for Jögge.
Ty and Jögge have kept in touch, and Jögge says that Ty has also generously helped him write about kolrosing techniques for his new forthcoming book about Scandinavian chip carving.
So Ty’s a great guy. And he messages Jögge to ask, “Do you want me to set up a GoFundMe?”
Now Jögge had never heard of GoFundMe.
Ty asked how much Jögge thought he needed to cover the tools. Thinking of only the tools and nothing else, Jögge suggested $4,000 USD and sent Ty a picture of Wille. At 6 p.m., Ty posted the campaign on the GoFundMe website. And Jögge? Well, he was invited to dinner at woodworker Beth Moen’s place.
“We had a wonderful evening, good food and we had such a good time together,” Jögge says. “I mean, we’ve known each other since the early ’80s and we’re deep friends.”
Once home that evening, at about 11 p.m., Jögge finally looked at his phone again. “What?” was all he could say.
The campaign had already raised $15,000 USD.
“That was so amazing,” he says. “I couldn’t believe my eyes. I said, there must be something wrong with this. Because I know the slöjd world. I’ve been teaching in Europe, England, United States, Japan, all over. And I know many people in the slöjd world aren’t very rich people. So I was totally blown away. I called my brothers and said, ‘Wow. This is amazing. The slöjd community did it. Now we can buy tools and items from this auction as we want.’”
A few months after Wille died, Jögge had reached out to the municipality of Bjurholm to talk about creating some sort of installation, a memory room if you will. The problem? It’s one of the smallest municipalities in Sweden, just 2,500 people, and not a lot of money is available for such endeavors. And when all the problems with obtaining the items began, the conversations halted. But now? Jögge entered the auction with a new vision.
“I had this in my mind that maybe we could buy things that could represent my father in the room with some text, some videos, some items and some tools,” he says. “So during the auction I tried to buy stuff that would represent his workshop. So I got the chopping block, I got some axes, I got some sketches, I got his apron, I got his signs from the workshop – I think I have a pretty decent collection now, which is special in showing who he was. So I’m very happy about getting all these things.”
Jögge was able to buy his father’s axe at the auction, but missed the saw.
This is the back cover photo from Wille Sundqvist’s book “Tälja med kniv och yxa,” (“Swedish Carving Techniques”). Wille carved on the train when he was traveling. Jögge was able to purchase one of his father’s leather’s aprons at the auction, thanks to money raised.
Jögge says he also felt a sense of relief knowing these items weren’t purchased using his money or his brothers’ money.
“This is the slöjd community in the world that stood up and said, Fight for it! Go for it!,” he says. “And without that I don’t know if I would have been able to actually have the power to do that because it takes – when you lose a father, which you had taken a responsibility for the cultural heritage that he tried to pass on, it’s so tough. And it was so emotional to go there in the workshop and see all the people in the workshop, looking at the things and wanting to buy them and all that stuff. I couldn’t stand it. So I was just sitting outside waiting for the auction to begin. But then knowing that people around the world were in my back, so to say, was just kind of, I was so happy, you know. When I came home, feeling that, OK, well we solved this, we finally kept a private collection and managed to spread the word about my father, with a little help from my friends.”
And the funding truly was worldwide. Jögge laughs and says only a few Swedes contributed money to the campaign, simply because they couldn’t understand it.
“This way of financing things in Sweden is way beyond,” Jögge says. “It’s not happening at all. We have no tradition of private people giving money to others. Because we have a social democratic society you apply for grants or official funding.”
Some of the Swedes who were following this on social media even sent Jögge private messages. “Oh, something is going on?” Jögge says, reciting a typical message. “‘Do you actually need money?’ They couldn’t realize it was happening! It was so special. For a Swede, seeing this, it was blowing my mind in a way.”
Wille Sundqvist’s tool chest
Jögge and his brothers still don’t have the tool chest, some meaningful sculptures and some items that are personally important to them. There’s still a lot of hurt.
“For us, it’s not the money,” he says. “I have to be clear about that. It’s not the money. Even though I’m not a rich man. For me it’s the memory and the stories about father and what he actually achieved with his work that I want to preserve.”
But because of the grand generosity of the worldwide slöjd and woodworking community, Jögge was able to save many of his father’s personal effects. The remaining money will be used to support the Wille Sundqvist and Bill Coperthwaite Slöjd Fellowship, a grant that is awarded every year to craftspeople around the world who are dedicated to sharing their crafts with other people. Jögge says recipients have included Beth Moen, JoJo Wood, Jarrod Dahl, Peter Follansbee, Robin Wood and Masashi Kutsuwa.
“That feels like a really good thing, that this money can come back to people in that way,” he says.
Jögge is also reserving some money to resume talks with Bjurholm Municipality, with hopes of creating a space to honor his father’s legacy.
“So that’s the plan!” Jögge says. “And I hope it’s going to work out.”
