Lost Art Press

Now Shipping: ‘Make a Chair from a Tree – Third Edition’

Posted on by Lost Art Press

I am pleased to announce that “Make a Chair from a Tree – Third Edition” by Jennie Alexander is now available for purchase and is shipping immediately from our Indianapolis warehouse. The book is $37 plus shipping. 

If you purchase the book before July 21, 2021, you will receive a free pdf of the book at checkout. After July 21, buying the book plus the pdf will cost $46.25.

The third edition of “Make a Chair from a Tree” is completely new. The text was rewritten by Jennie Alexander with the help of Larry Barrett before her death in 2018. Peter Follansbee then helped polish the text, photos and images. Many other people around the country contributed to the effort to bring this book back into print. Why go to so much trouble?

In 1978, the first edition of “Make a Chair from a Tree” kicked off an enormous surge of interest in green woodworking and chairmaking. Since that time, Jennie continued to refine the design of the chair shown in the book plus the processes to make it (steambending wasn’t covered in the first edition).

We hope that this all-new edition will inspire other woodworkers to pick up the craft and build this beautiful, lightweight and incredibly comfortable chair.

The new edition is the same quirky 9” x 9” trim size. But the manufacturing similarities end there. The new edition is full-color with sewn signatures and is hardbound. 

We hope that many of our retailers will carry this title, but that is their decision, not ours. So a note to your favorite retailer might encourage them to carry the title.

— Christopher Schwarz

Things I Googled While Copy Editing ‘The Stick Chair Book’

Posted on by Kara Uhl
Binder one of two of this 600+ page book.

For spelling, capitalization, usage, style, context, out of curiosity:

crinoline
marqueters vs marquetarians
Archimedes
Dukes of Hazzard
hindguts
pseudopodia
dammit vs damn it
“is [read the book to find out] from Raising Arizona”
Martin Löffelholz
mushrooming
magic marker
wallered out
cabal
shagreen
Kha’s tomb
Esperanto
boogering
whoop-de-do
tenterhooks
Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area
geegaw
Liberace chapeau
popliteal height
vicar
cwtsh
Shmoo
Gouda
Old Testament
charlatans
Castile

I think that list is marketing gold in and of itself but I will add this, despite the fact that Chris hates praise (something he writes about in this book): “The Stick Chair Book,” which was created from a great wealth of research, intimate knowledge and years of experience, is every part of every definition of the word generous. And, it was a joy to read.

— Kara Gebhart Uhl

Sources for Stick Chair Makers

Posted on by Lost Art Press

When I started making chairs, I wanted someone to hand me a list of tools and say: “Here. Buy these, and you’ll be on your way.”

The longer I made chairs, the more I understood why a list like that isn’t a good idea. There are too many tools out there and too many variables in how people like to work.

For example: I’m not a big drawknife guy. Ask me to recommend a drawknife, and I’ll give you a bewildered look. Ask Peter Galbert or Curtis Buchanan about drawknives, however, and you will get a master’s thesis on the tool.

Another problem is that suppliers are constantly changing. If I told you to buy a Harris Tools travisher, you’d spend months trying to hunt one up and spend some stupid money. Toolmakers come and go. Plus, they go through management changes – both good and bad.

The easy way out of this problem is to say: “Sorry, I can’t help. Do your own homework on tools.” But as someone who bought a lot of crappy chairmaking tools back in the day, I can’t do that to another person.

The following list is, I hope, a helpful medium. It’s a list of the suppliers I use and trust – plus the tools and supplies that I buy from them. These are the tools and supplies that I think are important to my success. If a type of tool isn’t listed – say, a scratch awl – that’s because I don’t think it really matters what kind of scratch awl you buy.

And because the marketplace is constantly changing, I didn’t want to print this list in “The Stick Chair Book.” Instead, I’ll issue a new list if new suppliers emerge or go out of business. This one is current as of June 2021.

Cold-bend Hardwood
Pure Timber LLC http://www.puretimber.com/cold-bend-hardwood-1/

Liquid Hide Glue
Old Brown Glue https://www.oldbrownglue.com/

Beeswax
Bulk Apothecary https://www.bulkapothecary.com

Soap Flakes
Pure Soap Flakes https://puresoapflakes.com/

Limonene (Citrus Solvent)
Real Milk Paint Co. https://www.realmilkpaint.com

Tapered-tenon Cutters (12.8°)
Hollow Augers/Straight Tenon Cutters
Reamers (12.8°)
WoodOwl Augers
Universal Sharpener
Spokeshaves
Auriou Rasps
Earlex Steam Generator
Veritas Dowel Maker
Felt Wheel for Grinder
Honing Compound
Lee Valley Tools https://www.leevalley.com/

Froe
Lie-Nielsen Toolworks https://www.lie-nielsen.com/

Dozuki
Gyokucho Razorsaw https://hardwickandsons.com

Sliding Bevel
Vesper Tools https://www.vespertools.com.au
Blue Spruce Toolworks https://bluesprucetoolworks.com/

Reamers and Tenon Cutters (6°)
Elia Bizzarri https://handtoolwoodworking.com/travishers/

Star-M Japanese F-Type Auger Bit
Workshop Heaven https://www.workshopheaven.com

WoodOwl OverDrive Bits
Taylor Toolworks https://taytools.com/

Bedan Sizing Tool
Highland Woodworking https://www.highlandwoodworking.com

Travishers
Claire Minihan Woodworks https://cminihanwoodworks.blogspot.com/
Elia Bizzarri https://handtoolwoodworking.com/travishers/
Windsor Workshop https://thewindsorworkshop.co.uk/

Scorp/Inshave
Lucian Avery, blacksmith https://www.lucianaveryblacksmith.com/
Barr Specialty Tools https://barrtools.com/

Soft-jaw Pliers
Tamiya Non-scratch Pliers https://www.tamiyausa.com

Hi-Vise
Benchcrafted https://www.benchcrafted.com/

Band Saw Blades
Woodslicer from Highland Woodworking https://www.highlandwoodworking.com

Abrasives
Mirka Abranet https://www.mirka.com/abranet/

Moisture Meter
Lignomat https://www.lignomatusa.com/

— Christopher Schwarz

Update: ‘Make a Chair from a Tree’ & Bandanas

Posted on by Lost Art Press

Good news. The printer has finished work on “Make a Chair from a Tree” by Jennie Alexander, and the book is en route to our Indianapolis warehouse.

We hope to begin selling and shipping the book to customers next week. The book is in full color, 184 pages, hardbound and printed in the United States. It will be $37 plus shipping. Once the book arrives, we will also begin fulfilling orders from our retailers – but we have no idea when this book will make it to the retailers’ shelves, I’m afraid.

The completion of this book closes a long and tiring chapter for a lot of people who helped Jennie revise her book (I think every single sentence is new). And an equally large team that worked together to get this book published after Jennie’s death.

Bandana & Pencil News

This week, we had to cut off sales of our “Nothing Without Labour” bandana because we ran short of pencils that are bundled with the bandana. We hope our pencils will be back in stock next week. If that happens, we will be able to sell the remaining 70 bandanas and 350 pencils. 

If you really want one of these bandanas, then keep an eye out on the blog. I’ll post an update as soon as I know anything.

— Christopher Schwarz

Now Shipping: New Bandanas + Shop Pencils

Posted on by Lost Art Press

In 1905, Bittner, Hunsicker & Co., a Pennsylvania clothing company, had a truly excellent logo as their letterhead. It’s a skep – an early beehive – with the slogan: “Never Despair: Nothing Without Labour.” (FYI, bees and skeps were early symbols used by tradespeople. It’s not a Masonic, Mormon or cult thing. It’s bees, people. Bees are busy and productive – end of story.)

Now we have put the image on a bandana and printed the slogan on some excellent shop pencils. We are offering them together for one price: one bandana and five shop pencils for $33. Sorry, they are not available separately.

About the Bandanas
The original art was a bit dense for a clean, crisp screen print. So our pal and talented illustrator Page Biersdorff tidied up the image with screen printing in mind, and our bandanna beaus at One Feather Press worked their magic

The Lost Art Press bandana is designed by us and made by the fantastic One Feather Press in East Nashville, Tenn. Each bandana is cut, sewn, printed and washed by hand, one at a time. It’s a true water-based discharge print, so the design is visible on both sides of the fabric. The edges are hemmed, and one edge is the fabric’s selvage – the clean edge of the fabric that can’t unravel. They’re softer than our old bandannas, and an even better print quality.

Limited quantities. Once they are gone, they are gone forever.

Some statistics:

22″ x 22″
100 percent cotton
Cut, sewn and printed in Tennessee
Limited edition of 240

About the Pencils
For years we have searched for shop pencils that were durable, had lead that wasn’t gummy, were easy to hold and didn’t have the silly eraser (which is worthless in the shop, in our opinion). And we wanted them to be inexpensive.

We aren’t pencil hobbyists who debate the fine points of the Blackwing 602 vs. the Caran d’Ache Hb1 (where each pencil costs $2 or more).

We finally found these pencils via one of our local contractors, who picked his up from an old hardware store. I traveled to the store and sweet-talked their buyer into giving up the supplier. 

These are tough pencils at a full 3/8″ in diameter and won’t snap without a fight. The lead is stronger than a typical pencil, takes a fine point and makes a dark mark.

If you are looking for a pencil to take to the Fancy Lad Academy, look elsewhere. If you want a day-to-day tool, these are great.

— Christopher Schwarz