At long last, “The Anarchist’s Workbench” is back in stock and shipping from our warehouse. The price for the USA-made hardcover is still $27. The price for the pdf is still free. You can download the free pdf easily here.
The second printing features a couple changes we made after the first edition refused to pass through the birth canal without using its claws and teeth. We made slight changes to the paper to avoid some weird inking problems on the web press. I also changed the diestamp on the cover and spine.
The diestamp for the first printing was supposed to be the image above of my bench’s planing stop (which was made by Tom Latane). But, true to form with this book, I couldn’t get it to look right after many attempts. So I used dividers instead as the diestamp.
We also experimented with a blind deboss. And, of course, we couldn’t get the stamping machine to make it as deep as we wanted.
For this new printing, I decided on a whim to draw the diestamp one more time. I grabbed a Sharpie and nailed it on the first try. To avoid the problems of the blind deboss, we used a white ink for the deboss.
Sorry for all the manufacturing details, I should have just said: It’s back!
With this printing, everything went smoothly, and I am pleased with the result.
Other Book News
In the next couple weeks we will begin taking pre-publication orders for “The Workbench Book” by Scott Landis. This classic text has been out of print for a while. And we worked with Scott to make a beautiful hardcover edition with manufacturing details that this great book deserves. More details on this technically difficult (but fun) project in the days ahead.
I use flush-cut saws every day. We have a big Ryoba that I’ve removed the set from to handle big jobs. Plus a variety of middle-weight saws for flushing up wedged tenons and other joinery work. But I’ve never been happy using the bigger saws on curved work, such as a chair seat. The blades aren’t flexible enough, so they tend to gnaw into the surrounding wood.
I once tried a bunch of really high-end flush-cut saws from Japan. Those were too expensive and too handmade for my Foghorn Leghorn hands.
A few years ago I got this little Gyokucho Razorsaw No. 1150 from Lee Valley and have been quite pleased with it. The blade is only 4-1/4” long and is only 0.011” thick. That makes it flexible enough to lay flat on curved surface without much pressure.
Like all the Razorsaws, the quality is fantastic. The teeth are keen and well set. And the tool has an exquisite balance for such an inexpensive item (about $20 to $22).
The only downside is it’s a throwaway tool. The teeth are too tiny to resharpen (for me, anyway). And the blade is not replaceable. It is riveted to the beech handle. So when the tool becomes too dull or kinked, I’ll see if I can make the blade into a fine marking knife.
The saw is available from a variety of suppliers. I like to support family businesses, so I buy mine from Lee Valley Tools.
I – and possibly Bean – will be on @bench.talk.101 today from 3:30-4:30 p.m. EST to talk about my enduring love for tool chests (and current obsession with the Dutch tool chest form in particular) and cats. You can join the conversation by clicking: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81164688577?pwd=b1ZOOWgzQi9ZeExsVDYyWkJMNXdkQT09 at about 3:30.
Or click on the link in the @Bench.Talk.101 Instagram bio, which will appear 5 minutes before the meeting is about to start.
P.S. These meetings are recorded and published on the Bench.Talk.101 YouTube channel, so by joining the conversation, you are giving permission for the talk to be recorded and the recording to be made public for all to enjoy. You can watch previous episodes on the Bench.Talk.101 YouTube channel.
There are many pretenders to the Starrett C 604 RE. Accept no substitutes.
This 6” rule approaches perfection. I will stop everything I am doing in the shop until I can locate it. I bought my first one in 1996 at Aufdekamp’s Hardware in the then-scary Over-the-Rhine neighborhood in Cincinnati. It was about $20, which was a significant sum for me. But the experienced woodworkers with me that day insisted I wouldn’t regret the purchase.
And I haven’t.
What’s so dang perfect about this ruler? For me, it is the graduations etched into the steel and soft chrome background behind them. The soft chrome makes the rule easy to read and won’t reflect light like a mirror. If you buy a vintage rule, avoid the shiny chrome that Starrett used to use. It can be hard to read.
Many other rulers have graduations that are of too-similar lengths – the 16ths, 8ths and 4ths are too close in length, which makes the rule difficult to read. Starrett perfected the graduations, and I can take a measurement with one glance instead of four or five.
The graduations are finely milled into the steel and are filled with a durable black. Many other rules have graduations that are far too wide. And I am not talking about machinist precision here – many graduations on cheap rules are wide enough to interfere with handwork.
Finally, the little scale on the end is a nice feature. Very handy for measuring tenon shoulders, the depths of dados, etc.
It’s not perfect, however. If I could change one thing about the rule, it would be to remove the 64ths. I could probably work fine without the 32nds as well. When I need to get into 64ths and the like, I’m going to use a different tool.
But I cut the rule some slack on this point because it was made for machinists.
Whenever I take our dog, Joey, to the vet, he treats me to an ear-splitting performance of terror and woe. Just getting in the truck prompts panic; although I took him everywhere when he was a pup, he’s spent most of his adult life in the house, yard or shop. As a result, the truck has come to signify just one thing: that terrible destination where he gets poked, palpated and robbed of all agency. We turn from Woodyard Road onto Smith Pike and all hell breaks loose: the angry barks and plaintive cries, the look – part-imploring, part-accusatory. “Mom! NO! You CANNOT take me there! PLEASE! I won’t go! I can’t stand it! Turn around! MOM!!!” – all on repeat.
But I’ve always been struck by what happens as soon as I park the truck. His demeanor instantly shifts from avoidance-at-all-costs to single-minded resolution: OK then, let’s get this over with.
I thought of Joey last Thursday as I contemplated the pint or so of “Mochaccino Smoothie” barium sulfate suspension I was going to choke down between 7:30 and 8 the next morning (it turned out to be just fine, even if it would fall short of the expectations some might have based on the cup of foamy cappuccino and random chunks of chocolate that illustrate the label), followed about a half hour later by another 10 or so ounces, before driving to the local radiological center for a CT scan.
“How is it possible that I am doing this to myself?” I marveled, as I always do when facing a frightening medical procedure. I’m still the person who, as a 6- or 7-year-old kid with an extreme fear of needles, was struck one day at the doctor’s office by the realization that I had the power to walk right out the door. And so I did. As I recall, my mother and one of the nurses ran after me, but for those few moments the sense of agency was potent. It lasted until my mother informed me I’d have to swallow two pills the size of grenades if I wasn’t going to have the shot. (I still chose the pills, which we pulverized.)
Last Thursday, the urgency of my desire to know what was causing my vague but increasing abdominal discomfort shifted me into resolution. I thought of Joey. (It wasn’t the first time I’ve regarded a dog as an exemplar.)
I parked the truck, signed the consent forms and followed the technician through the labyrinth of offices, radiological suites and exam rooms to our destination, where I replaced my jeans with a pair of pants that would have fit John Candy and lay down on the table. The tech stuck an IV in my arm, not without some wincing from me, and described the sensations I should anticipate when the contrast medium went in.
After 42 interminable hours of waiting, my doctor called with the results: there was a mass on my pancreas, and it was likely malignant. The reading didn’t come as a complete surprise; this medical mystery tour had started with an abdominal ultrasound the week before that suggested reason for concern. The next step would be a biopsy.
The biopsy was performed at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, confirming the preliminary diagnosis. I never imagined I would write the words “I had a biopsy this morning (possibly the most pleasant endoscopic experience *anyone* has ever had – the nicest people, most respectful/non-paternalistic doctors, and totally pain-free procedure),” as I wrote to Chris Schwarz later in the day, but there you have it. I have an appointment with an oncologist next week to learn more and discuss where we might go from here.
My maternal grandmother died of pancreatic cancer. I’ve known others personally, as well as followed news of prominent people who have faced this diagnosis. I am well aware of its gravity, so please spare all of us any ominous warnings you may feel moved to share in the comments.
Why this post on a blog devoted to woodworking? For a start, woodworkers are people; all of us face devastating news at one time or another, and I’m not the first person to note that no one gets out of here alive. The more we acknowledge these Instagram-unworthy dimensions of life (despite their dampening effects on the kind of commerce that thrives on implicitly denying so much of what makes our lives truly worth living), the more responsibly we can act, and the better we can savor what life has to offer. Knowing you’re not alone in your experience is golden, whether of breast cancer or back surgery, sudden homelessness in the wake of a hurricane or fire, or having to choose between keeping your home above freezing and being able to purchase the medicine on which your life depends.
There’s also value in sharing honest appraisals of the experience for those who may come behind. As much as I dreaded yesterday’s endoscopy, I faced it with less fear than I would have, had I not heard about a friend’s experience of the same procedure. A frank assessment of how easy “Mochaccino Smoothie” barium sulfate is to swallow is no less valuable to anyone facing a similar procedure than an honest review of the SawStop slider to a woodworker with a relatively small shop.
Mostly, though, I would love the company of any readers who might like to be my companions in this adventure, which I would obviously have preferred not to have thrown in my path. (You can follow by subscribing here.) Many readers of this blog have become friends in real life; I also appreciate the back-and-forth I’ve enjoyed with some of you I haven’t yet met. Lost Art Press is home to thoughtful and intelligent readers from a variety of backgrounds, and I’m honored to be in your company.
It’s important to emphasize that despite the diagnosis, and apart from the abdominal discomfort, I feel fine. I seem to have no other symptoms – I have plenty of energy, even if the endless waiting and existential upheaval of the past two weeks has made it hard to focus on getting “real work” done. I plan to keep up the series of profiles categorized under “Little Acorns,” and I have a few design jobs, along with a wall of built-ins I have underway in the shop. We’ll go from there.