Lost Art Press

Time to Whine

Posted on by Lost Art Press

The worst woodworking mistakes I’ve made have to do with shop time. 

When it comes to estimating how long it will take me to perform a series of operations, I always guess too low. When I first started estimating how much time a new commission would take me, I learned to double my number. A cabinet I thought would take 40 hours would take 80.

That first mistake will kill a furniture business right quick. You have to get your estimates right, or lower your standard of living, or go back to work for the corporate bully boy. For amateurs, that mistake is not a big deal, except when it comes to cribs. 

Many of my friends who made cribs for their first child never saw the projects in use until the second child arrived.

Second mistake: When I botch a single operation, I always grossly overestimate how much time it will take to start the operation again from scratch. Example: I recently messed up an entire set of sticks for a chair. I moaned and stomped around the shop, wondering how I could save the poopy sticks with some patching, wedging or witchcraft. 

“Argh,” I whined. “I’m going to lose an entire day making new sticks.”

I moped a bit and grabbed a new set of rough sticks and started shaving. In 60 minutes I was done, and the new sticks looked much better than the first set.

Idiot.

This sort of mistake is more insidious. Trying to repair or navigate around a complex mistake – instead of starting the operation over – usually takes me far more time. And the result is less than stellar. 

As soon as I start scheming to repair something with some crazy technique that involves the warp core, reversing the polarity or separating the saucer section, I stop.

I put the crappy parts aside. I get some more wood. I start again.

— Christopher Schwarz

New Vests & ‘Country Woodcraft: Then & Now’ News

Posted on by Lost Art Press

Apologies for all the commercial blogs. We are trying to get all our holiday stuff into the store early because of delays with the mail system. Order soon to avoid disappointment. Today I have two quick things to report.

We finally have our brown moleskin vests in stock. These are identical to our green ones except for the color. These are handmade in Cincinnati using moleskin from Great Britain. Custom buttons. Durable stitching. My vest has become one of my favorite objects.

The only additional thing I can say about them is that I wouldn’t delay. These should sell quickly. (Also, we still have a few of the green ones in stock in XL and XXL, which you will see in the dropdown menu for “color.”)

Second item: The printer is finishing up work on Drew Langsner’s “Country Woodcraft: Then & Now” and it will be done soon. As a result, this is your last chance to order it and receive a free pdf of the book at checkout. After midnight on Thursday (Nov. 5), buying the book with the pdf will cost $48.75 (instead of $39).

We don’t know when the pre-publication orders will ship from the warehouse. Probably within two weeks.

We are thrilled to be publishing this updated and expanded edition of such an important woodworking book. “Country Woodcraft” inspired a generation of woodworkers to make spoons, bowls and other handy home implements. And we hope that the new version will inspire another generation.

— Christopher Schwarz

First Critique, Then Build

Posted on by Lost Art Press
A pile of my early designs from the 1990s that were vetted by my fellow editors.

If you want a good critique to help you grow as a designer (or a writer) here’s something to consider: Ask for the criticism before you touch the tools (or crank up the printing press).

Because of my odd path through life, almost all of my early furniture designs were vetted, savaged and usually improved by a group of experienced woodworkers before I started the construction process. For 15 years, all of the editors at Popular Woodworking would gather occasionally around a table to plan out future issues of the magazine. We would review proposals from outside authors and we would present our own designs for review.

The short critiques sounded like this: “That rail is too heavy. You don’t have enough meat in that joint. That overhang looks clunky. You might consider adding a sympathetic curve here. It needs a cup holder. If you tapered the legs it would look a lot lighter.”

Everyone had to go through the process, even the boss who went to a fancy furniture school.

This sort of pre-construction critique is so helpful, that I seek it out even now. Before I build a new chair or cabinet design I like to show my drawings to someone who knows their stuff and isn’t afraid to speak up.

I don’t act on every piece of criticism, but it always makes me think. And sometimes it pushes me down a new path.

On the other hand, criticism that comes after a piece is built is a different animal. With pointy fangs.

I’ve spoken to woodworking clubs all over the country. Many times they invite me to critique pieces made by their members. The first time I was asked to do this, I thought: “What a brave bunch of woodworkers.”

Then the club’s president took me aside and said: “Please be nice about it. One speaker was so mean that a couple of the guys ended up in tears.”

I empathize with this approach. Most of the members of a club are there to have a good time, learn about woodworking and help their community. They aren’t looking for a withering critique that will thicken their skin and question their choices as a designer. And so when I critique a finished piece I focus on what they did right and (I hope) encourage them to keep building.

One of the pieces from a recent “Chair Chat.” I loved this chair so much I made this drawing of it.

Another Way to Do It

What if you don’t have any friends who are experienced designers? One thing you might try is to get a few friends together and have something like our “Chair Chats” (we have two more publishing real soon). During each chat, Rudy Everts, Klaus Skrudland and I dissect the design of a few chairs. Because these are historical pieces, we are free to be as honest as possible.

What has been amazing to me is to see these pieces through the eyes of someone else I respect. We all pick up on different aspects of a piece. And by the time we completely take apart a chair verbally, I find that I understand the piece much better than I did before. 

We do it via a texting program (Whatsapp) so that everyone’s opinions are heard. No one can talk over the others and dominate the discussion. It doesn’t take a lot of time, either. We spend about 30 to 40 minutes on a chair. And at the end of each critique I feel oddly refreshed, energized and full of ideas.

And that’s the best feeling ever for a designer.

— Christopher Schwarz

Printing Delays on 2 ‘Anarchist’ Books

Posted on by Lost Art Press

We have yet to replenish stock on “The Anarchist’s Workbench” and “The Anarchist’s Design Book” due to delays at one of our printing plants.

Both books have been delayed by several weeks but should be back in inventory the week of Nov. 16, according to our press representative. The reason the books have been delayed is complex. But if you boil it all down, big publishers need more printing capacity this fall so the small publishers get to sit on their hands.

If you are waiting for us to restock, I recommend you instead visit one of our retailers. Many of them have stock of both titles and can ship immediately.

— Christopher Schwarz

How to Sharpen a Piercer Bit

Posted on by fitz
Fig. 4.16 Lay the burnisher flat on the cutting face. You only need to work near the bit’s end. It’s not necessary to sharpen all the way up the flute. We usually only sharpen one side, but piercers are made to bore holes both clockwise and counterclockwise. Sharpen the side or sides according to how you will use the tool. Do not touch the outside of the piercer.

The following is excerpted from “Make a Joint Stool from a Tree,” by Jennie Alexander and Peter Follansbee.

Like with any tool, there are a lot of different ways to sharpen piercer bits. Files, stones, burnishers and more. We sharpen them on the inside only. Many different methods will work, including using burnishers, files and stones. The best tool we have found for sharpening these bits is a triangular burnisher. If you can’t find one, then you can take a worn-out triangular file, grind off its teeth and mount it in a handle. Then you can use it as a burnisher to turn the piercer’s edge from the inside.

Mark Atchison, a blacksmith we have worked with for years, has a nice method of getting these bits really sharp. He uses a worn-out round file, and grinds the end of it square and uses it as a burnisher to run down the inside edge of the piercer. Save your old worn-out round files; you can use various-sized burnishers to fit different-sized piercer bits.

Fig. 4.17 All you need to sharpen the piercer bit is a triangular burnisher, like the one shown here mounted in a turned handle. Its steel is hard enough to turn a hook on the piercer’s steel.
Fig. 4.18 This version of sharpening a piercer is not all that different from the previous idea. Blacksmith Mark Atchison pushes the file/burnisher down along the inside of the piercer’s flute. This creates a hook, much like on a cabinet scraper.