“Open Wire” is your bi-monthly opportunity to pose to us any and all woodworking questions, and we’ll do our best to answer (if you ask on other days, we’ll tell you to please wait for Open Wire). It’s simple – we post a blog entry on the scheduled Saturday mornings (usually at around 7:30 a.m. Eastern) and readers can post questions in the comments for us (and other readers) to answer. Comments close at 5 p.m. Eastern.
The Open Wire Dates for 2025 are:
February 15 April 19 June 14 August 9 October 25 December 13
– Fitz
p.s. We sometimes answer with links to posts we’ve already written (e.g. What wood to use for a workbench. What’s the best angle for dovetails. What jack plane to buy.), so if you can’t wait for one of the 2025 Open Wire dates, try a Google search at site:lostartpress.com – after 15+ years of entries on this blog, odds are decent you’ll find an answer.
My book on Roman workbenches and early workholding is now a free download for everyone. You don’t have to register, or give up your email, or sign up for sausage-making lessons. You can just click here, and the download will begin.
If you forget to do this, you can always go to the book’s page in our store and download it from there.
This is the seventh book of mine that I have made free to download. It is a small way to help people get started in the craft who might not have a big budget. Here are the other six free titles.
I am working toward making all my books available for a free download. Sometimes this involves getting permission from others who have a stake in the book. That’s why it takes some time and effort.
Late this year, we sold out of “Cut & Dried”. Author Richard Jones had some changes he wanted to make in the third edition. This week, we sent the book, with these changes, to press.
Some of the changes were small corrections, such as moving an illustration up a bit to better match the text and a degree mark slightly lower and larger than the rest.
Other changes were more significant.
This includes an extensive rewrite of section 6.6: Measuring Wood Moisture Content. Here, Richard adds new information on how biomass fuel moisture content is assessed, which differs from the methodology used for assessing the moisture content of wood used by woodworkers.
Richard wanted to add this because it’s particularly relevant to environmental considerations, such as reducing pollution from wood smoke.
This addition added a few pages to the book, which may not seem like a big deal until you consider the table of contents, text in chapters directing readers to a particular page number, and the index. We were lucky enough to once again work with Rachel, who created the original index and was familiar with the book, to make the necessary index updates.
Another significant change is the cover. Since the book’s second printing in 2019, paper and printing costs have skyrocketed. When we received the quote for the third printing, we had two choices: Increase the retail price (by a lot) or ditch the dust jacket and switch to paper over boards for the cover. We chose to keep the retail price the same. This means the design on the dust jacket will be printed directly on the hardback cover. The 9” x 12” book will still be printed on heavy #80 matte-coated paper.
When reviewing ‘Cut & Dried’ back in 2019, J. Norman Reid of Highland Woodworking wrote: “‘Cut & Dried’ is one of the most complete and detailed works on wood and wood technology available to non-specialist cabinetmakers. For this reason, it merits a place on the reference shelves of all serious woodworkers. I highly recommend this important book.”
“Cut & Dried” should be back in stock in early 2025.
This year has been a good one – maybe our second or third best since we started in 2007. I won’t have all the numbers for a couple weeks, but to close out the year, here are our top 10 books in terms of unit sales. There are some surprises.
The Anarchist’s Tool Chest: This book topped the list because we printed the last press run of the current edition in an original tan cover. (If you want a copy, you better snatch it because we are almost out.) I’m working on the revised edition, which will be in color and will be released in 2025.
The American Peasant: We sold out the first press run and we are now into the second.
Principles of Design: We printed (and sold) 3,000 copies in three months. We weren’t planning on doing a second run, but y’all changed our minds. This book will be back in stock in January.
Set & File: Not a surprise. This book sold well right out of the gate and has long legs.
Dutch Tool Chests: A surprisingly strong showing for a book that was released so late in the year (October). The book sold more copies on the first day than any book in our history.
