We always joke in classes that the collective IQ drops by at least 30 points when anyone opens a bottle of glue. But now that we’ve switched to using Fish Stick Glue for most of our glue-ups, the stress level is greatly reduced – because this stuff has an open time of 90 or so minutes, there’s enough time to make mistakes and recover with grace. And glue-up success.
Made from the skins of cod, Fish Stick flows nicely at room temperature, and it cleans up easily with hot water, even after it has dried. And no, it doesn’t smell like fish.
Saint Maud’s – a community workshop in northern Wisconsin – just started a 38-week course for 4-H kids to build the armchair in “Build a Chair from Bulls%$t.” Check out the first video here.
They’ll be posting videos on Instagram of the kids as they build their chairs. We’re going to follow along. You can, too. Here’s their Instagram feed. And their Facebook page.
The public workshop resides in a decommissioned Catholic church (hence the “saint” part). And the “Maud?” That was the name of a beloved family dog. (It’s not a religious school. I don’t even know if there is a Saint Maud….)
It’s a great little organization. In addition to the public workshop, they operate a “Sloyd Bus” that travels to surrounding communities to spread the love of handwork to kids. Read more about the Sloyd Bus here.
The workshop was started by Karl and Charlie Zinsmaster in 2022. Charlie (the father) is a long-time community leader. Karl (the son) has a degree in furniture design and worked in New York City and Minnesota before returning home to start the workshop.
We’re all thrilled to see this. The book (which is free to download) is supposed to make chairmaking accessible to anyone with basic tools and home center materials. We can’t wait to see the chairs come together during the coming weeks.
We’ve just added the latest Lost Art Press pocket book – “Make Fresh Milk Paint” – to our bundled pocket book offer: just $83 for the set.
Though the pocket books are small in size – just 4″ x 6-1/2″ – each one is chock-full of expert guidance on a given topic. Current titles (also available individually) include:
“Woodworker’s Pocket Book” Edited by the great Charles H. Hayward and first published in 1949, “Woodworker’s Pocket Book” is a guide to everything from finishing recipes to drawing ellipses to choosing the correct screw or nail.
“Workshop Wound Care” Author, woodworker and emergency room doctor and author Jeffrey Hill has seen every workshop accident in the book…in this book, to be exact. So he knows exactly the information a woodworker needs to know when it comes to injuries. And he presents information in a way that a non-medical professional can easily understand it.
“Sharpen This” Author Christopher Schwarz cuts through the mystery and fear that surround sharpening and tells you what you need to know, in simple, easy-to-understand instruction. With the help of this book, you’ll quickly get your tools sharp and back to the fun part of woodworking: making them dull.
“Build a Chair from Bulls%$t” With the instruction of author Christopher Schwarz, you can build a comfortable wooden stick chair using only materials and tools found at your home center. No jigs, no specialty tools and no exotic techniques. Shovel handles and stair handrails can be easily made into chair legs. The seat and headrest come from the construction lumber aisle. The spindles? Dowels. And the curved arm? Plywood.
“Make Fresh Milk Paint” Woodworker Nick Kroll spent two years formulating and testing his recipe for fresh milk paint, which is based on historical recipes for casein paints – plus a little modern ingenuity. The paint goes on like an acrylic and dries fast – you can put on four coats in a day with no problem. Once dry, the paint has a low luster and hardens to become incredibly durable. You can then leave the paint as-is or topcoat it with wax, oil or whatever you prefer.
Join us for special storefront hours – 10 a.m.-4 p.m. – on Friday, November 28 (the day after Thanksgiving) for holiday cheer: cookies, camaraderie and hot spiced apple cider (with or without adult-only additions thereto).
Chris and I will have some of our personal-but-no-longer-needed tools to sell (cash only, and I’m afraid we can’t ship), along with all the Lost Art Press books and Crucible tools. (I don’t yet know what “seconds” will be available, but it’s fairly safe to say we’ll have at least some!) Plus, we’ll have free Calvin Cobb posters, and a few items from back stock that are no longer available on our website (a handful of T-shirts of old design and perhaps a chore coat or two – again, these are available on-site only).
And we’ll give tours of the warehouse to all who want one.
The address is 407 Madison Ave., Covington, Ky., 41011. Again, the special hours for November 28 are 10 a. m.-4 p.m.
Dr. Mike Epworth with one of his chairs inspired by Jimmy Possum chairs.
I am particularly excited to announce that we will publish a book about the Jimmy Possum chair tradition by Dr. Mike Epworth, who has spent decades studying, researching and building these remarkable Australian folk chairs.
The book’s working title is “Wild Line: The Past and Future of the Jimmy Possum Chairmaking Tradition.” We don’t have a publication date yet, but I suspect it will be a short wait for this book. Epworth has been building up to write this book during his entire adult life.
The Jimmy Possum chair is a form unique to Australia that was born in the Meander Valley of Tasmania in the 19th century. The way the chair is made is ingenious. The front legs of the chair pass through the seat to support the arm. The back legs also pass through the seat at an angle. They also support the arm, and the angle of the back leg provides the rake needed to stabilize the chair.
There are many stories and legends attached to the chair. And the chair has seen many iterations from different makers.
Epworth’s book promises to plumb the history of the chair and the families who built it. But the book will go much further than that – exploring the revival of the chair in the 20th century and plotting out a future for it.
A scale model of a Jimmy Possum chair made by Epworth.
“In the turning of the drawknife, the sound of timber splitting, there remains what Walter Benjamin called the ‘aura’ of the handmade: that trace of presence which cannot be reproduced or perfected, only renewed. It is the slow shimmer of memory held in matter, the conversation between what was made and what is yet to be made,” Epworth writes. “To follow the wild line is to resist the smooth surfaces of modernity, to stay close to the irregular, the felt, the human. The Jimmy Possum tradition, like the land, is never finished. It waits for the next hand, the next imagination, the next making.”
Epworth now builds the chair (and teaches others to build it) using tools and workholding that fit into a backpack. And he uses recycled materials to make his chairs. Many times his classes are for non-woodworkers, and he uses the chair as a way to build community and memory among the classmates.
If you want to read more about Epworth’s interesting work, here are some links to follow:
During my trip to Australia last month I got to see a number of original Jimmy Possum chairs at The Australian Centre for Rare Arts & Forgotten Trades. And I got to meet Epworth and his partner, Bronwyn Harm, who has been taking photos and videos to support Epworth’s research.
All this quickly convinced me that readers would love a book on this chair. I can’t wait to read it.
