The first six chapters of “The American Peasant,” ready to edit. (Note: The book is in color; we usually print it in black and white for editing…’cause toner ain’t cheap!)
Update: Comments are now closed. And I remembered today that next weekend, I’m teaching a class on Sat.-Sun. So I’m afraid the next Open Wire will be on March 16…unless I can cajole one of our authors into doing it next Saturday.
Chris is in Florida through next week to teach two classes, and is then taking a few well-earned days of vacation with his wife, Lucy May. (I expect he’ll pop in from time to time to answer, or comment after hours on chair questions and the like.) In the meantime, I’ll be here editing his first six chapters of “The American Peasant,” and today and next Saturday, answering your woodworking questions.
So post ’em in the comments section below, and I shall do my best.
Comments close at around 5 p.m. … though possibly earlier if a personal commitment gets rescheduled for the afternoon. So don’t leave it until late to pose your question!
One of my pieces from 2018 – Monticello bookcases in walnut and pine – are now up for sale on eBay. These were commissioned by a Michigan customer and came out rather nice.
He’s now putting them up for sale, with the starting bid at $1,500. Normally I don’t promote third-party sales like this on the blog, but this customer has been particularly kind to us in supplying tools for students.
After much analysis and debate, we have decided to put “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” – our bestselling book – on sale for the month of March. Until March 31, the book is $34 – that’s 34 percent off the $51 retail. Plus, all copies sold through us are signed by the author and include a nice wooden bookmark (more on that below).
We don’t do sales. So why are we doing this? During most of the pandemic, the printing plants we use were closed or operated on a skeleton crew. Paper was scarce. And other press supplies (like cover cloth) were impossible to find. So when we managed to get a book on press, we had to place a sizable order.
In 2021, we ordered a big run of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” to get us through the uncertain time. It was our 15th printing of the book. And now, we have way too many copies. So many that we cannot fit them in our warehouse in Covington, Ky. They are spread out in expensive storage lockers all over the city.
This half of our warehouse (and storage lockers on Cincinnati’s West Side), are filled with boxes of this book.
We are near-desperate to make space so that we can fit everything into our warehouse. So we are reluctantly putting “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” on sale.
Because this book is a part of the foundation of our business, we wanted to make this event special. So all copies bought through us are signed individually by the author (me!). And we are including a nice U.S.-made wooden bookmark with each copy during the sale.
The bookmark included with each purchase during the sale.
The bookmark features a quote from humorist Nick Offerman, who is a fan of the book. The first time Megan and I met Nick was in Louisville, Kentucky, at a coffee shop. When we were about to arrive, we texted Nick that he could look for me – a tall bearded fellow – and Megan – a white-haired goddess.
Nick texted back: “I’ll be brandishing an incendiary device.”
That “incendiary device” turned out to be a copy of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest,” which he asked me to autograph. It was the oddest moment in my life – Nick Offerman asking me to autograph a book.
The bookmarks are birch, made in Michigan and quite durable (as they are laminated).
Like all our books, “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” is made in the U.S.A. and printed on quality materials you don’t find in modern books: The pages are sewn together then glued with fiber tape. Then wrapped with heavy hardbound boards covered in cotton cloth.
This book has changed the way that thousands of people do woodwork. Many have told us they quit their corporate jobs as a result of reading it. If you’d like to read what all the fuss is about, this is an excellent opportunity.
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. We have notified our retailers that they are welcome to put the book on sale during March (and we have lowered their wholesale price as well). We try to be as fair as possible.
Roy clowning around on the the set of “The Woodwright’s Shop,” his long-running show.
If you’ve ever wanted to meet Roy Underhill and toast his vast contributions to the craft, here is your chance. At 6 p.m. Saturday, March 23, we’re holding a happy hour for Roy at Juniper’s Gin Bar, which is a short walk from our Covington storefront.
The restaurant has kindly agreed to set aside space for us that evening. You can come meet Roy, ask him to sign a book (or your bosom) and purchase some food and drink if you like. We’ll have copies of Roy’s book “Calvin Cobb! Radio Woodworker” on hand for you to purchase and get signed by the man himself.
We have only limited space, and we are asking that you reserve a space through this free guestlist service. It doesn’t cost any money, but there is a price to pay if you sign up and don’t show up. Megan has threatened a curse upon anyone who would skip out on Roy.
So sign up if you are going to be there. If something comes up, please cancel your reservation so someone else can bask in the light of St. Roy.
Punctuating a form creates a distinct beginning, middle and end.
The following is excerpted from “By Hand & Eye,” by George R, Walker and Jim Tolpin. The book is a deep dive into the world of history, architecture and design. And the authors have emerged with armloads of pearls for readers.
Instead of serving up a list of formulas with magical names (i.e. the Golden Section, the Rule of Thirds) that will transform the mundane into perfection, George R. Walker and Jim Tolpin show how much of the world is governed by simple proportions, noting how ratios such as 1:2; 3:5 and 4:5 were ubiquitous in the designs of pre-industrial artisans. And the tool that helps us explore this world, then as now, are dividers.
The key to good design is to master these basic “notes” – much like learning to sing “do, re, mi.” How to do this is the subject of the first three-quarters of the book. It offers exercises, examples and encouragement in opening your inner eye, propping it up with toothpicks and learning the simple geometry that will help you improve your design.
Punctuation is employed to create pauses and transitions to organize a design into something our eye can take in and comprehend. It’s used on the macro level to establish a beginning, middle and ending of the overall form, and can be woven into the smaller details within a form to visually string elements together.
This small inlay plays an important visual role. It tells the eye that one part is ending and something different is about to occur.
Punctuation can be used to organize a design by creating a distinct beginning, middle and end. This is one of the defining features of traditional design. So much so that it’s woven into the way we tell a story, sing a song or design a building. Our own bodies illustrate this tripartite arrangement with feet, torso and head. Because the human form lies at the very core of this traditional approach, designs are primarily organized vertically, with the beginning at the bottom and ending at the top. Without thinking, when we take in a design we note how it’s anchored to the floor and how it terminates at its highest point. In nature we find abundant examples of organic transitions. Trees don’t just jut up from the earth like a utility pole planted by the phone company. Though largely hidden from sight, the roots flow into the tree trunk just above the soil, bulging out in response to the mass above. Pre-industrial artisans wove this theme into their designs, sometimes boldly creating a beginning with a ball-and-claw foot. Or they took a subtle tack and established a beginning with a small bead, inlay or slight change of taper. Brash or subdued, they help the design tell a story.
Traditional moulding profiles often took their cue from nature.
Also note that most of our traditional moulding profiles have a correlation with the transitions or borders we encounter in nature. The series of torus mouldings swelling at the bottom of a column shadow the swelling of a tree trunk at the roots. The gentle arch of a cove moulding mimics the transitions found in tree branches as they spread to form the canopy.
Two simple punctuations at top and bottom create the major parts of this order. The bottom (beginning) portion is called the pedestal, which supports the column (middle), which in turn ends with the entablature.
The classic orders are a textbook of this beginning, middle and ending, with punctuation woven into the form from the major parts down to minor details. From a proportional standpoint they offer several practical examples of how to achieve punctuation, a reminder that it’s about the principle and not about any specific proportions. Probably one of the most profound lessons they offer is the way they help us see the internal relationship between the larger element and smaller. Punctuation is achieved by dividing up a space into five or more equal parts and having the part at one end act as the beginning or ending. The physical act of stepping off the space with dividers helps us see more clearly the proportional dynamic. When I first began making design judgments, I often had a hunch something wasn’t working. I might sense the feet on a chest were too large. But it wasn’t obvious to my eye that I was uncomfortable with the relationship between the height of the feet and height of the case above it. Walking through the different examples of punctuation in the classic orders drove the lesson home. Now, without thinking, I size up border elements with the spaces they punctuate. Often a border might be too narrow and look weak or, conversely, be too wide and look clumsy because the border element competes rather than complements. As you make the connection between the space and its punctuating border, it becomes easier to see how parts relate.
Does your eye sense anything amiss with the relation between the top and the structure below? Knowing the top punctuates the space below it helps to visualize where this feeling arises.
The classic orders are filled with examples of punctuation woven into the overall form as well as the smaller details. The overall form on all the orders are organized vertically by dividing the entire height into five equal parts and making the bottom part the beginning. The bottom part, or pedestal, punctuates the space above it. On a Doric order, divide the remaining height above the pedestal by five again to establish the ending at the top. This top space is called the entablature and punctuates the space below it. The Ionic and Corinthian orders use a slightly different punctuation sequence, dividing the upper portion by six parts to create a more slender feel.
(L) This idea of punctuation repeats itself. Note that the proportions vary (they are not all one-fifth) but still convey the idea of beginning, middle and end, echoing throughout the entire order. (R) A moulding or inlay detail can incorporate punctuation, in effect weaving this idea of beginning, middle and end down to smallest details.
There’s ample evidence from historic design books that artisans became familiar with a small handful of proportional sequences and the visual effect they lent to a composition. I like to think of them as an array of spices. It’s more important to begin by getting a sense for the flavor they impart, rather than for the actual proportions themselves. You can begin to gain a working vocabulary of these proportional relationships by drawing Doric classic orders in the exercise in Section II, Chapter 4.
