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Good News & Bad News on ‘The Book of Plates’

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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Recently John and I examined our inventory numbers and reviewed our plans for reprints in the coming year. After much thought, we decided not to reprint “The Book of Plates” when we run out of copies. It is simply too expensive to print again and takes up too much space in the warehouse.

The good news is that we still have plenty on hand, probably enough for another 12 months or so. So please consider this fair warning. When this book is gone, it’s gone forever.

To soften the blow, we also decided to give away a small bonus to people who purchase “The Book of Plates” – a small token that will show them the immediate value of what they’ve purchased. It’s the first complete English translation of plate 11.

This translation covers the workbench, of course, but it also covers setting up a workshop. It discusses how to make a drying chamber and a place for the pitsaw.

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Most of the discussion in the text concerns the different tools used by woodworkers and how the bench is constructed. I have not seen a complete translation of this plate anywhere.

So if you buy “The Book of Plates” you will receive a free download of the plate 11 translation immediately.

And what about customers who already purchased “The Book of Plates” from us? Check your email (and your trash, and your junk mail folder). We sent you a copy of the translation this evening. If for some reason you didn’t receive it, send an email to help@lostartpress.com.

“The Book of Plates” is available in our store for $120 (shipping included) and ships to both the United States and Canada.

— Christopher Schwarz

Cheeky Chairs and Brazen Birds

Posted on by saucyindexer

imageAs I work on the index for “Roubo on Furniture” my appreciation for Monsieur Roubo continues to grow. Through the efforts of the translation team Roubo’s voice comes through and he certainly has opinions. Between explanations of how to use tools and make chairs, tables, desks and beds for all occasions he expresses his disdain for chairmakers and exasperation with carvers. Especially the carvers.

Back in the autumn of 2014 I put together several projects to help publicize “The Book of Plates.” Many of the bits and pieces I used are from plates you will see in “Roubo on Furniture.” One project was a short story about Chris’ encounter with some unruly chairs. You can read “Cool!” here.

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The next project combined the many tools drawn by Roubo with a crow. “Mine!” brought together the crow’s use of tools, ability to innovate and its well known behavior for “I want, I take.”

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Other bits and pieces became the “Wingnut Ducks.” The “cattails” and the flying squadron of “bugs” are all from the plates.

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Congratulations to the translation team for the extraordinary work you have done on this second volume of “To Make as Perfectly as Possible.”

Now, it is back to the index for me

–Suzanne Ellison

Roubo With The Sound Turned On

Posted on by saucyindexer
Diorama of Plate 99
Diorama of Plate 99

Almost two years ago Chris sent me a pre-publication copy of “The Book of Plates” and gave me free reign to color, cut-out and otherwise manipulate anything I found in the plates. Yesterday I started work on the index for “Roubo on Furniture” and now get to read the descriptions of each scene, tool and work method in the plates. Most of the plates that I transformed into dioramas and collages are from the furniture book and seeing them again was a reunion with old friends.

The plates have tremendous detail but having the matching text is like have the sound turned on. Part of Plate 4 is a description of  proper storage of wood and protection from the elements. Roubo provides meticulous instruction on stacking the wood and how to achieve the angled “rain diverters” at the top of each pile.

Adding dimension to Plate 4.
Adding dimension and color to Plate 4.

In preparation for this indexing assignment I pulled my special china pattern out of storage. I like my china pattern to match the book.

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Later in the week I’ll revive the Birds of Roubo and the trash-talking Chairs of Roubo.

  • Suzanne Ellison

Come Help Make Roubo ‘As Perfect as Possible’

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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During our next open day for our storefront, Aug. 13, we’re throwing a special “reading party” for the forthcoming “Roubo on Furniture.” You’ll get an advance look at the book and get to read some of the great stuff the authors have dug up from “l’Art du menuisier.”

At the party, we’re going to have the translated text for all 97 plates of “Roubo on Furniture” printed out plus a big jar of red pens. To help, we’ll also have a bunch of copies of “The Book of Plates,” the original 18th century French volumes and my library of woodworking books, which includes a French woodworking dictionary.

Oh, and we’ll have free beer and snacks.

The storefront is located at 837 Willard St., Covington, Ky., 41017. Our hours for that day will be 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

If you can attend, we’ll set you up to look for typos or other errors in the text (we have found multiple cases where Roubo refers to the wrong figures in the plates and we are trying to clean that up). The text for each plate takes about 30 to 40 minutes to read carefully.

For every plate that you edit, we’ll give you a nicely printed commemorative postcard. And a free beer.

The text for this book has already been edited many times by the authors, Megan Fitzpatrick, Wesley Tanner and me. But we haven’t performed a final copy edit on the text where we root out all the nasty language gremlins. So your help with this will be greatly appreciated.

If you can attend, leave a note in the comments section so we know how much beer to bring.

I’m afraid we cannot do this over the Internet. We are not ready to send out this text into the unknown, where people can post it before it’s ready for the public. Apologies, but we’re immovable on that point.

— Christopher Schwarz

Advice Needed on the Forum

Posted on by meghanlostartpress

Three-TraysI went out of town for one weekend and it seems like the forum exploded while I was gone. A lot of advice is what people are after. Remember, if you have a question about our products, procedures in our books or anything related to Lost Art Press, the fastest way to get an answer is our forum. Check it out here.

Wear to the Sliding Tills in the ATC
We all know wear is inevitable, especially to something you use as often as your tool chest. Joshua is looking to make his in a way that will prevent some of this from the start. A couple preventative measures have been given, perhaps you want to give them a try? Perhaps you have other methods that have worked for you?

WoodOwl Bits – Sharpening
Jason hit a steel plate with his WoodOwl nail chipper and is curious to know if he can use the small knife-edge files that Lee Valley sells to sharpen it. Are they the same angle? Help him out here. 

Soft Wax
Has anyone used a wax recipe on their tools as a rust preventative or to lubricate? Did you have success? And did you use a specific wax recipe?

‘I remember a post on here a while ago about a leg vise with no lower guide’
Peter is looking to add a leg vise to his bench and is thinking about taking this approach. It turns out it is the bench from Plate 11 in Roubo. Now it seems he is not the only one looking to use this method. Has anyone given this a shot and able to give some feedback?

Plate-11
Plate 11 from “The Book of Plates”

Moulding Plane Choices
Anyone have a favorite older wooden moulding plane? Neal wants to get one and is looking for suggestions. What shape do you like? Why? Ogee? Reverse ogee?

— MB

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