Lost Art Press

Spoon Carving & Other New Classes Now Open for Registration

Posted on by fitz

The new Covington Mechanicals classes posted last Monday are now open for registration (and linked just below). We also still have openings in some of our other 2019 classes, and those are linked below the four new ones.

Intro to Spoon Carving with JoJo Wood, June 17
Eating Spoon Master Class with JoJo Wood, June 18-19
Build the “Anarchist’s Tool Chest” with Megan Fitzpatrick, August 19-23
Build the Cabinetmaker’s Sector with Brendan Gaffney, November 23-24
Greenwood Post-and-rung Stool with Andy Glenn, March 23-24
Hoj Footstool with Brendan Gaffney, March 30-31
French Polishing with Derek Jones, July 11-12
Make a Carved Oak Box with Peter Follansbee, July 29-August 2
Build a Packing Box & School Box with Kieran Binnie, September 23-27
Build a Wall Cabinet with Anne Briggs (Anne of All Trades), October 7-11
Chip Carving with Daniel Clay, October 19-20
Build a Jennie Alexander Chair with Ray Schwanenberger, November 4-8
Make a Carved Oak Box with Peter Follansbee, December 9-13

As always, if you have questions about the classes in the Lost Art Press storefront, please send an email to me at covingtonmechanicals@gmail.com.

— Fitz

p.s. You can also take a class with me on either coast. On the West Coast, June 24-28, build a fancy Dutch tool chest build at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking in Washington State (it’s a gorgeous place!). On the East Coast, July 20-21, learn to cut four key corner joints with hand tools at Lie-Nielsen Toolworks in Warren, Maine (OK…it’s a 1/2-hour inland, but you can stay on the coast!).

Lump Hammers Back in Stock

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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We’ve just delivered a large batch of Crucible lump hammers to our Indiana warehouse and they are available for sale and immediate shipment. The price is $85 plus shipping.

These hammer heads are milled out on a CNC, but everything else is done by hand – the surface finishing, the assembly, the detailing. As such, they will exhibit infinitesimal imperfections that are the result of a handmade product. If you are looking for perfectly extruded and plastic perfection, this is not the hammer you are looking for. Try the home center instead.

Each tool is a little different, thanks to the hickory, which has great variations in color, and the hand finishing of the heads, the hand-cut wedge and the hand assembly. I have personally inspected every one of these hammers with my eyes about 1” from the surfaces. They are gorgeous.

— Christopher Schwarz

 

Coming Soon: Peter Follansbee’s ‘Joiner’s Work’

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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This week I’m performing the final edit on Peter Follansbee’s forthcoming book, “Joiner’s Work.” If all goes to plan, it should be released in April.

Peter started work on this book eight years ago as a way to expand on the work from his book with Jennie Alexander, “Make a Joint Stool from a Tree.” The new book covers the construction of carved boxes, numerous chests, a bookstand and the fantastic geometric carving that blankets almost all of his woodwork – including his kitchen cabinets.

Because “Joiner’s Work” is firmly rooted in 17th-century American technique, it contains an outstanding guide to processing green wood from the log to the finished part. I don’t know anyone living who has done more of this sort of work, and so Follansbee offers no theories, ideas or concepts about green woodwork. Just hard-won experience: what works, what doesn’t and what to do when things go wrong.

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The projects are similarly no-nonsense, and Peter declines to offer 21st-century precision – such as CAD-perfect construction drawings – as a way to build 17th-century work. Why? If you’ve seen 17th-century chests where the builder used a router to help carve the panels, then you probably already know the answer in your heart. It looks wrong and silly. Instead, Peter offers a flexible way of approaching the projects that allows you to use what you have on hand to create boxes, chests and other work.

My favorite section in the book is on the carving. Peter unlocks the simple geometry behind the patterns he uses and shows – step-by-step – how he lays out and executes each cut. He insists that the tools and techniques are simple. After reading it, I believe him. It is simple. It’s just amazing to me how the end result is greater than the sum of its parts.

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Finally, I have to say something about Peter’s voice throughout the book. If you’ve ever taken a class from him or attended one of his lectures, you know he has a sharp wit. And he uses it to cut things apart. This book has the Full Follansbee. Reading it is like listening to the guy. It’s a delight to read.

We’ll post more details about the book, and when it will be available, shortly. “Joiner’s Work” was a long time in the making, but I promise it will be worth it.

— Christopher Schwarz

Updates to our PDFs are Not Nefarious

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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When we make small corrections to our books with each printing, we also update the pdfs in our store so that everything matches. We also send out a link to the new pdf to all the customers who have purchased the pdf, even if the purchase was five years ago.

We do this so that everyone who bought the pdf has the most current version. The changes to these pdfs are minor – typos, small production issues, fixed photo credits etc. If there is a substantive error, we issue an errata on the blog.

This week we sent out pdf updates to both “Shaker Inspiration” and “The Intelligent Hand.” And we have received a ton of emails asking if these are spam, a virus, a spoof or something else evil and false.

They’re not. Clicking on the link will simply download the newest version of the pdf to your device. If you don’t want the newest version, don’t click the link.

Apologies if this is causing distress.

— Christopher Schwarz