Lost Art Press

Katherine managed to make another batch of wax this week. I’m guessing she has some vet bills to pay because Bean now has a younger brother. Meet Billy! He has a bobtail, and he pretty much purrs with happiness every moment he’s awake. 

He also likes to wrestle – and so does Bean. It looks like a great match.

You can snag a jar of Soft Wax 2.0, which is now in her etsy store. You can watch a video of how to use the wax here.

Instructions for Soft Wax 2.0
Soft Wax 2.0 is a safe finish for bare wood that is incredibly easy to apply and imparts a beautiful low luster to the wood.

The finish is made by cooking raw linseed oil (from the flax plant) and combining it with cosmetics-grade beeswax and a small amount of a citrus-based solvent. The result is that this finish can be applied without special safety equipment, such as a respirator. The only safety caution is to dry the rags out flat you used to apply before throwing them away. (All linseed oil generates heat as it cures, and there is a small but real chance of the rags catching fire if they are bunched up while wet.)

Soft Wax 2.0 is an ideal finish for pieces that will be touched a lot, such as chairs, turned objects and spoons. The finish does not build a film, so the wood feels like wood – not plastic. Because of this, the wax does not provide a strong barrier against water or alcohol. If you use it on countertops or a kitchen table, you will need to touch it up every once in a while. (I have it on our kitchen countertops and love it.) Simply add a little more Soft Wax to a deteriorated finish and the repair is done – no stripping or additional chemicals needed.

Soft Wax 2.0 is not intended to be used over a film finish (such as lacquer, shellac or varnish). It is best used on bare wood. However, you can apply it over a porous finish, such as milk paint.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS (VERY IMPORTANT): Applying Soft Wax 2.0 is easy if you follow the simple instructions. On bare wood, apply a thin coat of soft wax using a rag, applicator pad, 3M gray pad or steel wool. Allow the finish to soak in about 15 minutes. Then, with a clean rag or towel, wipe the entire surface until it feels dry. Do not leave any excess finish on the surface. If you do leave some behind, the wood will get gummy and sticky.

The finish will be dry enough to use in a couple hours. After a couple weeks, the oil will be fully cured. After that, you can add a second coat (or not). A second coat will add more sheen and a little more protection to the wood.

Soft Wax 2.0 is made in small batches in Covington, Kentucky. Each glass jar contains 8 oz. of soft wax, enough for about five chairs.

Eleanor Rose has a tasty batch of cast brass apron hooks available – or at least she did 30 seconds ago! If you’re interested, send her a DM via her Instagram.

We’re done tinkering with the LostArtPress.com website, and we still don’t have annoying pop-up and vibrating windows that urge you to join a newsletter or to save 10 percent on your first order or whatever.

Merchants use those irritating windows because they work. But we decided at the outset of this company that we’d rather use our “inside voice” when talking to customers. No yelling, hyperbole or multiple exclamation marks. Because that’s how we prefer to be treated.

Some of the website changes I’ve mentioned before: Easier navigation windows and “social proof,” a phrase I only use ironically, with quote marks around it.

We just added two more functions: a simple wishlist, and a still-not-using-our-outside-voice reminder of our free shipping offer for orders $100 and over.

First the wishlist. Log into your account with us. Navigate to the product you want to add to your list. Click “Add to Wishlist,” which is below “Add to Cart.” Done. (See above.)

To see your wishlist, click on the heart at the top-right of your screen. You’ll see all the items you’ve added. You can then send that list to anyone via email.

The other function tells you how much more you need to spend to receive free shipping. Many times customers can add a bottle of glue or a box of pencils and get free shipping (basically making the glue or pencils free….).

OK, that’s it. I know these posts are boring, but we’re a little boring at times.

— Christopher Schwarz

More than 10 years ago, Chris wrote about his visit to the Sampson-White Joiner Shop in Duxbury, Mass. Yesterday, the Secretary of the Interior designated the site as a National Historic Landmark (NHL) (hat tip to Timothy Babalis for this news).

This historic shop, which, according to the National Park System Advisory Board, “is the only known surviving purpose-built, eighteenth-century woodworking shop in its original location and with its fixtures intact,” was, at one point, being used by a private school as storage. Stories like this usually don’t have happy endings.

According to the 108-page nomination letter, the site meets two NHL criteria: Criterion 1, “for embodying the early American woodworking trades that helped to build the United States” and Criterion 4, “as an exceptional example of an early American joiners’ workshop, a distinct but rarely surviving architectural type.”

Luther Sampson owned the shop from 1785-1795, and Joseph White owned it from 1795-1843. To this day you can still see the shop’s original fixed workbenches which line three walls, tool racks, and more.

Check out photos (including a bench wall pierced with marking awl jab marks, depictions of sailing ships scratched into the walls and elegantly chamfered empty tool racks) and read more about Chris’s 2013 tour of the site with Michael Burry, a restoration carpenter who discovered the shop and Peter Follansbee, here.

— Kara Gebhart Uhl