Lost Art Press

The 2017 Anarchist’s Gift Guide Has Begun

Posted on by Lost Art Press

kershaw_IMG_8966

When my wife asks me what I want for Christmas, I say the same thing every year: Please do not get me anything. Nothing. I do not want a single dang thing.

I know, however, that there are times where you can’t stop your loved ones from getting you something during the holidays. And that is what this “gift guide” is for. It is a list of small things – usually very inexpensive – that will make your shop time a little nicer.

Here is a list of manufacturers who sponsor this gift guide:

1.

2.

3.

Yup. Most “gift guides” are affiliate programs in disguise. Or they are sponsored content that seeks to offload goods that haven’t sold well enough this year.

All the items in this gift guide are things I’ve bought. With my own money.

One more thing: Since we started Crucible Tool, I have stopped writing tool reviews. I know this gift guide blurs the line a bit. I’m sure I could type some rationalization for this, but instead I’ll just ask the naysayers to take up a new hobby instead.

The gift guide begins here.

— Christopher Schwarz

Trailer for ‘Roubo Workbench: By Hand & Power’

Posted on by Lost Art Press

Above is a trailer for our video “Roubo Workbench: By Hand & Power” that Will Myers and I shot earlier this year. If you are thinking about building a French workbench using a giant slab, you might find the 4-hour-long video helpful.

The video is downloadable and has no DRM (digital rights management), so you can put it on any device you like and carry Will (and my off-color jokes that survived the editing process) with you wherever you please.

— Christopher Schwarz

The Change of Seasons (Covington Style)

Posted on by Lost Art Press

door-stoclIMG_9755

It’s been almost six months since my last haircut and three months since my last shave. This is not intentional. I simply don’t care what I look like or what others think of my visage (hey, a Fancy Lad term!).

But I do notice that as my hair gets longer the people of Covington address me differently.

When I have short hair, they call me “sir” and ask for work. When I have long hair, they call me “brother” and ask for a cigarette. Alas, I have neither.

Today I processed all the stock for the doors for the Horse Garage. My goal is to get these suckers built by Sunday. If you are offended by machine work, please avert your sensitive eyes. While I would love to cut the joints by hand for these doors, I have winter bearing down hard on me. These doors are going together with loose tenons from the Domino XL.

roman_bench_ripped_IMG_9753

The other project at hand is building a lot of bench accessories for “Ingenious Mechanicks.” Today I modified the Roman bench I built earlier this year so I can straddle it (without feeling like I’m going to the gynecologist) and to add some vises.

I did this by ripping down the top during a visit to the shop at Popular Woodworking Magazine. During the visit, David Lyell asked me why I was doing this. I said:

“So I can add a 14th century Italian twin-screw vise for boatbuilding.”

He busted out laughing like I was joking. I wasn’t.

I should get out more.

— Christopher Schwarz