Lost Art Press

Monday: New Series on Lost Art Press Authors

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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Every month we get queries from people who want to write a book for us. And every month I send each of them a nice rejection letter. We simply don’t choose authors that way.

Every Lost Art Press book begins as a long conversation between the writer, John and me about things that may or may not become a book. Most of these conversations are dead ends, but they are interesting dead ends.

During the conversations, we’re also sizing up the author as a person and asking ourselves the questions: Do we want to be in business with this person? Do we like them? Do we share the same ethics about the craft and business?

If all the stars align, we start working on a book together. And if the stars align again, it gets published.

Starting Monday we’re going to introduce you to each of our authors through lengthy profiles written by Kara Gebhart Uhl and published here. The first one will be on Peter Galbert, author of “Chairmaker’s Notebook.”

This book started out as a three-way conversation between Peter, Curtis Buchanan and me in Berea, Ky. The project took several crazy turns until it finally was birthed as the massive “Chairmaker’s Notebook.”

I’ve already read Kara’s profile of Peter, and I learned a lot about Peter, even though I’ve known him for years.

I hope you enjoy these periodic profiles. After Peter, Kara will be writing about Robert Wearing and Matt Bickford.

— Christopher Schwarz

Machines in the Workshop, Part 6

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Part 1 is here
Part 2 is here
Part 3 is here
Part 4 is here
Part 5 is here

MACHINIST: Well, I assume that you generally make small things. If ever you decide, say, to panel one of your rooms, I trust that you will remain true to your prin­ciples and do all your ripping out, grooving, moulding, and jointing by hand!

(Editor’s note: This is the final entry in this series. No surprise – it ended with a troll. — CS)

Machines in the Workshop, Part 5

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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Part 1 is here
Part 2 is here
Part 3 is here
Part 4 is here

HANDWORKER: Are we not approaching the matter from different angles? You regard the operation as nothing more than a means to an end. I do not agree. If we were speaking of the trade in which the pro­duction of so many pieces of furniture is all that matters there might be some­thing in it. For the home woodworker the case is entirely different. My belief is that, although a man may need, say, a sideboard, this need is more or less incidental to the fact of his making it. The real reason which sets a man at work is the interest in the work itself, the expression he is able to give to his ideas, and the desire to construct something useful and beautiful. In using a machine he is robbing himself of half of his pleasure. He may make the job more quickly, but he will have lost a great deal of satisfaction. It is like a man in a motor car. He will glance at fifty times as many things as the man who is walking, but it is the latter who really sees more.

New Stickers – and a New Way to Order Them

Posted on by Lost Art Press

Maddy has sold out of her first run of stickers, and we have three new designs that we are offering to everyone worldwide.

These die-cut vinyl stickers are made in the United States and are strong enough that you can use them outdoors (not that we would suggest you put them on the backs of traffic signs or anything).

You can order the stickers one of two ways. For customers in the United States, you can send a $5 bill and a SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope) to Maddy at:

Stick it to the Man
P.O. Box 3284
Columbus, OH 43210

Maddy will take your SASE and put three high-quality vinyl stickers – one of each design – in your envelope and mail it to you immediately. (If you send $10, she’ll send two sets; $15 will get you three sets). She also has been throwing in some bonus stickers….

For customers outside the United States (or those who don’t want to use an SASE), you can order stickers through Maddy’s etsy store. Stickers there are $6 for domestic customers. Because of the international postage, sets are $10 for international (sorry, but there are fees and this and that).

This little sticker business has been a huge boon for Maddy and making ends meet at college. She also is delighted when people send photos, notes, stickers or what have you. Your kindness has impressed a college student.

— Christopher Schwarz

Machines in the Workshop, Part 4

Posted on by Lost Art Press

bandsaw

Part 1 is here
Part 2 is herePart 3 is here

MACHINIST: I often wonder why such a fetish is made of sheer hard work. After all, the operation is merely a means to an end. A man wants, say, a sideboard. He has the choice of doing the whole thing by hand, involving a lot of really hard work and taking possibly a hundred hours, or of lightening his labours by letting a machine do the donkey work and taking half the time, leaving him free to get on with something else. In both cases he is getting pleasure from the exercise of his craft. Possibly the purist has pleasure in ripping down his timber from the rough, but for my own part I prefer to do the lighter tasks which call for every bit as much, if not more, skill.

Consider how short a time a man has for his woodwork. All day he is attend­ing to his normal duties, leaving possibly three hours in the evening for wood­work. This may be enough for one who goes in for small, light items only, but when it is proposed to make a bed­room suite it is hardly giving oneself a chance. It would take years to com­plete, and life is too short, it seems to me.

No, I think that the man who is going in seriously for woodwork will find a light machine an excellent in­vestment. I would suggest a circular saw. I have known many cases of men who would like to make certain pieces of furniture, but who have been put off because they know it would take a tre­mendous time and would involve some really hard, strenuous work. If they would only take the initial step of buy­ing a light power saw they could tackle the work without hesitation. Small saws do not cost much and they con­sume little power.

Now let me turn to your point about the danger of the saw completely oust­ing handwork. I do not think that this need be the case. Apart from straight-forward ripping out, I should certainly do my rebating and grooving on the machine, because it does it just as well as by hand without any disadvantage. But I still cut tenons by hand; also mouldings. When the machine saw will not produce so satisfactory a result as the handsaw the latter should be used. And the same thing applies to all other forms of machinery. For in­stance, a drilling machine is invaluable for the preliminary clearing out of the waste from mortises. The holes can be made to run one into the other so that subsequent chopping with the chisel is reduced to a minimum. On the other hand, to substitute dowelled joints for the mortise and tenon just because the machine is capable of making them rapidly is obviously a mistake.