Derek Jones helping with a student glue-up in his summer 2023 Cricket Table class at the LAP shop.
I had a half-hour or so video chat with Derek Jones, the author of the new book “Cricket Tables,” to ask him about the form, what drew it to him in the first place, where the name came from, and where his online handle (lowfatroubo) originated. Grab a cup of coffee or tea and listen in.
Also, the book is now available for purchase in the store, and for 30 days, you’ll get a free pdf when you purchase the hardcover book. (By the way… I screwed up…and didn’t get that pdf up before we launched the book – so if you’ve already purchased the book, you’ll be getting a notification to download that free pdf sometime early next week. Sorry for my boneheadedness.)
And here’s Derek at my favorite local place to take all visiting cat lovers: Purrfect Day Cat Cafe. He did not take home a kitten.
Above are prototypes of two new tool-storage items – the Pencil Pocket and Plane Pocket – that we’ll have available in 2024. They are heavyweight canvas, with grommets that allow you to screw them almost anywhere in your tool chest, on your bench legs or back, or on your shop wall. They will be made across the Ohio River in Cincinnati at Sew Valley – the same people who make the Lost Art Press Chore Coat and Moleskin Work Vest. OK – enough with the product teasing. Sorry.
If you have a burning question about chairs or chair-shaped objects, best to ask it today – Chris won’t be here next Saturday; you’ll be stuck with me…so it’ll be all dovetails and cats. But today, we’re both here, awaiting your Open Wire questions.
Type your questions in the comment field below, and we will do our best to answer them. Comments will close at around 5 p.m.
Our newest title, “Cricket Tables” by Derek Jones, showed up two weeks early. It is in stock and ready to ship. And boy is that cover green. Derek picked out the color, and it has really grown on us. You will not lose this book in the dark.
The book ships for free until Nov. 15. (In fact, all our products ship for free until Nov. 15.)
“Cricket Tables” is the kind of woodworking book that I enjoy immensely. Yes, it’s about the three-legged cricket table, where it came from, what the different variants are and construction details. But the search for the history of the table is also intertwined with the history of the author, who had a long and twisting career in the furniture and publishing world.
And, at the end, Derek shows you how to build three great examples of this vernacular table and sets you off with the basic geometry and hand skills to do the task.
“Cricket Tables” is 112 pages, full color and printed on white, 70# matte coated 8-1/2″ x 11″ paper. The pages are sewn, glued and taped for durability. And the whole thing is wrapped with 98-point boards that are covered in lime cotton cloth. Like all Lost Art Press books, it is produced and printed in the United States.
You can read more about Derek in this profile by the late Nancy Hiller.
The prototype square kit (unglued). The grain in the final version will run in the correct direction.
We just got our first working prototype of a kit that lets you build an Anarchist’s Square with less than an hour of work.
I’ve made dozens of these squares since “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” came out. The square was originally a student project. Tool monger Patrick Leach said he has found many of them in the U.K. during his career, and he suspects it was part of a curriculum at a school.
When I teach students to make the square in a class, it takes two days. There are a lot of lessons involved, from sawing accurate half-laps to truing long edges to perfection to sawing perfect little beads.
But thanks to this kit, you don’t have to do all that.
The kit parts are made from 1/2”-thick Baltic birch. All the joinery and decorative details are already cut. All you have to do is a little cleanup with sandpaper then glue the parts together. The prototype turned out dead square with little effort.
Then you can finish up the square however you like. You can leave it unfinished or tart it up with paint, oil or a film finish. Because it’s plywood, it’s unlikely to ever go out of square.
The kit parts.
I am greatly looking forward to getting some of these kits in house because I don’t have any more of these squares. I sold most of them and gave away my personal one – the one I built for the book – to Anne Briggs (aka Anne of All Trades) as a gift.
I miss having some of the squares around and using them. I had some with accessory fences that made them even more useful. So I’m sure I’ll shoot some video of making, using and modifying the square.
When? I don’t know. Soon, I hope. How much? Again, I don’t know for sure. Less than $50 I hope.
They’ll be made in Ohio and shipped out by Mark and Gabe.
The Anthe building – bursting with books (for now). Mark and I cleaned 20 years of grime off the windows last week.
One of the great advantages of having all our inventory in Covington – and employees to fill boxes – is that we can offer a free shipping promotion without setting a pile of money on fire. (Our storage and salaries are now fixed overhead costs; before we had to pay $4 for every order packed. Plus storage. Plus boxes, tape, etc.)
We have all our inventory in place. Mark and Gabe are well trained and ready.
So for the next two weeks we are offering free shipping on every product, from pencils to holdfasts. There’s no code to type in. No coupon. When you check out, you’ll see a button for free shipping. Click it. (Yes, even the new engraving tools I just added to the site yesterday.)
Thanks to all of you who have helped us get our fulfillment center up and running. We have heat and AC because of you. And an ADA-compliant bathroom.
