Lost Art Press

 

 

I’ve been reviewing tools and machinery for 20 years now, both in Popular Woodworking Magazine and on my various blogs. But that long career of reviewing equipment ended in January of this year.

When it became obvious that John Hoffman, Raney Nelson and I were going to start Crucible Tool, I told editor Megan Fitzpatrick that I could not write any more Tool Test entries for the magazine or for the website. It simply isn’t fair, by any stretch, for me to both make tools and criticize tools made by other makers.

As a result, you aren’t going to see any more reviews from me (Yay! Or Boo! Take your pick). I’ll still have my opinions about toolmaking, and I’ll still be happy to share my ideas for what a proper woodworking tool should do. But I’ll no longer praise or condemn makers by name.

I know that some of you are also wondering what this tool company means for Lost Art Press. Will we publish fewer books? Will I outsource the editing to other people?

The answer to both is “no.” We will continue to publish four titles a year (five if we can manage it). I will continue to be the person who edits every word of every book to make sure things make sense and flow smoothly. What will be different (and it has been for a couple years), is that I have found people I trust to help with page layout, indexing and copy editing (finding the last typos).

When we started Lost Art Press, I did all of those functions so we could save money and keep our prices reasonable.

So Lost Art Press isn’t changing one iota because of the birth of Crucible Tool.

A few other people have asked what the h#$& kind of hubris-flavored Kool-Aid I’m drinking to think that I could work as a toolmaker. I could attempt to answer that question, but I prefer to let the tools we’re designing and making to answer that question.

Finally, one more personal detail I’d like to mention. We’re going to remain a fairly small company, I’m sure. Though Lost Art Press ships more than 30,000 books a year, we are still just two people with laptops. Crucible is not intended to become a company that sets out to make the complete core set of hand tools (such as Veritas or Lie-Nielsen Toolworks).

We think there are a lot of tools that need to be made that aren’t currently on the market. Manufacturing those tools will keep us busy for at least the next five years and probably beyond. We probably will have to hire employees eventually and we might grow more than I anticipate. But our core philosophy is not to steal market share away from anyone. We think there’s a lot of room for other toolmakers to supply the needs of woodworkers.

And now we’re going to test that theory.

— Christopher Schwarz

P.S. Several of you have asked for details about our launch event on Sept. 15. We will have hours and an RSVP system set up in the next week or so. So thanks for your patience.

On Sept. 15, John Hoffman, Raney Nelson and I will launch Crucible Tool LLC, a woodworking tool manufacturing company that specializes in high-quality, domestically manufactured hand tools for building furniture.

Our first tool will be a holdfast. The second tool (and the next dozen or so tools) will be announced in the coming months.

The three of us decided to start Crucible almost a year ago and have been working during the last 11 months to design tools, purchase machinery and forge relationships with machinists, foundries and blacksmiths to produce components for Crucible.

Why start a tool company? As woodworkers, all three of us have been bursting with ideas for tools and improvements to traditional tools for many years. These ideas and designs have come from our years of working at the bench and studying historical models.

Our first tool, a holdfast, is a perfect example of this. I’ve been collecting, studying and using all manner of antique and new holdfasts in my work for the last 20 years. I’ve cataloged what works well and what doesn’t. And after many years I’ve settled on a set of characteristics that make (what we think is) the best-functioning  holdfast possible.

Manufacturing this tool has been a remarkable challenge in foundry work. But after five months of tests and trials with a patternmaker and a foundry (which has been in business since before the Civil War), we have our first production holdfasts in hand.

I know we’re being sketchy on details right now. I can assure you this is only a temporary condition.

One of the foundations of Crucible is to provide an extended and continuous education on how to use these tools at the bench. We could write a book about all the ways to use a holdfast at the bench. And in the coming months we’ll be sharing these methods for free with everyone, whether you’re a customer or not.

How can you find out more? We’ll be having a launch party on Sept. 15 at the Lost Art Press storefront, 837 Willard St., Covington, KY 41017 – the night before Woodworking in America begins. We’ll have two of our new tools there for you to try out and purchase. We’ll also have a booth in the Marketplace at Woodworking in America and will launch the Crucible website that same day.

Oh, one more detail: One of the primary reasons we can start this new tool company (without any debt or investors) is because of you – loyal Lost Art Press customers. Your support has allowed us to grow our publishing business and extend our same manufacturing philosophy into the world of woodworking hand tools.

So thanks. And stay tuned.

— Christopher Schwarz