Lost Art Press

Lost Art Press Storefront Open this Weekend

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The Lost Art Press storefront at 837 Willard St. in Covington, Ky., will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. this Saturday. We’ll have all of our books on hand, plus stickers, posters and shirts that are exclusive to the storefront.

My daughter Katy will be there with some of her soft wax that she held off from selling on etsy this week.

Also fun: John will be there as will Raney Nelson from Daed Toolworks.

What will be we be doing? Good question. I just finished up a big project and don’t have anything on my bench at the moment. This week has been all about sprucing up the facade at the building. We’ve been replacing glass and trim to bring in more light and prepare for our new custom door, which is on order.

I was going to build the door myself, but decided that you guys would rather have “Woodworking in Estonia” in your hands.

If you’re coming down to the store, there are a couple new places to eat you should check out (plus some I haven’t mentioned before). All are easily walkable from our store.

Son & Soil. Best Cubano sandwich I have ever had. Great coffee. Great everything.

Lil’s Bagels. These are available before noon at Point Perk on Pike Street before noon only. I love to see neighborhood gangbangers walking around with bags of these bagels on Saturday. Good food isn’t just for the mustache-wax set.

Old Kentucky Bourbon Bar. The biggest selection of bourbon I’ve seen. If you have any bourbon fantasies (Elmer T. Lee, Pappy etc.) this where to get them fulfilled. Great prices and a fantastic patio.

Otto’s. Best brunch in Covington. And Saturday is the best day to go because it’s not as crowded.

— Christopher Schwarz

200 Letterpress Posters Available

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We have 200 signed letterpress posters for “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” for sale in our store today. You can read details or order one here.

I’m afraid we had to raise the price to $25 (which includes domestic shipping) to make sure we don’t lose money on these.

— Christopher Schwarz

 

 

Now at Hand-Eye Supply

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I am particularly pleased to announce that Hand-Eye Supply – one of my favorite online stores – is now carrying “The Anarchist’s Design Book.”

Based in Portland, Ore., Hand-Eye Supply carries a selection of fantastic things for creative people, from drafting and designing supplies to the best selection of workwear I’ve ever found. I own many, many pieces of the stuff they sell. The Edgevale pants are simply the best lower-extremity garment I’ve put on. The Le Laboureur work jacket is on me more than off me.

I’ve not been disappointed by anything I’ve bought from Hand-Eye since discovering the company years ago.

Check them out. Give them your support if you will.

— Christopher Schwarz

Katy’s Soft Wax is Back in Stock

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My daughter Katy took over my basement shop for a couple weeks and has made 100 more tins of soft wax that are now for sale in her etsy.com store here.

The wax comes in 4 oz. tins and was handmade by Katy using this recipe.

Katy also will be selling her soft wax at the Lost Art Press storefront this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. – our address is 837 Willard St., Covington, KY 41011. This weekend we’ll be waxing the inside of a tool chest to show how it works.

Thanks to everyone who has purchased her wax. Helping her start a business is one of the best gifts I can give her for self-reliance as an adult. As a result, this is a learning experience on all fronts. She is still learning about customer service, postage labels, dealing with adults, managing supplies and the like. I’m here to offer advice, but this is her deal. So if it seems a little uneven, that’s why.

— Christopher Schwarz

What’s this Stropping Magic?

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If you’ve read even a little bit of the sharpening information in “The Woodworker: The Charles H. Hayward Years,” you’ve probably noticed how much they discuss stropping.

We’ve had several questions from readers about this. Why do some people strop and some people don’t? Should we all be stropping? Is stropping outdated? Is it fayrie majik?

Stropping is simple. It’s the polishing of an edge with an abrasive that’s about 1 micron in size. Nothing more.

It’s the same as polishing an edge with a Japanese waterstone that is about #8,000 grit or #10,000 grit. Those stones have an abrasive particle that’s in the neighborhood of 1 micron in size.

(Don’t believe me? Here you can see the Lee Valley Honing Compound is rated for 0.5 micron. And here you can see a Shapton #30,000 grit stone is rated at 0.49 micron. In my experience, neither does a particularly better job than a 1 micron or 1.5 micron surface. Why? Because of the real world.)

So if you sharpen to #10,000 grit and then strop, I would argue that you are doing no harm, but you probably aren’t helping things much – other than extending your break from real work.

Why does stropping exist?

Until the introduction of fine waterstones, natural sharpening stones, such as oilstones, couldn’t polish an edge past a certain point – about #4,000 grit was typical (using the Japanese waterstone system for comparison). So the strop was the way to get the extra polish that makes the edge last a little longer.

Though I use Japanese waterstones a lot, I also have a strop. Why? For carving. With carving tools, I am constantly touching up the edge with a strop to keep the bevel shiny, smooth and keen. (Stoning odd shapes is a drag, so I try to put it off as long as possible.) A strop is an easier way to do this than having a wet waterstone at the bench. Also, a flexible piece of leather charged with honing compound makes it easy to polish up gouges and the like.

So strop. Or don’t. Just know that it’s part of a Western tool tradition and makes total sense with oilstones. With Japanese waterstones, the strop might be superfluous.

— Christopher Schwarz