Lost Art Press

Decompression Village

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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After last weekend’s Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event and the book release party for “The Anarchist’s Design Book,” my head was vapor-locked. I’m not built for that much social interaction. While it was great to meet and talk to everyone who came, I woke up Sunday morning somewhat zombified.

So after a big brunch, a group of us trekked down to the Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill, a quick 90-minute drive from my house. The stated reason for the visit: show furniture maker David Savage the place (his impressions of the place are here). But my motives were selfish. I needed to get my head on straight.

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I’ve been visiting Pleasant Hill ever since we moved to Kentucky in 1993. And while I don’t build a lot of Shaker furniture, the furniture and architecture are like food for me as a designer and builder. Making simple things that last was a key part of Shaker life.

Western Shakers don’t get as much attention as the East Coast colonies. The furniture is bulkier and, to some eyes, less refined. I think the Western Shaker design aesthetic simply reflects the landscape and is flavored by the frontier furniture that was more common on the edge of the civilized world.

In any case, I love it. This trip I spent some time focusing on two of the workbenches at Pleasant Hill, which are unlike the benches at the East Coast colonies. You can read about those benches here and here.

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I also focused on some of the scratched details around doors and on rails and stiles.

The attached gallery shows the things that caught my eye this time. But every visit is different.

— Christopher Schwarz

Historical News Accounts of Secret Drawers

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Secret drawers have long fascinated woodworkers and the general public. One of our most popular blog entries from the last nine years was about a secret drawer. And so we present this interesting gallery of 25 news items involving secret compartments and drawers for your reading pleasure.

All were culled from 19th-century sources by researcher Jeff Burks. Be aware that these stories involve murder, misadventure, some racist language and a rare Bible.

— Christopher Schwarz

New: ‘A Strange Suicide’ Posters

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Strange_suicide_13x19For those who prefer your workshop art to be a little twisted (as opposed to a sexist cheesecake calendar) we offer this poster from the back page of the April 5, 1903, edition of the French illustrated newspaper Le Petit Parisien.

The poster is $15, which includes domestic shipping. They are in stock and will ship immediately from our Indiana warehouse. You can place your order here.

Unearthed by researcher Jeff Burks, this poster reproduces the original printed page in full size and full color. We obtained two original copies of the original newspaper, scanned them and merged them to produce this poster.

It is printed on #100 semi-gloss paper in California, measures 13″ x 19″ and features a translation of the original news story from 1903 (also below). The poster ships in a rugged cardboard tube. We have printed 500 copies. When they are gone, they are gone forever.

A Strange Suicide

This is obviously a particular case of madness, that of the strange suicide of this joiner from Sainte-Ménehould, with whom all the press is occupied. Mr. Lemaître, the joiner in question, was sick for a long time; He was, in addition, suffering from paranoia; his rationale seemed very shaken.

Tired of suffering, he resolved to finish his own existence. But he did not use, like so many others, poison, the revolver or the rope; He wanted to be guillotined. He very patiently sharpened a spade, so it would be keen as a razor; he tied it to his joinery workbench, which had been loaded quite heavily with wood; then, using a piece of wood as a brace, he lifted his bench to 60 centimeters in height and spread himself on the ground so that, by removing the piece of wood, the spade would strike his neck.

These tragic preparations had taken a fairly long time. With a chisel, Mr. Lemaître knocked out the brace that was holding the workbench and the spade descended suddenly, working as a guillotine blade. Indeed, the carotid artery was severed and the head weakly attached to the body. The doctor who was called found him dead.

Better in Person

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Good news: All of the orders for “The Anarchist’s Design Book” shipped out today. We thank you for both your patience and your impatience. We hope the book will be worth your wait.

I barely remember our book-release party on Saturday for the “The Anarchist’s Design Book.” That had nothing to do with alcohol (I think I had time to drink only two beers all night) and had everything with too much social stimulation.

But the one thing I do remember is a line I heard over and over: “The pieces from the book look much better in person than they do in photographs.”

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The problem isn’t the photos. Narayan Nayar’s pictures of the pieces are outstanding. Instead, I think the comment relates to the unfamiliar forms and raking legs, which are difficult to depict in two dimensions. It’s the same parallax problem that plagues joint stools. The legs never look like they are angled the same. Sometimes one pair looks vertical and the other looks oddly raked.

So if you want to see some of these pieces in person, I recommend you make wire models of them using scraps and clothes hangers. Or stop by the Lost Art Press storefront on April 9 between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. In addition to all of our books, we have special T-shirts, stickers, posters and other merchandise that won’t work in our online store.

I’ll be there, as will my daughter Katy, who will be selling her Anarchist’s Daughter Soft Wax (we hope to be able to make enough to sell it online soon).

In the meantime I guess I better make some rectilinear Morris chairs to get back some furniture cred.

— Christopher Schwarz

Steve Voigt on Cap Irons

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The highlight of the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event in Covington, Ky., last weekend was finally getting to meet planemaker Steve Voigt and try out his tools. His double-iron wooden-bodied planes are fantastic – nimble, responsive and quite well-made.

They also are different than what most modern makers are producing. Voigt uses double irons, and he has just started a blog series about the history of the double iron that is very much worth reading. The first installment is here.

Check it out. And check back for the rest of the story, too.

— Christopher Schwarz

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