Lost Art Press

Finishing Up ‘The Anarchist’s Design Book’

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After four years of work, I am done with my part of “The Anarchist’s Design Book.” It is written, laid out and edited. The only things missing are the completed plates and some more artful photography of a few of the finished pieces (this will be fixed this coming weekend with the assistance of Narayan Nayar).

If you’ve ever worked on a project for four years, then the following statement should come as no surprise: I would do it differently if I could start again. But this is the path I chose. The “bright string” that I found in the forest has ended here.

What’s next? I have about a dozen people combing through the book for typos and mechanical errors. We do this with every Lost Art Press book. The plates, the index and the final editing should be done by Dec. 28. Then the book will go to the printer on Jan. 1, 2016, and be ready to ship in early February.

We’ll have a special pre-publication offer for this book on Jan. 1. The publication of “The Anarchist’s Design Book” will mark a significant change in the way Lost Art Press does its business day to day. We’ll have more details on this change on that day. I think you will be pleased by the news.

— Christopher Schwarz

French Oak Smoked Tomato Sauce

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This is not a cooking blog, though good food and alcohol are two of my passions.

As a woodworker, it makes me crazy that we don’t have a functioning wood-burning stove (this is something that will be rectified with our new place). So I use my scraps, sawdust and shavings as mulch, I burn them in our outdoor fireplace and I use them in cooking whenever I can.

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Today I applied the first coat of oil to a French oak workbench for a customer and used the scraps from the piece to make one of my favorite things: a smoky tomato sauce that is fast and easy. You can use almost any wood for this.

Here’s how: Take shavings, offcuts and what-not and scatter them on some foil on your grill. Crank the grill up to high and char the shavings for 10 minutes.

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Take eight or so Roma tomatoes, slice them lengthwise and put them cut-side up on a metallic vegetable steamer. Place the steamer on top of the smoldering chunks of oak, close the lid and cook them for 15 minutes or until the tomatoes are soft and the skin of the tomatoes is blistered and a little charred.

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Place the tomatoes in a blender and liquify them. Add 1/4 cup olive oil, salt and whatever seasoning you like. It’s ready to eat.

— Christopher Schwarz

I Have a Face for Radio

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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Megan Fitzpatrick of Popular Woodworking Magazine, Andy Brownell of Brownell Furniture and I were interviewed about the state of the woodworking craft during Friday’s “Cincinnati Edition” show on WVXU-FM.

In addition to discussing how to get started in woodworking (hint: it involves a stick), we chatted about how many woodworkers think young people are interested only in their Atari 2600s and Intellivision consoles. I mean, if we can’t stop them from playing Pong, the craft will surely die.

As you might have guessed, I think this attitude is a steaming pile of Oscar Mayer.

You can listed to the show for free via this link.

The producer asked us to come back and do the show again (despite having to bleep out Megan’s potty mouth).

— Christopher Schwarz

Letter: I Do Not Like Where Your Blog is Headed

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Gary writes: I’ve tried to hold my tongue, but I cannot do it any longer. You are about to loose me as a subscriber to your blog and you should know why.

First there was Jeff Burk (Burks?), who put up those boring blogs I never could figure out. Thank goodness he left or you got rid of him because I didn’t get it. I learned nothing from it, except where my DELETE key is.

Now we have Suzanne the saucy indexer whose at the same thing. Her attempts to be funny – which landed in my email today, just aren’t. Sorry but its true. You should know.

This blog used to be great, and I learned so much about tools and woodworking. Now its just stupid jokes, photos of old furniture and sophmoric humor.

You should write more about dovetails and panel-raising, for example. I’m building a hope chest for my granddaughter and could use some tips on making panels. How about comparing all the sharpening systems? Or showing how to fix up old tools?

How you respond to this letter will decide if I am going to stay with Lost Arts Press or not.

I’m not trying to come off as mean, just a truth teller.

I know you will never publish this.

Anarchist’s Gift Guide Begins Today

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For the last three years I’ve done an informal “gift guide” for woodworkers over at my blog at Popular Woodworking Magazine. Unlike other gift guides, this one is not filled with high-price junk that a retailer paid me to promote.

I try to focus on smaller items that will make your life a little nicer in the shop. Stuff your kids can buy you without taking out a loan. Oh, and I own every one of these items and personally use them in my own shop.

The first entry is up now. Nine more to go. You’ll also find links there to the previous two gift guides.

— Christopher Schwarz