Lost Art Press

The John Widdifield Manuscript – Some Good News

Posted on by saucyindexer

imageAt the end of August we learned about the auction of the manuscript of John Widdifield (1673-1720) an early joiner in Philadelphia. The manuscript includes measurements and prices for furniture, sketches for a spice box (above), a writing desk and a chest-on frame. There are also instructions for sharpening tools and recipes and tips for staining and varnishing. Some of Widdifield’s descendants added to the manuscripts.

The sales estimate for the September 17 auction was $15,000-$25,000 and after very brisk bidding sold for $75,000, including the buyer’s premium. The Philadelphia Museum of Art and Winterthur Museum partnered in bidding in an effort to keep the manuscript in the Philadelphia area, but they were outbid by a private collector.

The good news: Widdifield’s manucript will be published in the Chipstone Foundation journal American Furniture and will also be posted online. Chipstone will work with the digital content group at the University of Wisconsin in Madison to put the entire manuscript online, searchable by keyword and available to researchers at no cost.

As Chris has written several times in this blog these kinds of manuscripts are rare. It is even rarer to have this type of document published in a relatively short period of time after acquisition.

So, a great big thank you to the private collector who chose to share this important document. I could kiss you!

– Suzanne Ellison

The Travelling Anarchist’s Tool Chest Contents: Hammers

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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I know, we all know about hammers. When I earned cash dismantling exhibitions at Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London in 1978 the deal was this: We meet at this pub on Sunday night at 9 p.m., each of us with a nice big 16 oz claw hammer. Two hours bashing apart exhibition stands, and by 11 p.m. we were back in the pub for last orders and with cash in hand.

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“Most important tool in the workshop,” my mentor Alan Peters would say, whacking a builder’s lump hammer onto the bench. The so and so did it hard enough to make me jump. Alan used this tool to aid assembly of almost all carcase work. He was precise in how he used it, but he would drive home dovetailed sides where the glue was getting stiff with mighty whacks.

He told me once he had to assemble a small casket built to house the ashes of a client’s late husband. The client arrived. They carefully poured the ashes into the carcase, three sides had been assembled. The secret mitre dovetailed last side was glued and WHACKED down.

“Stop, Stop, please don’t hit him,” cried the distressed client. Alan carried on. Two more good whacks and it was all down and quiet resumed.

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There is not much to a hammer. Weight, a nice, well-formed head and a handle of good length. “Well balanced” we say. Always hold your hammer low down on the handle; don’t strangle the damn thing. Use the length to give you accuracy and weight of the blow. It’s about rhythm and eyeballing the stoke.

We have a group nice hammers to chuck in the chest. My own hammer drawer is full of the damn things of all sizes, shapes and nationalities. Dead-weight hammers, nylon, soft-faced tappers and the good old Warringtons.

I used to not properly fit steel hoops to my Japanese chisels. I was a prat (some say I am still a prat, but they can b….. off). Now I do it properly and can whack the living daylight out of them. These are my favourite hammers; they are Japanese and bought on eBay. Though I did like a nice American hammer that Chris had when he was with us this summer.

— David Savage, finefurnituremaker.com

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Detrimental to Progress

Posted on by Lost Art Press
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Armchair F 51 by Walter Gropius

“Although Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus and a leading advocate of the modern movement, gave full credit to the influence that Ruskin, Morris and the British Arts and Crafts Movement had on his own development, this acknowledgement was not generally shared. For many years whilst the Modern Movement reigned supreme and concrete machines for living and working were filling our cities, Morris and the handcraftsmen were rather ridiculed as being sentimental and irrelevant, or worse, in some circles, as being detrimental to progress.”

— Alan Peters, “Cabinetmaking: The Professional Approach, Second Edition” (Linden, 2009)

Another Low-cost Hand Tool Immersion Class

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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Mike Siemsen at the Mike Siemsen School of Woodworking in Minnesota has agreed to put on a low-cost hand-tool immersion course in June 2016 that is based directly on the two classes I ran in 2015 for new woodworkers who are 35 and younger.

The class will run June 13-17. Attendees will camp and cook on his farm property (just like the class at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking). Also good to know: Mike has bathrooms and showers. The cost is an amazingly low $450 for the week. That includes materials and the camping (bring your own tent). If you are 35 or younger, you cannot beat this week-long experience as a way to get started.

Attendees will be fixing up tools, learning about sharpening and building the same tool chest we built at the New English Workshop in Bridgwater, England, and at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking. I’ve given all my teaching materials to Mike, and it will essentially be the same class, only in a Minnesota accent.

Sign up quick. Here’s the link. Or send an e-mail directly to Mike to secure your place at mike@schoolofwood.com.

Mike is an outstanding woodworker, a great teacher, funny as hell and crazy generous to be doing this. He has an outstanding shop for this sort of thing and a beautiful farm for camping.

As with the other classes, we would love to have your help getting tools and/or cash donations to help outfit the students. Mike has already had offers of people volunteering to assist him during the class – and he could use a few more assistants. I’ll discuss the tools the students need in a future blog post.

Thanks to Mike for picking up the torch on this important way to give the next generation of woodworkers a fast start.

— Christopher Schwarz

Almost Gone: Posters & ‘Workbenches, Revised’

Posted on by Lost Art Press

front_cover_T9086Next week we should take possession of 500 copies of “Workbenches: From Design & Theory to Construction & Use, Revised Edition.” I’m going to sign all 500 copies on the title page and then take them to our warehouse to be shipped to customers.

I will announce here on the blog when we get the books and when they hit the mail trucks.

Of those 500 books, only about 50 are unspoken for. So if you want one, with free domestic shipping, visit the Lost Art Press store. This book is not something we will stock on a regular basis. When Amazon gets it, everyone else in the market is done for.

Similarly, we have only about 100 letterpress “With Hammer in Hand” posters available. They are $25 with free domestic shipping. Once these are gone, they are gone. They are gorgeous. But don’t take my word for it, read it from Jameel Abraham at Benchcrafted.

— Christopher Schwarz