Correction to Digital ‘Chairmaker’s Notebook’
If you ordered a digital copy of “Chairmaker’s Notebook” – either the digital copy alone or the one packaged with the hardcover – check your Inbox. We have issued a new version of the digital copy of the book that corrects an error in the appendix on the shavehorse.
The hardcover version will be correct – so no worries there.
We don’t have a lot of errors, but when we find them, we issue a new digital version of the book for free download to current customers. We then publish the correction here on the web site for our print customers. And we offer a corrected page that you can slip into your print copy, as we did here.
All first editions (even from major publishers) have minor problems that slip by the editors and the author during the proofing process. The real test is what the publishing house does when an error is found.
Apologies for the error.
— Christopher Schwarz
Meet Pierre Jeanneret, Swiss Designer
Editor’s note: When people ask why I write about woodworking, I usually answer: “It’s the only thing I’m qualified to do – besides washing dishes.” In truth, however, my unspoken goal is to nudge woodworkers to close their laptops or books and build something. Anything. One of the ways to inspire is to expose people to work or styles they haven’t seen before. While I like and respect the Shaker, Arts & Crafts and period styles, the world is a much bigger place.
Recently Suzanne Ellison, our indexer and a contributing editor, has been showing me a lot of work by Pierre Jeanneret (1896-1967), a Swiss architect, furniture designer and cousin to Le Corbusier. I’ve asked her to share some of that here. I know some snarky commenters are going to say it’s clunky or ugly. That’s not the point. There is something you can take away from each of these pieces. Some look dated. Some are brilliant.
You’ll understand Jeanneret’s work better (especially the Indian stuff) if you read this short bio at MoMA.
— Christopher Schwarz
If you are designing chairs for new modern buildings in a high heat and humidity environment you are going to use teak and there will be caned backs and seats for breathability. The chairs are for government offices and college classrooms so they have to be sturdy. Lastly, a high number are needed. Jeanneret came up with a basic design that could be adapted for various uses and that could be made with local materials. I like the chunky V-legs and arms balanced with the lightness of the woven back and seat. In profile the upside-down “V” with a line across the top almost looks like the Chinese character for human. My favorite is the Lounge Chair. I could live with it.
All the Chandigarh designs were done in the 1950s, as was the Scissor Chair for Knoll. It had a simple frame and came with cushions that snapped on. All of the chairs and stools made for the buildings in Chandigarh were teak and made in India. Chandigarh was the first planned city post-independence from Britain.
More pieces he designed for the buildings he and Le Corbusier designed in Chandigarh, India.
— Suzanne Ellison
Free Chapter of ‘Chairmaker’s Notebook’
If you are on the fence about ordering Peter Galbert’s “Chairmaker’s Notebook,” here is a nice sample of the book: Chapter 19 on carving the seat of a Windsor chair.
As Peter points out in the book, one of the coolest and somewhat mysterious parts of building a Windsor is carving the seat. The tools and processes seem foreign – it’s almost like sculpture.
As you’ll see in this chapter, it is a straightforward process with discrete steps. And it’s something you can wrap your head around thanks to the Peter’s drawings and the details.
You can download a pdf of the chapter using the following link. You don’t have to “register” or do anything silly. Just click the link and the chapter will begin downloading to your computer.
“Chairmaker’s Notebook” is available in the Lost Art Press store in both digital and hardcover formats. Domestic customers receive free shipping if they order before March 20, 2015, which is the day the book will ship from the printer.
Also, the following retailers have indicated they will stock “Chairmaker’s Notebook:” Lee Valley Tools, Tools for Working Wood, Highland Woodworking, Henry Eckert Fine Tools in Australia and Classic Hand Tools in the UK. Links to our retailers can be found here.
— Christopher Schwarz
Don’t be Mr. Weiner
It’s easy to think that there aren’t any secrets left in woodworking. But I don’t think that’s true.
While a lot of the basic hand and machine skills are widely discussed and disseminated (thank you, Internet), a good deal of specialized and advanced knowledge is still frustratingly obscured. Here’s one small example.
When I was a junior editor at Popular Woodworking Magazine I was assigned to work with a prominent furniture-maker to help him develop his article ideas and get them into print. Standard stuff. I won’t use his name because I was raised right.
During a visit to his shop I noticed he had a lot of complex moulders and hollows and rounds planes. At that time, there were maybe four articles written about these planes that I could find. I was personally desperate to learn more, so I assumed that our readers would be as well.
The guy refused to write an article or even demonstrate how to use the tools.
“That,” he said, “is what makes my furniture special. I’m not going to show others how to do it.”
I think there’s a 50/50 chance that the guy actually had no idea how to use the planes and was embarrassed that he had them up on the wall. And if that was the case, then I totally forgive him for being human.
But if he really did know how to use them, then he’s no friend to the craft.
Most woodworking (even the complex stuff) is pretty simple once someone shows you the tricks that break the process down into logical and predictable steps. So I bristle when someone throws up a stone wall. That usually means the process really is exceedingly simple.
My search for an author who could explain hollows and rounds didn’t end that day. It ended several years later when I met Matt Bickford at a woodworking show. At the time he was thinking about becoming a full-time planemaker. He showed me two tricks at his pink-painted workbench that day, and I knew I had found the answer.
My years-long search eventually ended in us publishing “Mouldings in Practice” by Matt. It is one of our books I am most proud of because it is the first real text on making mouldings by hand. It makes the process incredibly simple. And it flips the bird to that furniture-maker I encountered many years ago.
Bottom line: If you know something, say something.
— Christopher Schwarz