“In all its horrible eccentricity of non-descript Gothic, worse Chinese, and inane rococo, combined though they be with the most exquisite workmanship and occasionally a quaint gracefulness, Chippendale’s style is not in favour with those whose training enables them to discriminate between the true and false in design.”
— D. Adamson, “A Chat About Furniture,” Work magazine, March 23, 1889
Writing a woodworking book is perhaps the dumbest way to make a living. These stupid things take years to do correctly. Mistakes are easy to make and difficult to catch. You have to work quite hard to avoid sounding like a Samsung instruction booklet.
It is honestly the most difficult form of writing I’ve ever attempted. And the audience is tiny.
But some days you get a glimpse of something amazing that touches almost every civilized person who ever lived. It’s a bright string, to steal the phrase of Stephen King. And if you follow the string, no matter where it leads through a dark forest, you will end up in a clearing where you can see for miles, over hills and forests and to the ocean.
All that is usually launched by a single moment. My first book, “Workbenches…,” was set in motion by a single plate in “l’Art du menuisier” and a comment by Dave Raeside, one of my earliest students. “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” came to me while on a run in Maine when I wished for a book that didn’t exist when I was 11. “Campaign Furniture” came about by stumbling into a now-closed antique store in Charleston, S.C., with my dad.
“Furniture of Necessity” was set in motion by a single early image sent to me by Jeff Burks. (No, we don’t know where he is, but we miss him.) I can’t even bear to show you the image because I don’t want to spoil the shock of encountering a hidden truth.
I don’t want to build this up too much because it will seem obvious when you encounter it. People will claim they have been way ahead of me (or way behind) for a long time on this issue. That’s cool. I’m just the guy with the flashlight.
Today I legged up a sawbench, which is the first project in “Furniture of Necessity.” As I felt the sawbench’s pine top flex and give way to the oak legs when I hammered them in I knew I was on the downhill slide on this book.
I have the bright string in hand, now I just have to make sure I don’t let go during the next 12 months.
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. For those of you who didn’t like Roorkee Chat No. 1, I can only say that you should not poke the bear.
Here is a complete (I hope) list of everywhere I’m teaching in the coming year. Despite my personal hermit tendencies, I teach in-person classes because they work. A week (or weekend) of focused instruction, bathroom humor, critical review and work, work, work generates results.
If you want to attend a class that’s full – no matter the school or instructor – my best advice is to always get on the waiting list and assume you will get in. All classes have churn and last-minute vacancies. If you are flexible and ready, you likely will get in.
Just reading this list of classes below makes me want to take a nap. One more note. Before you comment: “Why don’t you come teach in Ketchuptown, North Dakota?” remember this: I can only teach at schools where I am asked to teach. I don’t solicit schools or clubs for teaching work.
Jan. 17-18 Highland Woodworking Build a Windsor Sawbench
This class is the foundation of my book “The Furniture of Necessity.” Once you can build these sawbenches, chairmaking will seem like child’s play.
Feb. 14-15 Alabama Woodworkers Guild Dutch Tool Chest
I’m still waiting on some details, but I believe I am leading a two-day demonstration on building the Dutch Tool Chest and one of the attendees will win the chest at the end of the seminar.
Feb. 23-27 Melbourne Guild of Fine Woodworking, Australia
Build a Roubo Workbench
Using some massive yellow pine slabs that the school has dug up, we are going to build some brutish workbenches using the schools industrial equipment and handwork.
March 2-4 Melbourne Guild of Fine Woodworking, Australia
Build a Dutch Tool Chest
Last I checked there were a couple vacancies in this Dutch Tool Chest class. Come for the instruction; stay for the tea. Dutch tol chest classes are fun and productive (i.e. you finish your chest).
March 6-8 Brisbane, Australia
Class to be announced
March 11-13 Henry Eckert Woodwork School, Adelaide, Australia
Build a Dutch Tool Chest
This will be my first class to Henry Eckert, which carries our Lost Art Press books. Again, this is a three-day class where we will build a Dutch chest using hand techniques – lots of fun joinery.
March 28-29 Kelly Mehler School of Woodworking, Berea, Ky.
Officer’s Campaign Trunk
This will be an intense two-day class in building a “riveted” officer’s trunk as shown in my book “Campaign Furniture.”
April 9-12 Oregon Woodworkers Guild, Portland, Ore.
I’m teaching a one-day class on April 10 on building a traditional try square. Then on april 11-12 we are building the Tool Chest for New Anarchists – an exploration of traditional nailed construction (another part of the “Furniture of Necessity”).
April 25-26 Marc Adams School of Woodworking, Franklin, Ind.
Handplanes and their Uses with Thomas Lie-Nielsen
This annual two-day class is a quick but intense dunk into the world of handplanes and how they work. This class has launched hundreds of people’s love affair with the plane.
May 4-8 Woodworkers Club, Rockville, Md.
Build a Knockdown Nicholson Workbench
Using the school’s industrial facilities, we’ll build a Nicholson workbench that can be knocked down flat – though it is so sturdy that you’d never know it was a knockdown bench.
May 15-16 Handworks, Amana, Iowa
The hand-tool event of the (insert very long time frame here)
Seriously, read about everyone who will be there. And the Studley Tool Chest? And the Handworks event is free? You better have a good excuse if you aren’t going.
June 13-15 Dictum, Niederalteich, Germany
Build a Sawbench
This three-day course is an intense tutorial on sawing. Learn the three classes of saw cuts and how to produce joinery straight from the saw (and how to fix things when sawing goes awry). You also will get to see me kiss their coffee machine.
June 16-17 Dictum, Niederalteich, Germany
Build a Marking Gauge & Mallet
This is a quick but fun class in making an 18th-century marking gauge and a fantastic wooden joiner’s mallet.
June 18 Dictum, Niederalteich, Germany
Metal Handplanes and Western-style Saws
A one-day course introducing students to the advantages of metal handplanes and Western saws.
June 22-28 Furniture Institute of Massachusetts, Beverly, Mass.
The Anarchist’s Tool Chest (and then some)
We’ll be building the large tool chest in this seven-day class (it’s usually a five-day class). Everyone will finish their chests and many people will have the time to build their interior tills.
July 13-17 New English Workshop, Bridgwater College, England
Course for Young and Aspiring Woodworkers: The Tool Chest for New Anarchist
This special low-cost course is design to jump-start anyone’s interest in handwork. We will fix up all the tools you need in your kit, build a basic tool chest and dive into learning the joints of the craft.
July 20-24 New English Workshop, Warwickshire College, England
Build a Knockdown Nicholson Workbench
If you need a bench that can be easily moved for when you move, or even has to be knocked down in the evenings, this is the ticket. It’s a fantastic bench.
Aug. 10-14 Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking, Manchester, Conn.
Build an 18th-century Roubo Workbench
Using some amazing ash from Horizon Wood, we’re going to build a heavy, tough extremely functional workbench. The industrial machinery (and teamwork among the students) makes it possible. Everyone goes home with a bench.
Aug. 24-Sept. 5 The David Savage School, Rowden, England
Tool Chest with Parquetry Lid
In this two-week class we’re building a traditional tool chest with all the hard-core joinery during the first week. Then David and his people are going to guide us through building a parquetry lid for the chest using a variety of techniques, traditional to modern.
Sept. 25-27 Woodworking in America, Kansas City, Mo.
The instructor list for WIA is impressive. And then I’m there, too. As always, WIA is fun event for the classes and the Marketplace. Lost Art Press will have a booth.
Sept. 28-Oct. 2 Marc Adams School of Woodworking, Franklin, Ind.
Hand-tool Immersion 101
This special low-cost course is design to jump-start anyone’s interest in handwork. We will fix up all the tools you need in your kit, build a basic tool chest and dive into learning the joints of the craft. We will be allowed to camp on-site to reduce costs. And we’ll eat communally. We will be showering alone.
Nov. 8-14 The French Oak Roubo Project II, Barnesville, Ga.
Build a Roubo Bench with 18th-century Oak
This incredible experience bands a bunch of us together in an incredible workshop with huge equipment to turn out the most massive and amazing workbench. Period.
Silkroad traveler Suzanne Ellison spent some time on the Dark Web yesterday, digging up images of famous people sitting in Roorkee chairs. Even I was surprised at what she found.
For chairmaking and other handwork, a small double-screw vise can be handy. Check out Peter Follansbee’s bench and you’ll see these appliances lurking – or in use in surprising ways. Jennie Alexander uses them for many aspects of constructing her iconic chair.
During the last six months, I’ve been working with Alexander and chairmaker Larry Barrett to completely revise Alexander’s “Make a Chair from a Tree.” I don’t have a timeline as to when the project will be done as Alexander and Barrett are rebuilding the book from the roots up.
One of the small things I’m doing to help the project is prototyping a double-screw vise for the book. While all of us would prefer an all-wood vise with wooden screws, the current sorry crop of hand-powered threadboxes has pushed us into introducing a little metal.
The vise above is not the one that is going to be in the book. It still needs work. But it does work well on the bench.
The jaws are 1-1/2” x 2-1/2” x 20″ oak, with the screws on 10” centers. The 1-3/4” x 1-3/4” x 6” mahogany handles drive 3/4” x 12” Acme-threaded rod. Inside the rear jaw is buried plain steel 3/4” x 5 nuts. The handles push against 3/4” steel washers (though these are likely unnecessary).
The threaded rod is simply epoxied into the handles – about 3-1/2” worth. For the final version I’m going to tap the handles and epoxy the rod in place. Nothing like overkill.
I’m sure there will be more design changes to come.
With this vise in the mail to Alexander, I can return to tapering legs for “The Furniture of Necessity.”
