Lost Art Press

Calvin Cobb: A Delightful Whiff of B.S.

Posted on by fitz

Manure

Last week, I burned a passel of vacation hours from my day job so I could travel to North Carolina to hang out with Roy Underhill and Chris Schwarz (an excellent way to spend vacation hours), and take some time together to look at 1930s tomes for binding/cover treatment inspiration, talk about illustrations for the book and bug Roy about his manuscript. (I’m eager – nay, salivating – to read the revised text, give it a copy edit, and put it in the hands of the book designer.)

After much deliberation, we’re switching tactics on the book’s illustrations; instead of Hardy Boys-style line drawings, “Calvin Cobb: Radio Woodworker! (A Novel with Measured Drawings),” will include vintage photographs of the places and things that Roy’s radio-woodworking uncle, Calvin*, mentions in the text. (It will, of course, also have measured drawings of the woodworking projects – otherwise, we’d have to change the title.)

Because Calvin’s day job involves manure spreaders, along with pictures of 1930s Washington, D.C., and other locales, there’s going to be some bullsh*t – some funny, funny bullsh*t.

And while we were at The Woodwright’s School (where Chris was teaching a Dutch tool chest class and I was helping out in between Diet Coke breaks), Roy had a truly inspired idea for the chapter spots (the little images one often sees at the beginning of a novel’s chapters – think “Harry Potter”). So, he raced all over town (Pittsboro…it can be covered quickly) taking pictures. I think they’re brilliant – and I’m ever so eager to share them with you…but not yet.

— Megan Fitzpatrick

p.s. Yes, we’re still on track for publication late this fall.

* You’ve heard Roy talk about his grandfather…so I know you’ll believe this, too…right?

Peter Hvidt: A Link Between Campaign Furniture and Danish Modern

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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After wallowing in images of campaign furniture for the last three years, it became clear to me that many of its core principles – clean design, good joinery, nice wood – had been grafted onto the Danish Modern style.

Some of the connections are obvious, such as the relationship between the Roorkee chair and Kaare Klint’s Safari Chair, which I point out in my book “Campaign Furniture.” But today, Caleb James made another important connection between the two styles.

Caleb has long been a fan and a maker of Danish Modern furniture, though now he focuses more on planemaking and Windsor chairs.

Caleb sent me photos of a secretary by Peter Hvidt (1916–1986), which has many of the hallmarks (or perhaps vestigial organs) of campaign furniture. A little more research turned up some other close stylistic connections between Hvidt’s designs and those from the Victorian campaign style. Let’s take a look.

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1. It’s a dresser on a low stand. Like campaign pieces, Hvidt’s case pieces commonly have a plinth that mimics the turned feet that are common on campaign pieces.

2. Recessed pulls. Like campaign pieces, Hvidt’s “pulls” are recessed into the case and suggest the traditional swan-neck pulls on old chests of drawers – just like campaign pieces.

3. A horizontal line between the cases. Though most of Hvidt’s cases don’t break down into two separate carcases, he put in a blade in the middle of the case that echos the division of the two case pieces in campaign furniture.

4. Excellent joinery. Hvidt’s cases are characterized by strong joinery, such as finger joints and dovetails. Campaign stuff is all about joinery that can survive rough treatment.

5. Nice wood. Lots of Hvidt’s pieces are wide teak boards. Lots of campaign pieces are wide teak boards.

Here are some other Hvidt pieces to explore.

Thanks to Caleb for sending these on. More research to come….

— Christopher Schwarz

Roubo on Scieurs de Long

Posted on by fitz

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Continuing with the series on pit sawing; this is my translation of André Roubo’s description of the process from L’Art du menuisier (1769-82). Roubo offers us a unique view of pit sawing not yet covered in the other passages, that is, the pit sawing of seasoned wood into dimensions more suitable for joiners work, which differs from the process of converting green timber into salable lumber.

The long sawyers were used by the joiners as a kind of jobbing sub-contractor. It was not uncommon to have a shop owner buy thousands of feet of seasoned wood from a timber merchant and then pay the long sawyers to rip and resaw the wood to set dimensions, rather than pay skilled joiners to do the same, when the specialists would produce better results in the same time, and the joiners could be more profitably used elsewhere.

Like my previous translations, this is not polished work, though I have endeavored to make the passages easy to understand. Many of the sentences are left in their original format, and can be understood even though they read awkwardly, whereas others have been rewritten to better communicate their meaning in English. If you want a better translation, you will have to wait for the professionals.
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Moxon on Pit Saws

Posted on by fitz

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The Pit-ſaw is a great Saw fitted into a ſquare Frame; as in Plate 4. M is the Pit-ſaw.

The Pit Saw, is Set ſo Rank for courſe Stuff, as to make a Kerf of almoſt a quarter of an Inch, but for fine and coſtly Stuff they ſet it finer to ſave Stuff, The Whip-Saw is ſet ſomewhat finer than the Pit-Saw; the Hand-Saw, and the Compaſs-Saw, finer than the Whip-Saw; but the Tennant-Saw, Frame-Saw, and the Bow-Saw, &c. are ſet fine, and have their Teeth but very little turned over the Sides of their Blades: So that a Kerf made by them, is ſeldom above half a half quarter of an Inch.
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Other Clever Additions to a Dutch Tool Chest

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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If you want to get more tools into your Dutch tool chest, check this out.

Mike Siemsen, host of the forthcoming “The Naked Woodworker” DVD, built a Dutch tool chest with (at least) two interesting twists.

1. He added an extra tool rack to the fall-front of the chest to hold small tools. Many students have threatened to transform their fall-fronts into something useful, such as a shooting board or bench hook. But I have yet to see any who succeeded. Mike’s idea definitely works. (So far, the only other successful adaptation has been to use the fall-front as a cheese board.)

2. Mike transformed his two sliding locks into winding sticks. Actually, they always were winding sticks. But he painted one stick black to make them easier to use.

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Caleb James, a planemaker, chairmaker and (I hope) soon-to-be-author, made a nice Dutch chest that he brought along to the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event in Charleston, S.C., this spring. (He also brought along a knock-down Nicholson workbench that I didn’t get to photograph. Curses.)

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Caleb did something very cool with his sliding locks. He made them into notched battens that he could use with holdfasts on his workbench. You can see one of the sliding locks on his workbench in the photo above, but the notched section is covered by a handplane.

If you cannot visualize a notch there, check out this entry that explains things.

— Christopher Schwarz