Lost Art Press

Bloodlust & Superstition

Posted on by Lost Art Press

bowsawThe late Frank David at Midwest Woodworking in Norwood, Ohio, was quite particular about who could use the machines in his shop. It took several visits before Frank would let me operate his massive radial-arm saw, jointer and planer.

To say he was deeply concerned about my safety isn’t quite right. It was more accurate to say that he didn’t want to get my blood on his machinery.

“Once a machine gets a taste of blood, it’s useless,” he’d say. “I have to get rid of it.”

During Frank’s long life as a woodworker and employer, he observed that certain machines were cursed. Once they were involved in an accident, more accidents would follow on that machine.

A scientific mind could formulate several theories as to why this might be true:

1. The machine was inherently unsafe. Accidents were bound to happen over and over on a machine with an ill-fitted guard or a poor design for a cutterhead.

2. After an accident, workers would be psychologically affected when using a machine that had been involved in an accident. Their lack of confidence would lead to another accident.

3. Machines that were involved in an accident might become neglected. And that neglect could lead to a machine that was “bitey.”

4. Hemoglobin-loving fairies start growing in the dust-collection chute and offgas a neurotoxin that makes you think about giving a foot massage to Uma Thurman when you should be watching the cutterhead and fence.

To be honest, I think a little superstition and ritualistic behavior is a good thing in a woodworking shop. Think of baseball players who perform odd luck-inducing activities before going to bat (wearing a special piece of underwear, picking their noses in a special way). They repeat an activity exactly as they did once before (licking that lightswitch six times) so the result (home run!) is the same.

In the shop, I have many activities that I perform as ritual. The way I sharpen, chisel, fit dovetails and rip on a table saw are practically scripture. They might look odd – I always grip my honing guide with my left hand. My left thumb presses the plane iron in place as my right hand uses a screwdriver to tighten the guide’s screw. But the rituals remove as many variables as possible from an equation that has one incredible wild card: the wood itself.

Now if you will please excuse me, I have to do six jumping jacks while humming Prince’s “Batdance.” I have tenons to cut.

— Christopher Schwarz

New Benchcrafted ‘Classic’ Vise Hardware

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This week I will install a leg vise on my Holtzapffel workbench in our sunroom, which is my shop on the first floor. I’ve had a twin-screw vise on Holtzapffel since I built it six years ago; when I’m done with this leg vise, I’ll be able to switch between leg vise and twin-screw with ease.

I’ve wanted to add a leg vise to the Holtzapffel for a long time, but I waited for one single reason: I wanted to use a Benchcrafted Classic metal screw on the bench. Jameel and Father John Abraham have been developing this vise for a long time, and I finally received my hardware while I was away in either Alaska or Maryland.

I’m going to install the Classic screw in tandem with Benchcrafted’s Crisscross Retro, a piece of hardware I’ve been sitting on impatiently for many months now.

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My hope is this will be the most highly evolved form of metallic leg vise yet.

This morning I pulled out all the bits and pieces of the vise so I could plan out the maple vise chop. Handling Benchcrafted hardware is like holding jewelry, and the Classic is equal parts “space age” and “bad-ass.” The screw has a double-lead acme thread, which moves smoothly and quickly (1/2” per rotation). That’s very fast (check out the video on the Benchcrafted site). The machining on the screw and nut are fantastically smooth.

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On the other hand, the hub, Tommy bar and flange are “Parkerized” like a firearm, which protects the surface from rust and is way cooler than paint.

The Tommy bar is also thoughtfully designed. The metal ends unscrew. And the way the Tommy bar interacts with the hub is quite cool. There is a detent in the Tommy bar that intersects with a spring-loaded plunger in the hub. This allows you to lock the Tommy bar in the middle of its length for coarse adjustments. Or you can let it swing free for maximum leverage.

It’s almost like magic.

I haven’t been this excited about vise hardware in a long time. If you are considering adding a leg vise or are building a new bench this year, I recommend you take a hard look at the Benchcrafted Classic and Crisscross combination.

— Christopher Schwarz

P.S. I know commenters are going to ask me to compare this to a wooden screw. Save your breath. It’s an aesthetic choice more than a functional one in my opinion. Wooden screws like those from Lake Erie are on par with the quality of the Benchcrafted stuff. So it’s like handplane bodies. Which do you prefer: metallic or wooden? They both work great.

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The Nameless Workers

Posted on by fitz

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Never in any country in the world has the worship of mere talent been carried to such an extent as in France. And the word “talent” is not here intended to imply capacity, but rather a kind of aptitude enabling its owner to shine. It is the kind of superiority in which is involved so much address and readiness of wit that it quickly degenerates into savoir faire, whereas genuine “capacity” leads its possessor to varied excellence, whence force of character and steadfastness of will can never be quite absent, or the capacity is an inferior one. But among the curiosities of French civilisation too superficially studied by foreigners is the habit of identifying every sort of superiority with the superiorities recognised by “society” and the “Court”—those of birth, position, and fashion.

A very remarkable proof of this lies in the attribution of honesty itself only to a certain class. The word “les honnêtes gens” was distinctive of those only who had the necessary qualifications for moving in the highest spheres—anything lower than that was not in the magic circle; and, besides the assumption of “honesty,” and of certain qualities constituting the British notion of a “gentleman,” talent was also instinctively ranked as belonging properly to those of a distinguished social standing.
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The History of Wood, Part 1

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Note: Here at Lost Art Press we spare no expense in sending Jeff Burks to the far reaches of the globe, searching through mythic dungeons and archives to uncover the most amazing information regarding the art of Woodworking. On one such expedition Jeff was in the dark and dank basement of Roy Underhill’s workshop where he discovered a loose floorboard. Encrusted by 30 years of wood shavings, he uncovered an Oak box which gave evidence of a mystic secret society of woodworkers. This vast group was run by a three-fingered shop teacher by the name of Daniel McDara. The writings to his minions were called The History of Wood. Jeff was able to retrieve this record and is now able to share it here. It is sometimes difficult to decipher, but to preserve the integrity of the find, the history has been left in its original format. Obviously hand scrawled, but filled with arcane secrets of the craft. I should also point out that this group appears to have been involved with doing demonstrations of some sort, and the “Military” that is being referred to are re-enactors, not our armed forces.

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Chest vs. Car (Car Wins!)

Posted on by Lost Art Press
Students David, Rebecka and Pete showing off the results of their work.
Students David, Rebecka and Pete showing off the results of their work.

When it comes to the issue of transporting a fully constructed Anarchist’s Tool Chest home, not every woodworker owns a truck. And even though the finished dimensions of the chest are easy to calculate, some people’s eyes are bigger than their Impalas.

I have had to do some wacky things to chests to get them into cars. On a few of the weirder ones, I am sworn to secrecy. Among the less weird:

• Shrink-wrapping it to the top of a Honda, “Beverly Hillbillies” style.
• Building it completely without glue so it can be flat-packed like Ikea stuff.
• Abandoning it at the school!

This week student David Eads pulled another common trick: Taking the car door off the hinges to get just enough space to sneak the chest into the back seat of a sedan. The whole process took 10 minutes. Tips: Have a box below the door and helpers so you can remove the door gently without destroying the wiring or dropping the door on the ground (this has happened.)

I head home on Sunday with this tool chest on my mind. We are getting the electronic files ready for our sixth printing of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest.” Love it or hate it, this is the book that let me quit my job. So thank you for buying it.

— Christopher Schwarz