Lost Art Press

After long waits and delays, we have lots and lots of stock on three items:

Crucible Holdfast

Crucible Planing Stop

LAP Pencils

Soon we’ll be restocked on dovetail templates and tomorrow we should start selling “Karvsnitt”

— Christopher Schwarz

I’ve just finished up this Gibson stick chair in red elm and oak, and offer it for sale via auction.  

The Gibson chair, an Irish form, is one of the most comfortable chairs I make, thanks to its low-slung seat and swept-back sticks. This chair is ideal for sitting by the fire or on the porch. And it can be sat in comfortably for hours.

The red elm, a difficult wood to find and to work, is incredibly strong and luminous. Prized by chairmakers as an ideal timber for seats, elm is almost impossible to split. This elm was harvested in northern Indiana and came from a tree that was remarkably straight. As a result, I was able to saw out dead-straight elm parts for the legs and sticks. 

Here are some statistics: The seat tilts back 4°, and the back tilts 32° back from the seat. The seat is 15” off the floor and is 15” deep. There is 19-1/2” between the arms. The chair’s overall height is 33”. My chairs are compact but strong. If you can fit between the arms, the chair will hold you just fine. My Gibsons easily hold people 340 lbs.

Like all my chairs, the joints are assembled with hide glue and oak wedges, so the joints are strong but can be easily repaired by future generations. The chair is finished with a home-cooked linseed oil/wax finish that has no dangerous solvents. The finish offers low protection, but it is easy to repair by the owner with no special skills or tools.

Purchasing the Chair

This chair is being sold by silent auction. (I’m sorry but the chair cannot be shipped outside the U.S.) If you wish to buy the chair, send an email to lapdrawing@lostartpress.com before 3 p.m. (Eastern) on Friday, July 7. In the email please use the subject line “Gibson Chair” and include your:

• Bid
• First name and last name

• U.S. shipping address
• Daytime phone number (this is for the trucking quote only)

Shipping options: You are welcome to pick up the chair here in Covington, Ky. I am happy to deliver the chair personally for free within 100 miles of Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Or we can ship it to you via LTL. The cost varies (especially these days), but it is usually between $300 and $550. Important note: I will be overseas until July 20 and cannot deliver or ship the chair until I return. You are, however, welcome to pick it up from our storefront anytime (other employees will be here). Sorry for the delay.

— Christopher Schwarz

P.S. If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen this chair with a repaired arm. That arm was removed and replaced with a new one. This chair suffered no cracks during construction.

If you live in the greater Stockholm area, please stop by Rubank Tools AB in Farsta this Saturday (July 8) to say hello and talk about woodworking or salty black licorice.

Rubank is our distributor in Sweden, and they invited me to stop by between 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Saturday to meet customers and see their facility. 

Why am I going to Sweden? About 1,000 reasons. I’ve never been to Scandinavia, and so I’m going to travel around for a couple weeks with my friend Narayan. Hide your potatoes and other comestibles, because Narayan and I are coming for your calories.

And your Vasa, and Skolkoster and your Skansen.

But mostly your potatoes.

— Christopher Schwarz

Last week’s Gibson Chair class – Chris’s first ever – was a rousing success. Only one person broke an arm (it was Chris), and everyone left with a gorgeous new Gibson chair in Ulmus rubra – red elm (with a red oak back rest), ready for finish. (I’m fairly certain every one is using a clear finish – this wood is too pretty to paint!)

But there is one mystery: Some of the sticks loosed some yellow powder upon planing…and we can’t figure out what caused this. I admit to spending but a limited time looking…because I’m busy and surely someone reading this knows! One possibility is “Elm Yellows,” aka elm phloem necrosis – but as far as I can tell from my limited reading, that disease turns the leaves yellow; there’s no mention of powder in the wood. I should also say that it doesn’t seem to have weakened the wood. Also, the powder didn’t bleed more out of the pores after further planing and a wipe-down with a rag. We did not do a taste test.

So – can anyone explain?