Lost Art Press

What Would be the Danger?

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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John looked under the bench and found a piece of wood which he thought would do for a wedge, only the end wanted sharpening.

“Shall I take your broad chisel and sharpen it?” said he.

“No,” said Ebenezer. “I have not taught you to use the chisel yet, and it would not be safe.”

“What would be the danger?” asked John, —”that I should cut my fingers?”

“No,” replied Ebenezer. “I am not afraid of that. We don’t usually give ourselves much concern about our apprentice’s fingers. The damage that I fear is, that you might dull my chisel, and that would be of much more consequence. You see if you cut your fingers, they will get well of themselves, after a little time; but it would make me a great deal of trouble to sharpen up my chisel, if you were to get it dull.”

(John then proceeds to finish sawing a board, and Ebenezer comes to inspect the result.)

“Have I sawed it pretty straight?” John asked.

“We don’t praise apprentices much,” said Ebenezer, “especially when they are beginning, for fear it should make them conceited. People that know very little are always apt to be very vain of what little they do know.”

— “The Boy’s Own Workshop” by Jacob Abbott (William P. Nimmo, 1866)

Photographing Furniture and Work at the Bench

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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I get asked about the equipment I use to take the photographs for this blog, my magazine articles and the books at Lost Art Press.

I think that equipment has little to do with photography. But don’t tell that to the people on photography message boards. If you think the woodworking forums are kooky at times, they are Romper-Room in comparison to the ones on photo equipment.

Until December, my photo equipment was one small notch above the Harbor Freight level. And while I’d rather talk about composition, lighting, depth of field and exposure, I’d like to get the equipment discussion out of the way. I’ll discuss the more important stuff at a later date.

When we bring a new author on board at Lost Art Press, here is what we tell them about equipment.

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Tripod
The one place I’ll never skimp is on the tripod. It is the workbench of the photography world. I have a 20-year-old Bogen/Manfrotto tripod that I’ve rebuilt twice. You can find these pods on Craigslist. Even if they are beat to heck, they can be easily brought back. They were designed to last forever.

Many exposures in the workshop and with furniture can be quite long, so a good tripod is non-negotiable.

An SLR
Any entry-level digital SLR will do the job. I find camera bodies to be disposable. The lenses are where I’ll spend money because those will be with you forever. Until I recently bought a “prosumer” camera, I used Canon Rebel bodies. I don’t give a crap about megapixels. I just buy the camera with the largest sensor that is on sale.

You want a camera that can easily drop into full-manual mode. If you can’t manually adjust the f-stop, shutter speed and focus, the camera will frustrate you in the shop. The exposure meters in cameras are not your friend. The auto-focus is not your friend.

Full manual. Full manual. Full manual.

One last detail, the camera should be able to shoot RAW files (most cameras do). It is much easier to control everything (color, exposure, sharpness etc.) in the frame with a RAW file.

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Lighting
A good set of lights can cost as much as a car. Luckily, you those are not the lights you are looking for. I recommend a low-cost continuous lighting system that uses CF bulbs, such as this Cowboy Studio system. Yup, the whole three-light rig is $60 and it is all you need to photograph your furniture and work at the bench.

Yeah, it’s not an Italian light setup. It’s a lot of plastic, and you need to be careful not to break the bulbs. But for the amateur (or someone writing their first book) I think it’s perfect.

The two umbrellas diffuse the light and make things nice and flat. Then you can use the third light to create shadows or highlight some part of the frame.

A Cable Release
One last thing, get a cable release for your camera. This will minimize camera shakes during long exposures. If you are too cheap to buy a cheap cable release, use the self-timer on your camera.

— Christopher Schwarz

Special Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event in Charleston, S.C.

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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Charleston, S.C., is my favorite city in the world because of the food, architecture, history, weather, furniture and people.

I was first sent there in 1990 to write about the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo and fell in love with the Holy City. I’ve returned there every year since. Lucky for me, I have a built-in excuse – my father now lives there downtown.

If you’ve never been to Charleston, here is a chance to do it, woodworking-style.

This month, March 28-29, Lie-Nielsen Toolworks is holding a Hand Tool Event at Charleston’s American College of the Building Arts, which is currently located in the city’s old jail (an incredible structure). While that is reason enough to come to Charleston, Deneb Puchalski at Lie-Nielsen and I created a special program for the day before the event – March 27 – to introduce you to the city, the food and the furniture on the peninsula.

There is limited space; we can take only 20 woodworkers, so sign up using the instructions at the end of this blog entry. Note: All the following events are on the lower peninsula. No car is necessary to get from place to place.

Here is what we’ve planned for March 27.

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Noon – 1 p.m.
Curatorial Tour of the Nathaniel Russell House Museum
https://www.historiccharleston.org/Russell.aspx
51 Meeting Street, Charleston
Cost: $35 per person
In this specially curated tour of the Nathaniel Russell house, we’ll take a look at the furniture of this impressive home, much of which was made in Charleston. Charleston pieces can be difficult to identify and find. This house has one of the best (if not the best) collections of Charleston pieces. We will all meet at the front gate of the house about noon and go in as a group.

1 p.m. – 2 p.m.
Lunch on your own. We’ll recommend several good places in walking distance that will fit any budget.

10. Douro Chair with Case by Allen(1)

2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Campaign Furniture, Its Surprising Origins
American College of the Building Arts
http://buildingartscollege.us/
21 Magazine St., Charleston
Cost: free
Christopher Schwarz leads a presentation on campaign furniture that shows its surprising 18th-century origins and traces its evolution – plus its connection to Danish modern. Chris is bringing original campaign pieces, plus pieces he built for his book “Campaign Furniture.” The lecture and multimedia presentation will be followed by a question-and-answer session.

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3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Antique Shops of Lower King Street
Cost: free
If you would like to explore some of the best shops for English and American furniture in the South, we’ll give you a map of the stores that have museum-quality antiques that you can examine and study. Many of these shops are filled with amazing pieces you can actually touch – open the drawers (ask first and be gentle) and look at how real furniture is made. We think that even an hour looking at real antiques will improve your own designs.

5 p.m. – whenever
Drinks and dinner at the Craftsmen Kitchen and Tap House
http://www.craftsmentaphouse.com/
12 Cumberland St., Charleston
Cost: Up to you….
Afterward, we’ll all gather at the Craftsmen, which has one of the best draft beer selections in the city, not to mention very good, reasonably priced food. We have a section of the restaurant reserved. Come for a drink, then you can get dinner elsewhere if you like, or stay with us and close the place down.

As I mentioned above, we have room for only 20 woodworkers. The only cost is paying for your food and your admission to the Nathaniel Russell House (I arranged for a discount). I hope to bring my father along on the tour because he used to be a docent for Preservation Society.

The Hand Tool Event itself will also be great. I will bring my Dutch tool chest and will teach and demonstrate handplanes all weekend. Not just bench planes, but also joinery planes, complex moulders and hollows and rounds. Also, carver Mary May and chairmaker Caleb James will be there. Mary is a fantastic carver, and I have been eager to meet Caleb (he is helping us edit Peter Galbert’s chair book).

These Hand Tool Events are free and are a true public service for the woodworking community. These events are always casual. There is no hard sell. Heck, there is no soft sell. Just tools, benches and people who will answer all of your questions.

For more information on the Hand Tool Events, visit the Lie-Nielsen site here.

To register for the March 27 pre-show events, please read the following with care.

1. Send an e-mail to me at chris@lostartpress.com with the subject line as “Charleston event.” Do NOT just reply in the comments that you’ll be there.

2. In the email, please include your name, mailing address and best phone number to reach you in case the schedule changes. This is not to spam you or register you for some stupid mailing list. You know me better than that.

3. That’s it. I’ll reply when I get your e-mail. Later in the month you’ll receive full instructions for the event.

— Christopher Schwarz

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P.S. As we get closer to the event, I’ll post information here about other things to do in Charleston, both for you and your family, even if you cannot come to the March 27 pre-show kidney killer. Charleston has excellent shopping, world-class cuisine, art, nearby beaches and is lousy with historical sites.

Selecting and Using Files

Posted on by fitz

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How many machinists know a good file when they see it? I don’t believe one in fifty can take a pile of files and pick out the best one. The average man will pick up two or three, turn them over, squint along the corners, pick out the straightest one and call it as “good as any.” They don’t seem to have any idea that a file may be soft, or fire-cracked, or burned. If they were choosing a cold chisel they would look out for all these things, but “a file is a file” so long as it has teeth and tang.

Talk about certain tools being abused in the machine shop, or in any other shop. What is more abused than a file? No matter what job is on hand, they are expected to take right hold of it and never let go. Hard iron, soft iron, steel or lead, brass, copper or wood, it makes no difference. The file must go at it hammer and tongs.
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Mistaken Vocation

Posted on by fitz

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“I wish I had never learned this trade,” said a mechanic in our hearing a few days ago; and impatiently throwing down his tools he left the shop, with his day’s work but half completed. He went out to spend the remainder of the day in idleness, dissatisfied alike with himself and with his employment.

How often do we hear the very same expression and see the same disgust evinced in nearly every trade or avocation with which we are acquainted. Why is it? Is the evil in their occupation, in their employers, or is it in themselves? Some might presume one thing and some another; but we answer:—Mechanics, it is in yourselves.
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