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.
Ania, checking out the fit of her backrest prior to sanding.
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.
A single swipe down the stick picked up the above amount of yellow powder.
I’m afraid you’re stuck with me again for the LAP Open Wire this week (though Chris might pop in from time to time to make sure I’m not telling tall tales).
So let’s hear your woodworking, old house renovation and cat-related questions.
Here’s how it works: Type your question in the comment field. I will post my answer. It is that simple.
Before you ask a question, please read this.
If you could limit the number of questions you ask to one or two, that would be appreciated.
If your question is your first comment here, it will automatically be flagged for moderation. Your question will appear after I approve it.
It’s been a busy week – so I might sleep in and therefore not get to the first questions (or approve new commenters) until a bit closer to 9 a.m. Or possibly 10 a.m. Darn it. I woke up at 7 (which actually counts as “sleeping in” these days).
Comments are now closed. Thank for all the questions!
– Fitz
p.s. For the following two weeks, we have special Open Wire guests!
Pencil gauges were one of the products that were part of “split” orders.
As we are cranking up our order fulfillment system here, some of the shipments are being fulfilled from Covington, some from Indianapolis and some are being fulfilled from both locations.
A few orders are “split” – meaning that part of the order comes from Covington and part comes from Indianapolis. We are working on making these split orders clear to customers, but for the next week or so it might be confusing.
So if you ordered a hammer and a book, you might get the hammer from Covington in a couple days with the book following a day or two later.
Anyway, we are working on smoothing this out; so stay tuned and thanks for your patience.
In April 2023, we purchased the Anthe Building at 407 Madison Ave. in Covington, Kentucky, to become our new editorial headquarters and fulfillment center. We are in a multi-year restoration process to clean and preserve the building for future generations.
Here are some of the frequently asked questions about the building and how Lost Art Press will use it now and in the future.
Q: What are the plans for the Anthe Building?
A: The first phase of the project is to restore the first floor of the old factory. The rear of the building will become our fulfillment center, a function that is now handled in Indianapolis. The building’s storefront will become our commercial space – a book and tool store. That will be open by the end of 2023, we hope. The second floor will be restored in 2024 or 2025 to become our editorial offices at the front of the building and long-term storage at the rear. The third floor will be fixed up sometime in the future. We have ideas for how the third floor will be used, but nothing we are prepared to discuss.
In general, we are trying to alter the building as little as possible. The biggest tasks are cleaning the place and remediating any lead paint we might find. There are many partition walls that need to be repaired so they are sturdy. And we need to remove out-of-code electrical stuff, add HVAC to the upstairs floors and make a safe working environment for us.
Q: What will happen to the storefront on Willard Street?
A: The classes and workbenches will stay at Willard Street, as will the mechanical library and my woodworking machines. Lucy and I will continue to live above the storefront until we croak. So basically, Willard Street will look the same and function the same.
Q: How far is the Anthe Building from the storefront on Willard Street?
A: Less than a mile from our shop on Willard Street. I walk it in less than 10 minutes.
Q: Will people still be able to visit the Willard Street storefront to buy books and tools?
A: The Willard Street storefront will remain a commercial space until we have the storefront established at the Anthe Building. After that, all commerce will move to the Anthe Building. This will give Lucy and me a little more privacy, especially during mealtime.
Q: Why did you purchase the Anthe Building?
A: We have always loved the Anthe building and will be its second tenants since the building was built in 1897 as the Anthe Machine Works. Anthe made woodworking tooling and cutters, especially for shapers. The business closed in 2019 and was, at the time, Covington’s second-oldest business. The building is a time capsule with many original features, including the line shaft on the first floor.
The gap between the Anthe building and its neighbor.
Q: There is a gap between the Anthe building and the neighboring building on the third floor. Is the building tilting? Structurally unsound?
A: The building was inspected by a structural engineer in 2023 and they told us not to worry about it. Early on in the life of the building it pulled away from its neighbor a bit. Several metal plates and bars were added to reinforce the area. Many old buildings in this district of Covington have tilted a bit during the last 150 years.
Q: Will you change the storefront?
A: No. The store front has remained almost unchanged since the building was built. The main structure is cast iron, with the original frame-and-panel walls. The trim around the first-floor windows is painted steel. Our plans are to remove excess paint and repaint the storefront in a similar shade of green, hopefully matching the original color. We do have to replace the awning as it is beyond repair. We will eventually repaint the building’s cornice. And we are now planning repairs to the mortar in the brick work. The brick will remain unpainted, which is how the building was original built.
Q: What sort of neighborhood is the Anthe building in?
A: The building is in the city’s Downtown Commercial historic district (Willard Street is in the Mainstrasse district). On our block we have law offices, a pawn shop and a LaRosa’s Pizza. Behind us and across the street are two banks and a former insurance office that is being converted to a large restaurant and distillery. The most exciting part of this area is that we will soon have a new neighborhood behind us. A 23-acre parcel of land that used to be an IRS building is being returned to its original use as a neighborhood with residents and stores. (Read more here.) The Anthe building is located diagonally to Trinity Episcopal Church, where Chris and Lucy were married in 1993. One block away from the Anthe building (at Scott Boulevard and Fourth Street) is the former site of Grote Drugs, one of the drug stores that Lucy’s family ran.
Q: What architectural style is the building?
A: Neoclassical.
Q: How can readers help with the restoration?
A: The restoration requires a group of skilled tradespeople all working in concert with one another. And they need to be licensed in order to comply with county and state regulations. As we get into the future phases of the restoration, we might ask for help cleaning up the second and third floors, which can be done by anyone good with a brush and a broom. Mostly, you can help by continuing to buy our books, tools and apparel, which helps us fund the restoration.
Q: What are you going to do about the freight elevator?
A: For now, nothing. We hope to get it certified as a material lift (no passengers) so we can move books to different floors. But that is a future project.
Q: What are you going to do with the old TV antenna at the rear of the building?
A: It stays. Megan has to watch her soap operas – or else she gets grumpy.
