Lost Art Press

Gibson Chair Video: Price Increases June 19

Posted on by fitz

The $50 introductory price of the “Video: Make a Gibson Chair with Christopher Schwarz” ends as of June 18; on Monday, June 19, the price will be $75.

Gibsons are quite unlike the other stick chairs Chris makes. And he has devised novel ways to use cheap lasers to make your life easier when building them (meaning you don’t have to build a lot of complicated jigs).

Chris and I spent a lot of May 2023 filming the process, condensing it into a video that:

  1. Will not waste your time. Chris dislikes prattling on and on in a video (and in life). He tried to make this video 100 percent meat – no gristle.
  2. Will show you how to build the chair and avoid common pitfalls. He has made a lot of mistakes while figuring out the Gibson. He is happy to show you his scars and detours.
  3. Is somewhat enjoyable to watch. In our video there are cats, self-deprecating jokes, the breaking of the fourth wall and other small amusements that will, we hope, keep you awake.
  4. Has the information you need. The video comes with all the patterns (hand-drawn by Chris) and cutting lists and sources so you will get up to speed quickly.

This chair is a good first chair. Yes, it’s a bit angular. But you can do it. You just have to commit.

This 3-hour video includes all the videos and all the drawings and patterns. All free of DRM (Digital Rights Management) so you can put the video on your laptop, iPad, phone and desktop with no restrictions.

You can read more about it here and order it if you like. After June 18, the price will be $75 forever.

For Sale: Bog Oak Comb-back Stick Chair

Posted on by Lost Art Press

I am almost out of bog oak. If I’m lucky, I’ll get two more chairs after this one from the stock I purchased with my friend Andy Brownell.

This seven-stick-comb-back is set up as an armchair – perfect for relaxing by the fire. 

Here are some statistics: The seat tilts back 4°, and the back tilts 12° back from the seat. The seat is 17” off the floor and is 16” deep. There is 19” between the arms. The chair’s overall height is 40”. My chairs are compact but strong. If you can fit between the arms, the chair will hold you just fine.

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 bog oak is finished with a home-cooked linseed oil/wax finish with a small amount of natural solvent. The finish offers low protection, but it is easy to repair by the owner with no special skills or tools.

The bog oak was harvested in Poland. We paid to have it dated by radio-carbon dating and it is more than 2,000 years old. The wood in this chair varies from a dark nutty brown to a coal black. 

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 Tuesday, June 20. In the email please use the subject line “Bog Oak 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., and also get a pencil. 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.

— Christopher Schwarz

Now Shipping: Crucible Redneck Pencil Gauge

Posted on by Lost Art Press

We use pencil gauges as much as marking gauges or cutting gauges. That’s because a pencil line is sometimes the better choice, especially when marking out bevels or curves.

When we construct our shop-made pencil gauges, we include a “face plate” or “curve attachment” to one face of the gauge’s head. The face plate – basically two bumps – allows the gauge to mark both inside and outside curves. You can also use the gauge against a straight, flat edge. The face plate is an incredibly handy feature that was patented by Stanley in 1886 (the patent has long expired).

For years, I’ve wanted to make a Crucible pencil gauge with a face plate, but we have never found a way to manufacture it economically. During the pandemic, however, I devised a way to make an inexpensive gauge by MacGyvering a British marking gauge made by Joseph Marples.

Marples agreed to sell us 200 basic gauges at wholesale for an experiment. When the gauges arrived, we pulled out the steel pin (it’s included in the package if you want it). Then we drilled a hole in the gauge’s beam that will hold most pencils with a tight compression fit (and we’re including a pencil). And we added a stainless steel face plate (a part that we sourced from the kennel-making industry).

The result is our Crucible Redneck Pencil Gauge that works like a charm and fits your hand beautifully, thanks to the half-round shape of the head. But it is a little rednecky (I can say that because I’m from the Ozarks). If I were going to design the gauge from scratch I would use a brass thumbscrew and machine the face plate from solid brass. It would look nicer, but it wouldn’t function any better and it would cost you three or four times more.

Now available in our store for $37 plus shipping.

Specifications:
Beam: 3/4” x 3/4” x 8-1/2”
Head: 1-1/16” x 2-3/16” x 2-5/8”
Weight: 4 ounces
Pencil: Made by Musgrave USA, included

Why We Stick With the Screw

Posted on by Lost Art Press
Our sliding bevel with a knurled-head thumbscrew.

Occasionally we have customers who are bewildered that we use Chicago screws to adjust our Crucible Type 2 Dividers and Sliding Bevel. Why don’t we use a thumbscrew or wing nut or some other device that doesn’t require a screwdriver?

The answer is simple, but not what they want to hear: Because nothing works as well as a slotted screw and a screwdriver.

During the development of these tools we tried a variety of thumbscrews and other devices to lock the tools in place. Nothing even came close to using a simple Chicago screw and a driver. With a small twist of the screw, you can lock the setting in so it is almost unmovable.

I say “almost” because I tried an experiment where I locked the screw and then threw the tool across the workshop like a baseball. About half the time the tool held its setting. The other half it moved a bit. So, I don’t recommend throwing tools across the shop.

This week I found a few more thumbscrews worth trying in the tools. I am always looking to improve things. The screw thread is a 10-32, and the threaded section needs to be about 3/8” long.

Here are three thumbscrews worth discussing (a few others were total fails).

The Knurled Head Tumbscrew (above), looked promising because it also offered a slot for a screwdriver. Unfortunately, the head has such a low profile that you cannot tighten it by hand enough to lock the blade. You have to use a screwdriver to get a good lock.

Raised Knurled-head Thumbscrew.

The Raised Knurled-head Thumbscrew was easier to grip, but it still didn’t lock the blade. Plus, there was no way to further tighten the thumbscrew with a screwdriver.

Hex-head Thumbscrew.

Finally, the Hex-head Thumbscrew looked cool. But you can’t grip it with your fingers. The only way to tighten it is with a box wrench (which worked really well).

If you resist our tools because they require a screwdriver, consider this: Many early bevels, marking gauges and mortise gauges were locked with a screwdriver. Plus, when I use these tools (and I use them every day), I get immense satisfaction locking them down all the way. It reduces any anxiety I have about the tool moving by accident.

This anxiety, I might add, was caused by other tools going out of adjustment and ruining a piece of work. 

— Christopher Schwarz

LAP Open Wire with Joshua Klein, June 17, 2023

Posted on by fitz
Joshua Klein

For this Saturday’s Open Wire, we are delighted to welcome guest host Joshua Klein, editor of Mortise & Tenon Magazine (M&T) and author of “Hands Employed Aright: The Furniture Making of Jonathan Fisher (1768-1847).”

You can ask Joshua about all things M&T, Jonathan Fisher and homesteading in Maine, and about the “new” house he and his family, along with Michael Updegraff (M&Ts associate editor), and the sometimes-help of an army of friends, are re-constructing (it will be the Klein family home when it’s done). Joshua writes:

Besides starting to work on Issue Fifteen (which ships in September), Mike and I have been intensely focused on the restoration of an 1821 hand-hewn timber-frame house that we disassembled and moved to my property. We’ve spent months tackling numerous timber and joinery repairs before raising the whole thing on its new granite foundation. We’ve been chronicling the entire project each weekday at the M&T Daily Dispatch. This house embodies so much of the “art and mystery” of pre-industrial carpentry.

The “Old Jordan House,” now raised (from the Mortise & Tenon website).

You can read a full profile of Joshua here.

I hope you will stop by this Saturday and Joshua a few questions (and I hope Mike might chime in, too!). We are opening up the Open Wire to our authors, and so you can look for more guest hosts in the coming weeks.

– Fitz