Lost Art Press

Shipping Update: ‘To Make as Perfectly as Possible’

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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John Hoffman says that – except for a few international orders – all of the pre-ordered copies of “To Make as Perfectly as Possible: Roubo on Marquetry” are in the hands of the U.S. Postal Service.

That means if you ordered a deluxe or standard copy of the book before the book was released at Woodworking in America, your book is on its way.

We apologize for the time-consuming process. John and his son, Jacob, have been personally packing every box since the minute John returned from Woodworking in America. For the deluxe editions, we had to use a special box and packing materials that required some custom cardboard fabrication (thanks, band saw).

John and Jacob are now shipping out all the other orders that have come in since WIA, including T-shirts.

If you have had a problem with your shipment and have not reported it to us, please let John know at john@lostartpress.com. If you have reported it, we ask for a little patience during this busy time of year.

Speaking of busy, “The Art of Joinery: Revised Edition” is on its way to John’s garage as I type this.

I should probably send them a case of Red Bull and vodka.

— Christopher Schwarz

P.S. If you want to make the publisher happy, rip the plastic condom off your deluxe edition and start reading it. The book is tough enough to withstand even the sharpest gaze.

Interview with Andrew Detloff at Ravinheart Renditions

Posted on by Lost Art Press

ravinheartAndrew Detloff has just posted a 30-minute chat session we recorded last night. We discussed why Don Williams’ Roubo translation is so important, the machinery in my workshop and (no surprise) workbenches.

You can listen to the podcast here.

Detloff interviews a lot of woodworkers. Check out his blog’s main page for chats with planemaker Scott Meek, Jim Heavey and Hendrik Varu.

— Christopher Schwarz

Roubo T-shirts for Canada

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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Canadians can now order our “To Make as Perfectly as Possible” T-shirts through our Zazzle.ca store.

The T-shirts use exactly the same design as the shirts we sell in the Lost Art Press store. The images are printed on 100-percent cotton American Apparel T-shirts. The shirts are $35.25 (Canadian) each with reasonable shipping (about $6 on average).

You can order the shirts directly through Zazzle.ca using this link.

We will be opening other Zazzle portals in Europe and Australia in the coming months.

As these T-shirts are being made by a third party, we do not have complete control over the quality (this makes us a little nuts). If you have a complaint about a shirt – and we hope you don’t – let both us and Zazzle know.

— Christopher Schwarz

And…cut!

Posted on by fitz

The core “Virtuoso” team is currently returning to a normal orbit after the fourth (and ostensibly last) pilgrimage to the Studley tool chest. As Chris has described elsewhere, after this visit I can finally check off a nagging item on my “Virtuoso” to-do list: getting the tool chest off the wall.

Writing up a list of to-dos has preceded every single trip to the tool chest, (which, if you’re wondering, is located on floor 7–1/2 of the ACME Corporation headquarters in West Alahampshiresippi). For our first visit, the tasks were largely centered on achieving as much breadth as possible with a brute-force documentary survey of the chest and every single item in it. Subsequent trips focused on specifics such as joinery or inlay, the bench and its vises, specific tool groupings and “non-documentary” photography.

The list for this last trip may have featured the fewest number of things to get done, but the list was perhaps the most logistically ambitious. The to-dos for this trip included getting the chest off the wall, photographing the closed chest at 45° rotations, staging various “ensemble” shots of the chest and its accompanying bench and shooting a video. I also brought a new, higher-resolution camera this time and wanted to redo a select number of shots from earlier trips just to have a few more pixels to work with.

In 2.5 days we set up four or five distinct “sets” for still photography and video, captured views of the chest that very few people have ever seen, and then packed everything up. As with every trip to North Texassourington, we left exhausted, exhilarated and inspired.

Don opening the chest

While we’ve posted many informal videos since we began this project, the video footage we shot this time will be released in concert with the book (details TBD). The video will feature the wealth of knowledge and some of the stories that Don has accumulated in his research on Henry O. Studley, his tool chest and his bench. I also spent some time in front of the camera droning on and on about the approach I took to the project and my perspective on the chest as a designer, woodworker, and photographer.

Studley Video Set

My favorite parts of the video footage, however, involve Don and I ’fessing up about which single Studley tool we would “keep” were we not the fine, upstanding individuals that we are. We had different answers that won’t be revealed until the video is released, but feel free to guess. There are only a few hundred to choose from.

— Narayan Nayar

Hey Texas. Yes, I’m Talking to You

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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This weekend I’ll be in San Marcos, Texas, at the new Wortheffort school of woodworking to teach a class on building the Dutch tool chest and give a free talk at 7 p.m. Nov. 2 that is open to the public.

If you have ever wanted to harass me, heckle me or autograph you baby’s head, this is your chance.

I am not sure what my presentation will be about. Perhaps on Campaign Furniture; perhaps on the weird history of workbenches. Or maybe something else. I’ll make that decision on the airplane. Some details about the free event are here. A map and phone number to the school can be found here.

This is my last class or public appearance for 2013. Whew.

If you are in the class, this is going to be a doozy. We have to build the chest in only two days. So practice your dovetails if you can.

— Christopher Schwarz