Saw Setter or Harmonic Scarecrow Music hath charms to sett the teeth on edge.
SAW, an instrument which serves to cut into pieces several solid matters, as wood, stone, ivory, &c. The best saws are of tempered steel ground bright and smooth: those of iron are only hammer-hardened: hence, the first, besides their being stiffer, are likewise found smoother than the last.
They are known to be well hammered by the stiff bending of the blade; and to be well and evenly ground, by their bending equally in a bow. The edge in which are the teeth is always thicker than the back, because the back is to follow the edge.
The teeth are cut and sharpened with a triangular file, the blade of the saw being first fixed in a whetting block. After they have been filed the teeth are set, that is, turned out of the right line, that they may make the fissure the wider, that the back may follow the better. The teeth are always set ranker for coarse cheap stuff than for hard and fine, because the ranker the teeth are set the more stuff is lost in the kerf. (more…)
If you have ordered either the deluxe or standard edition of “To Make as Perfectly as Possible: Roubo on Marquetry,” here is a quick update on the books and your order.
Both the standard and deluxe editions will be released first at Woodworking in America. We didn’t plan it this way, but that is when both books are going to be in-house and available. If you are coming to Woodworking in America, you can pick up your copy there in person.
If you are not attending Woodworking in America, your order will ship immediately after Woodworking in America. We’ll be shipping the deluxe versions first. Then the standard editions.
If you ordered the deluxe edition, we know this has been a long wait for you (it has been a long wait for us, as well). To thank the people who bought the deluxe edition, they will all receive a coupon that will allow them to download the electronic version of the book at no additional charge. This will be a high-resolution pdf that will work on computers or ebook readers.
None of the books – deluxe or standard – that ship out will be autographed. If having a book autographed is important to you, we encourage you to pursue this on your own.
Publishing these editions has been the most complex, expensive and time-consuming venture I have ever been involved in. As someone who has read these books at least six times over in the last year, I can say that it will be worth the wait.
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. There is still time to order the standard edition with free domestic shipping. Orders before Oct. 10 receive free shipping. To place an order, visit our store here.
Several readers have asked about the hardware-store solution to the three-way bolt needed for the three-legged folding stool. While I am working on an old-school solution, here is how to accomplish the job with about $3.50 of easy-to-source metal.
Note that this is for 1”-diameter legs. If you bump up to 1-1/8” or 1-1/4”, you will need a longer hex bolt and eye bolt.
One 5/16” x 2-1/2” hex bolt
One 1/4” x 2” eyebolt (if your store carries 5/16”, use that instead)
One 5/16” acorn nut
One 1/4” acorn nut
Two 5/16” washers
One 1/4” washer
When I use this hardware arrangement, I drill 21/64” through-holes in the legs. And I usually coat most of the threads of the eyebolt with some epoxy. This coating prevents the threads from chewing up the hole in the leg.
I’ve had this arrangement in a stool that my 13-year-old daughter has been using daily since last year. So far, so good.
“The Art of Joinery, Revised Edition” is now at the printer, so we are offering a pre-publication offer: free domestic shipping if you order before Nov. 4, 2013.
The book is $21 shipped anywhere in the United States if you order before the deadline. After that date, shipping will be $7.
“The Art of Joinery” was the first book Lost Art Press published in 2008, and it has been out of print and unavailable for several years now. During the last 12 months, we have worked diligently on the revised edition. Here is what it contains:
1. The lightly edited text of Joseph Moxon’s landmark work on joinery – the first English-language text on the topic. We took Moxon’s 17th-century verbiage and removed the long “s” characters, broke up his run-on sentences and added a few words here and there (in brackets) to help the modern reader digest the text more easily.
2. I have added modern commentary on every one of Moxon’s sections on tools and techniques. I amplified the text with photos that demonstrate many of the processes that Moxon discusses, such as processing stock by hand and cutting mortise-and-tenon joints. And I have explained the historical context behind many of Moxon’s explanations, sometimes supporting his conclusions; sometimes taking issue with them. In this revised edition, I have expanded some of my commentary and revised some assessments based on new information.
3. Each section is published with the relevant illustrations embedded in the text. In the 17th-century edition, the plates were separate from the text. We have put them together to make it easier for you to read.
4. We have also published the original plates in their entirety so you can see how the tools were arranged on the page.
5. We have included the complete and unedited original text from the 17th century. This text includes all the antiquated characters, inconsistent spellings, free-form italics and capital letters and run-on sentences. We have painstakingly reset the entire text in a 17th-century-style typeface called “Fell.”
6. And we have added an appendix of select plates from André Félibien’s “Des principes de l’architecture, de la sculpture, de la peinture…“ (1676), which pre-dated Moxon’s work and is probably the source of many of Moxon’s drawings.
“The Art of Joinery, Revised Edition” is 168 pages and – like all Lost Art Press publications – printed and bound in the United States. The book is hardbound and covered with a dark-blue cloth. The interior of the book is notched and casebound for durability. The book will have natural-colored endsheets and the book’s pages will feature a rough exterior edge, like early books.
The book is available for ordering in our store here.
We will offer an electronic version of this book, but we will not offer a leather-bound edition. The book will be available through many (if not all) of our retailers around the world.
Thank you for your patience during this long gestation period.
Today I’m building a couple of three-legged folding stools for “Campaign Furniture.” We’ve been building these all summer in classes and for fun, but I have neglected to take photos of the process – not that there is much of a process.
The great thing about these stools is they take almost no material or time. The two stools I’m building today are made from scraps left over from campaign chests, Roorkhee chairs and hides I have sitting in the basement.
All you need are three 1” x 1” x 23-1/2” sticks – perfect offcuts, really.
One of these two stools is based on a late-19th-century example shown in one of Christopher Clarke Antiques’ catalogs. These stools were quite common (they still are, really). In addition to the military, these stools were common among artists, campers, sportsmen and hunters.
The only thing keeping these stools from being a perfect weekend project is the hardware. The old three-way bolts are very hard to come by. Time to talk to a blacksmith.
If you have ordered either the deluxe or standard edition of “To Make as Perfectly as Possible: Roubo on Marquetry,” here is a quick update on the books and your order.
