Lost Art Press

On Name-stamping Your Tools

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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When Ty Black started as a shop assistant last summer, he was bemused and amused that all my hand tools were stamped with my shop mark.

“I’ll bet your kids are stamped with this, too,” he joked.

Ty’s reaction is common. Many home woodworkers and tool collectors I’ve met take a dim view of marking your tools. It is “hubris,” according to some, because you are putting yourself on the same level as the maker of the tool. I’ve been told that I should only mark tools that I’ve made. Stamping lowers the value of the tool to collectors (though that attitude seems to be changing).

stamp2_IMG_7099I have to laugh at these attitudes. When you work in a shop with other people, marking your tools in some way is essential so you can keep track of your tool kit. Lots of people own a Starrett 12” combination square, and when yours grows legs, the stamp is the only way to ensure it’s coming back home without a fight.

I’m not worried about theft, per se (though that was a concern in early shops). But before I marked every marking gauge, chisel and hammer, my tools would end up going home with my students. It was always accidental, but is was always annoying and stressful.

Of course, one can go overboard with a name stamp. See Joel Moskowitz’s blog today at Tools for Working Wood for a great example of this.

If you are going to take a woodworking class and still think a stamp is silly, mark your tools in some manner. Add a dot with some nail polish. Add a temporary stripe of brightly colored tape. Something. I’ve seen too much confusion at the end of a class when people are trying to decide whose chisel belongs to whom.

And if you want a fantastic stamp, contact Infinity Stamps. The company’s employees will design a stamp for you based off a sketch or whatever else you have. They are fast and great to deal with.

Gotta go. I have make a crapload of try squares today. And I hope to stamp them all before dinner. That’s another thing I like about my stamp. It announces happy hour for the day.

— Christopher Schwarz

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Another 6-board Chest

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For me, naming things is akin to violence. So you can imagine how fond I am of the habit of people “naming” their pieces of furniture.

But no matter. Today I finished up a six-board chest made of Eastern white pine for the “Furniture of Necessity” book. For this piece, I took Peter Follansbee’s advice and scratched a geometric design in the front panel.

The pattern is based on the number “six.” The inner circle is a 6” radius and the internal arcs are one-sixth of that circle’s circumference, like that of a hollow or round plane for making mouldings. Yet there are no applied mouldings on this chest. And there are only five nails up each end of the chest.

Wow.

And so I name this piece: “Moulded & Unmoulded No. 1.” (It’s always best to attach a number to the piece. Beret, please.)

— Christopher Schwarz

Roubo Translation News

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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This is going to read like a letter that recalls your car.

Lost Art Press is committed to bringing the first-ever English translation of A.-J. Roubo’s masterpiece to market in March 2013. No, make that July. August? Well crap.

OK, forget the form letter.

“To Make as Perfectly as Possible: Roubo on Marquetry” has been at the printer since July 1. But because of the complex nature of the project and the proofing process, we are scheduled to go on press this week. Then our pages head to the bindery on Sept. 3. And they will be shipped to us no later than Oct. 10.

That’s the bad news.

But there is lots of good news to report here. Here is some:

1. The trade edition will be released in time for Woodworking in America, Oct. 18-20. So we will have both editions of the marquetry book – the deluxe and the trade edition – at Woodworking in America in Covington, Ky.

2. As part of Woodworking in America, we will be holding a book-release party on Thursday, Oct. 17. Details to come, but if you ordered the deluxe edition you will be the first to be invited. If our luck holds, we will have as many people involved in the project – translators, editors, designer, etc. – as possible on hand to sign your copy of the book.

3. I reviewed the deluxe edition of the Roubo translation on Thursday and I can say this: It is awesome. Huge. Designed to a “T” by Wesley Tanner. And inspiring.

So thank you for your patience. I know this has been a long journey from the time we started this project more than six years ago. I know that once the book is released, I will allow all the stress and angst from the printing process to fade. Until then, beer please.

— Christopher Schwarz

P.S. We still have some deluxe editions to sell from our one-and-only press run. Details here.

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New England Planted, Prospered, Declining, Threatnd, Punished

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Beyond the great Atlantick flood
There is a region vast,
A country where no English foot
In former ages past:
A waste and howling wilderness,
Where none inhabited
But hellish fiends, and brutish men
That Devils worshiped.

This region was in darkness plac’t
Far off from heavens light,
Amidst the shaddows of grim death
And of eternal night.
For there the Sun of righteousness
Had never made to shine
The light of his sweet countenance,
And grace which is divine:

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Until the time drew nigh wherein
The glorious Lord of hostes
Was pleasd to lead his armies forth
Into those forrein coastes.
At whose approach the darkness sad
Soon vanished away,
And all the shaddows of the night
Were turned to lightsome day.

The dark and dismal western woods
(The Devils den whilere)
Beheld such glorious Gospel-shine,
As none beheld more cleare.
Were sathan had his scepter sway’d
For many generations,
The King of Kings set up his throne
To rule amongst the nations.
— Michael “Mr. Doomsday” Wigglesworth, 1662

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I’m Done. Really. I’m Done.

Posted on by Lost Art Press
My Friday haul – Sipo, mahogany and sugar pine.
My Friday haul – Sipo, mahogany and sugar pine.

At my current pace – about three significant pieces a month – I have enough rough lumber to keep me busy for the next two years.

But when I walked into Midwest Woodworking Friday morning, I knew I was going to buy more. Frank David and his employees had sorted through the shop’s stores and come up with a lot more incredible stuff, including a cache of 4/4 sugar pine that I’d never seen.

As we unpacked that particular pile, I pulled six 16”-wide (or wider) 100-percent clear 16’-long boards aside. At less than $5/board foot it was a steal. And I made it only one-third of the way through the pile.

Customers hit the amazing cache of 5/4 mahogany.
Customers hit the amazing cache of 5/4 mahogany.

Then I hit the mahogany – I picked up enough 8/4 for eight Roorkhee chairs.

And then, the Sipo (Entandrophragma utile). Midwest has a half-dozen planks of 16/4 that are 24” wide and 14’ long. Beautifully figured. Clear. Completely dry. And about $9 a board foot.

Daryl of Midwest attempts to cut a Sipo plank on a radial arm so. No dice.
Daryl of Midwest attempts to cut a Sipo plank on a radial arm so. No dice.
Daryl tries a recip saw on a Sipo plank.
Daryl tries a recip saw on a Sipo plank.

I bought a plank – about 128 board feet worth – and needed to crosscut it to get it into my truck. Neither radical-harm saw at Midwest would do the trick the Sipo was too thick. Then we tried a recip saw. It was slow. Finally, one of the other customers loaned me a little battery circ saw that was the solution. I cut through both faces with the circ saw. Then removed the waste between with the recip saw.

What’s the Sipo for? I am thinking ahead: H.O. Studley workbenches.

After hoisting each plank onto my personal pile, I said aloud: “That’s it. I’m done.”

Five planks later, everyone around started mocking me.

I took my wood home and unloaded it.

Today I returned to Midwest to help other customers. Somehow I ended up unpacking that pile of sugar pine again. And I got down to some 18”-wide boards that had been there for 40 years. After pulling every plank, I told myself: That’s it, I’m done.

Five planks later… I really was.

The wood and machinery sale was a bittersweet affair for me and Andy Brownell, who did a huge amount of work organizing the event. The owner, Frank David, was there on Friday and it’s clear his health has deteriorated. It was great talking to him and catch up.

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He’s suffering from congestive heart failure and is staring death in the face with the same pluck and optimism he used to run Midwest for decades.

“They say people can live with this for eight to 10 years,” he said. “We’ll see.”

I’m not sure what is in store for Midwest, the lumber inventory or the machinery – it’s none of my business, really. But I can say that the legacy of Midwest Woodworking and Frank David will live on through my work for at least the next five years as I pick through the incredible pile of lumber that takes up an entire wall of my shop.

— Christopher Schwarz