Lost Art Press

A Dumb Way to Run a Class

Posted on August 4, 2013 by Lost Art Press

Sunday about 7 p.m. is a good time to give up.

After two full days of sawing, planing, hammering and gluing parts together, the 14 students in this Six-board Chest class at the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking laid down their tools. They swept up their shavings. They quietly loaded their chests into their cars.

Some classes end with exultation. Other with exhaustion. This one ended (I hope) with a little of both.

The pace of the class was particularly brutal. I was determined to cram in 400 years of history on the form of the “boarded chest” into the class time. And I wanted us to start with long boards that we had to knock down to size (by hand) and glue up into panels using jointer planes and spring joints.

Oh, and one more thing: There was no predetermined design for the chest we were going to build.

That was a good thing and a bad thing. Bad: Everyone had to think through his design and how it related to his material. This made every step forward a bit of a slog with 14 different answers to 14 questions.

Good: No two chests were the same. Not even close.

In fact, the chest that I built was not even the chest I set out to build when the class commenced on Saturday morning. Instead, I followed the needs of the material and ended up with a chest I am quite happy with. I’ll finish it up when I return home and post photos here on the blog. It’s stripped down, simple and appealing – to me at least.

As the students left – all a bit too weary – I could see that I had pushed things a little too far this time. It probably should have been a three-day class. And we should have used pre-cut stock. And worked to a predetermined design.

And… maybe not. I love to be dead tired when I have earned it.

— Christopher Schwarz

6 Boards, 2 Days, What’s the Problem?

Posted on August 4, 2013 by Lost Art Press

We’re building 15 six-board chests this weekend at the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking. But after the first day, all we have to show for our labor are six boards.

One of the students asked me: “Are we going to be able finish these chests tomorrow?”

“Nah,” I said.

This was the wrong answer. So I changed my tune. “Of course we are!” I replied.

Getting six good boards is half the battle with these chests, and we fought that one tooth and nail today. Well, there were no nails used (that’s tomorrow), though some of the boards looked a little toothy after flattening them with fore planes and jointer planes.

So somehow we have to get these chests built in one day. My usual solution is to do what the Kentucky Legislature used to do when they had to pass a budget by midnight. One of the legislators would stand up on his desk, take down the wall clock and turn the hands back by three hours.

Problem solved.

Other possible solutions: nail guns, hot-melt glue and a Bedazzler.

Lucky for me I have my secret weapon with me: Carl Bilderback. Yup, Carl drove all the way out here from Indiana to assist me with this class plus a tool chest class in the coming week. He’s been helping diagnose problems and giving lessons on stock prep and edge jointing.

Everyone needs a Carl. He’s the best kind of assistant: Always willing to lend a hand or offer an additional viewpoint to mine.

OK, to sleep. And dream of chests.

— Christopher Schwarz

Sharpening Value Pack a Real ‘Value’

Posted on August 2, 2013August 2, 2013 by Lost Art Press

Usually, I don’t pay much mind to the “value packs” at ShopWoodworking.com. (I mean sheesh, who would buy TWO value packs of articles from Cris Swartz?)

But this month’s value pack is great for people who want a full spectrum of information on sharpening.

Here’s the link. Note that I do not get any kickback if you purchase it. The only reason my initials are on the link are so they know where it came from.

The reason I like the products in this grouping is that you don’t get only one perspective on sharpening (there are thousands of perspectives). You’ll get the full range, from the freehand sharpeners to the die-hard jiggers. And you get a side-clamp honing guide as part of the deal – the most versatile sharpening guide available today.

So if you can sharpen, ignore this. Go about your business shaving the hair from your arm. But if you are still, struggling, check it out.

— Christopher Schwarz

2 Weird Workbenches

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Lost Art Press

A couple times a month, I get an e-mail from Mark Firley. Inside the e-mail is usually a sarcastic comment plus a link to an album of the pieces of antique furniture he photographed recently.

Firley, an active North Carolina woodworker, spends a lot of time at auctions, antique stores and in museums. And whenever possible, he takes photos of the pieces he sees, including their construction details (especially the drawer dovetails).

I have begged the guy to start a blog that contained his furniture photos. I even gave him the drop-dead perfect name for it (no, I won’t spoil it for you). He says he is close to starting a blog. If you see him, kick him in the pants for me.

(If you’ve ever taken a class with Roy Underhill then you probably have met Mark. I think he’s taken every class Roy offers.)

In any case, today Mark sent out a link to some furniture he’d spotted while in Nashville. There was some wacky stuff in the grouping – including a German piece and a very very late campaign chest.

But what caught my eye were the two wackiest workbench bases I have ever seen. Both of the workbenches have trestle bases. While, that’s not so unusual, what is weird are the stretcher(s) between the trestles.

One of them )above) has the widest stretcher I’ve ever seen. And part of the mondo stretcher acts as a parallel guide for the leg vise that is (wait for it) in the end-vise position. I’ve seen drawings of benches with leg vises on the end, but they are pretty rare in the wild. And this one is all kinds of crazy.