Lost Art Press

Conscientious Workers

Posted on by fitz

1880 factory

The tendency of our times is to disregard old maxims. It is true, many of them, based on the experience of other people under very different conditions, are not applicable in our day. “Haste makes waste” may be true in the workshop, but the business man knows that “time is money,” and it pays to be in a hurry when the market shows signs of a change.

The good old maxim that “whatever is worth doing is worth doing well,” is too often forgotten. “That is good enough for him, or for the money,” is a poor excuse for a man to sacrifice his good name, and still worse to induce him to acquire careless habits. It has been said that while American workmen are better paid, better fed, better educated, and, we may add, better behaved, than those of any other country, they can beat the world in slighting their work and cheating their customers and employers.
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On Your Feet

Posted on by Lost Art Press

teak_chest_feet2_IMG_6282

Today I made the feet for my teak campaign chest. From the outside, this looks like a one-hour job: Turn the feet and their tenons. Glue the tenons into holes in the four square base blocks.

But many campaign chests have removable feet that unscrew from the base blocks. So if you want to do it right, it’s a bit more complex.

I tapped the base blocks with a 1-1/2” tap – the largest I have. Then I screwed the base blocks to the underside of the base.

I turned the teak feet – the quickest part of the day – and bored out their centers with a 1-3/8” x 1-1/2”-deep mortise. To join the feet to the case, I made maple tenons that fit snug into their feet and threaded the tops so they would screw into their base blocks.

Finally, I threaded the tenons into the base blocks and glued the feet onto the tenons – rotating them so they would show the nice cathedral grain facing front.

I turned the chest on its feet and stepped back to look at my day’s work.

Very unimpressive for six hours of futzing around.

— Christopher Schwarz

Mechanics’ Tools

Posted on by fitz

Mechanics_Tools
The first thought that comes into my mind concerning this subject is borrowing and lending tools. I wish I were able to do this part of the subject full justice, but perhaps space in Carpentry and Building would not be available for me to enlarge upon it. When I began the trade it was expected that every journeyman should furnish his own tools to work with. Nowadays it seems to be that each one expects some one else to furnish him tools. It is said, and I believe it is true, that there is no other trade which has so large a proportion of botches to skilled workmen as that of carpentry. The question arises—why is it so? It seems to me that borrowing tools causes more of it than all other reasons put together. This perhaps is a broad assertion, but arguments can be advanced in proof of it.
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H.O. Studley Shirts Now in Stock

Posted on by Lost Art Press

studley_shirt_logo_front_IMG_6236

Our H.O. Studley T-shirts are now for sale in our store for $20 plus domestic shipping. The front of the shirt features the engraved nameplate fastened to Henry O. Studley’s famous tool chest. The back of the shirts have the name of the forthcoming book by Don Williams: “Virtuoso: The Toolbox of Henry O. Studley.”

These T-shirts are made from 90-percent cotton/10 percent polyester by American Apparel in California. The screen printing is done in Indiana. Sizes available are medium, large, x-large and XXL.

To order a shirt, visit our store here.

— Christopher Schwarz