Lost Art Press

New: ‘The Joiner & Cabinet Maker’ Read By Roy Underhill

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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You can now download Roy Underhill’s reading of “The Joiner & Cabinet Maker,” the almost-lost 1839 text that tells the fictional story of young Thomas West’s apprenticeship in a rural English workshop.

It is $22 and available in our store now via this link.

“The Joiner and Cabinet Maker” is a book that has opened up the world of hand-tool woodworking for thousands of people. The book’s anonymous author detailed the day-to-day workings of a hand-tool workshop in the early days of the 19th century as a way to guide children who were thinking about entering the woodworking trade.

The book begins with instructions on how to sweep the shop, tend the shop’s fire and help the other journeymen. It ends with the hero, Thomas, building a full-blown chest of drawers as a journeyman.

The original text is extremely rare and was unearthed by Joel Moskowitz, the owner of Tools for Working Wood. He brought it to the attention of Lost Art Press, and that partnership resulted in the publication of print version of “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker.”

The Lost Art Press version of this book includes the original 1839 text, a historical commentary on the trade by Moskowitz and a detailed explanation of how to build the three projects featured in “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker.”

The audiobook version of the book consists of the original text only, read by Roy Underhill. Lost Art Press was particularly pleased to get Roy to read the book for us. Not only is he a student of early trades, but Roy is also a long-time thespian, and he brought his many voice talents to the project.

You can download a snippet of the book – a short section on making chisel handles – using the link below.

Track 14 of The Joiner & Cabinet Maker

As a result, the 215-minute audiobook version of “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker” is a joy to listen to once you become accustomed to the early 19th-century way of explaining things.

Downloading Details

The download will play on all computers and devices, including iPods, Androids, generic smartphones and Kindles. As always, these files will not have any copy protection on them. The audiobook is delivered in a single compressed .zip file. After downloading it, simply double-click on the .zip file and it will decompress into a folder containing all the .mp3 files for the book – 22 in all. You can drag these onto your device or onto iTunes to add them to your listening library. Also, simply double-clicking on the file will start playing it on your computer.

If you have never manually added content to iTunes, it’s easy. Here’s a quick tutorial from Apple.

The audiobook was edited by John Hoffman of Lost Art Press. The final mastering was performed by Ben Strano, a Nashville-based engineer, producer and woodworker.

— Christopher Schwarz

P.S. We are working on a three-CD set of the audiobook, which will be available for sale shortly.

Inhabitants of a Rude Country

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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In ruder and more simple times, before labor is much subdivided, the whole stock of knowledge existing in a country will be scanty, but it will be more equally diffused over the different ranks, and each individual of the lower orders will have nearly the same opportunities and motives with his superiors, for exerting the different powers of his mind.

The rude mechanic, residing in a small town, is forced to bestow his attention, successively, on many objects different from each other. Not finding constant employment in one branch of manufacture, he exercises several, and furnishes himself with many of the tools requisite for each; he probably makes part of his own clothes, assists in building his own house and those of his neighbors, and cultivates, or directs his wife and children in cultivating, a small patch of ground, on which he raises part of his provisions.

As he must buy the materials, and sell or barter the produce of his labour, he is also, in some respects, a merchant; and, in this capacity, he is led to the observation of character, as well as to some speculation respecting the most advantageous times and places, for making his little bargains.

When we add, that he is likewise trained to arms, for the purpose of assisting in defending the town of which he is a citizen, we must see that his situation, and consequently, his character, will be very different from that of a mechanic, in a more advanced society.

In this manner, all the members of a rude nation, being forced to exercise a great number of unconnected professions and individually to provide for themselves, what each stands in need of, their attention is directed to a variety of objects: and their knowledge is extended in proportion. No man relies upon the exertions of his neighbor; but each employs, for the relief of his wants, or in defence of what belongs to him, either the strength of his body or the ingenuity of his mind, all the talents which he has been able to acquire, all the faculties with which nature has endowed him….

Unlike the mechanics of a commercial nation, who have each permitted all of their talents… to lie dormant and useless; but who combine, like the wheels of a machine, in producing a complicated system of operations, the inhabitants of a rude country have separately preserved, and kept in action, all the original powers of man….

— John Millar, “An Historical View of the English Government: From the Settlement of the Saxons in Britain to the Revolution in 1688” (1803). Thanks to Jeff Burks for exhuming this one.

One Tree, Which Tree, Will You Tell Me?

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I want to make a workbench good,
But do not know what kind of wood.

If you would tell me the best tree,
I might not build workbenches three….

If you reveal which tree is best,
I could avoid a workbench fest.

Could I make it out of oak?
Or would I go completely broke?

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Well…

You could make it out of pine,
And you will be completely fine.

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Hmmmm.

But could I make it out of fir?
Would Master Klausz then call me “sir?”

Would walnut be an OK wood?
Would butternut be twice as good?

Could I make it out of elm?
Or would my friends be underwhelmed?

I could use my pile of birch
Might that leave me in a lurch?

Should I use the Southern yellow?
Or would I be a stupid fellow?

Might I use the mighty maple?
For this heavy workshop staple?

Should I seek the perfect ash?
On which to thrust my mighty… rasp?

Perhaps I’ll try a bench of beech
What benchery kings would that impeach?

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Well…

Make your bench from fir or oak,
Or elm or larch or reclaimed spokes.
You can use some purpleheart
(But for it I won’t give a fart.)

Make your bench from any tree.
Just make it, make it, you will see.

Workbenches can be any wood.
It is a point not understood.

You can make it out of pine,
And you will be completely fine.

Hmmmm.

What about mahogany?
Would that be too bourgeoise?

Would sapele be the perfect timber?
Blah blah blah blah blah blah limber?

Would Osage orange be tough enough?
Or should I look for stiffer stuff?

How about some eucalyptus?
Or would that wreck my left meniscus?

Or perhaps some hearty hickory?
Would that be workbench victory?

I could procure some primo jarrah.
And working, don a wood tiara.

Would it be nuts to use padauk?
And would that bring a Schwarz rebuke?

I have a pile of curly cherry –
Or would that be just too dang hairy?

What about a torsion box?
With vacuum pads and filled with rocks?

Um.

I think I hear the other phone.
My cat is choking on a bone.
My kids are playing with a spear.
I have to go right now I fear.

But if you make it out of pine.
I know the bench will turn out fine.

— Christopher Schwarz. With thanks to Megan Fitzpatrick, Tim Henrickson and Narayan Nayar and apologies to Theodore Geisel.

How to (Really) Set up a Premium Handplane

Posted on by Lost Art Press


In the last month I’ve received a lot of e-mails about an article and video from Fine Woodworking magazine about how to set up a new handplane.

The e-mails all had the same question: Is this true? Should I really be doing all the steps listed in the article and video?

It’s not my style to simply dismantle other people’s work, point by point. So instead, I asked Lie-Nielsen Toolworks to loan me a new No. 4 plane in iron, and I set it up last week with the camera rolling.

Whenever I set up a new plane, this are the exact steps I take to get it out of the box and planing wood. It’s a different approach than the one in the article and video. I think my method is valid, and I hope you will consider it.

— Christopher Schwarz

Disclaimer: This video was my idea. I was not asked by any toolmaker to produce it. I was not paid for it. And, of course, I did not keep the plane I borrowed.

Coming Monday: ‘The Joiner & Cabinet Maker’ Audiobook

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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We are putting the final touches on Roy Underhill’s reading of “The Joiner & Cabinet Maker,” the 1839 text that tells the fictional story of young Thomas West’s apprenticeship in a rural English workshop.

The audiobook will be available in two different formats. On Monday, you will be able to purchase it as an mp3 that you can download from the Lost Art Press web site for $22. The mp3 version is more that 200mb, so don’t try it if you have a dial-up connection.

The download will play on all computers and devices, including iPods, Androids, generic smartphones and Kindles. As always, these files will not have any copy protection on them.

We also will be releasing the audiobook as a three-CD set in the next two weeks. We are still negotiating with CD duplicators so we are not sure what the price will be.

The audiobook is 215 minutes long and features Underhill reading the original text of “The Joiner & Cabinet Maker.” I recorded Underhill this Spring at his home in North Carolina. The audio was edited by John Hoffman of Lost Art Press. The final clean-up and mastering was performed by Ben Strano, a Nashville-based engineer, producer and woodworker. I think it sounds tremendous.

In the meantime, listen to this short “commercial” by Underhill where he reads some of the promotional copy for the original book (by the way, this was mastered by me – the audiobook sounds much cleaner).

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Update: Crap. The promo cuts out after 2 minutes. I’ll upload a fixed one later. Gotta fill orders.

We will have more information and a sample of the audio of the book on Monday.

— Christopher Schwarz

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