Lost Art Press

In Defense of the Spear-tip Knife

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Comparing marking knives is akin to comparing wives. It is ill-advised.

But what the heck. I use a spear-point marking knife for almost everything relating to marking out handwork. I settled on this knife after using lots of knives, both bought and borrowed.

The primary reason I like it is its shape. The thin profile gets me inside joints when transferring layout. The flat back of the tool allows me to register it against my work. And if I’m attacked in the shop, it’s good for plucking out eyeballs.

The two primary criticisms of the knife are as follows.

1. It’s not traditional. Well, neither is air conditioning, but it’s a modern invention that makes Kentucky livable. While I usually prefer traditional shapes, I have compared them to this knife and prefer the spear-point. I have room in my heart for progress.

2. The spear tip becomes rounded over in use, rendering it useless until you re-sharpen. When you see this criticism you should translate it as, “Blah, blah, blah, I don’t have much experience with spear-points.” Dude, you want a rounded tip. You should desire it. You should even create it using your stones. A rounded-over tip (see below) makes the knife track better, especially when working along the grain. And it doesn’t affect its ability to make a line. It just doesn’t.

If you want to try out a spear-point knife without plopping down a sizable payment on a Blue Spruce or Czeck Edge knife, here are two recommendations: Make one from a 1/4” spade bit. I’ve done this many times on a grinder. Cost: $1.

Buy one of the new plastic-handled marking knives from Lee Valley. These are less than $10. The Lee Valley knife is the perfect thickness and shape for handwork. Its only demerit in my book is the plastic. But you cannot beat the price and it functions just as well at the bench.

— Christopher Schwarz

See the Lost Art Press statement of ethics here if you haven’t read it already.

A New Corporate Logo?

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We are running low on T-shirts, and so it is time to come up with a new design and pithy expression for the back of the shirt.

As a tractor trailer pulled up to my driveway in the pouring rain this morning, I began to think that what we need is more than just a stupid pun to put on the back. Since our first book, “The Art of Joinery,” we’ve used Moxon’s compass as our logo. We’ve put it on hats, tattoos, shirts and books.


With the release of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” in June 2011, we started using the A-square as a symbol for the book and its ideas.


But as I birthed each 35-pound box from the soaking blue uterus of tarps spread out over 3,000 books, my mind began to wander. Perhaps our logo should be this:


The good news is that all the books made it into our sunroom warehouse this morning without any water damage. It’s our third printing of Robert Wearing’s “The Essential Woodworker.” For this printing, we changed the color of the cloth and the cover stamp. I never liked the purple or eggplant or whatever it was on the first two printings.

So we switched to a navy blue with a white stamp. Other than that, the book is unchanged from the first two printings.

We are down to our last case of the purple books, so if you have a thing for purple, get out your credit card now. We’ll be switching to blue in about a week.

— Christopher Schwarz

Yes, But a Different Tool Chest

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When I opened the French version of “Dans L’Atelier De Pepere” (“Grandpa’s Workshop”) to the title page, I was seized by a familiar feeling. Pictured there was red Dutch tool chest with all its tools arrayed in front of it – including a folding rule tweaked into a star shape.

I had to build that chest.

This coming week I’m going to buy the pine to build that chest (plus a few boarded chests and an English tool chest for a customer).

I am not alone in my deep affection for the tool chests shown in “Grandpa’s Workshop,” but I am definitely behind the pace of Archer Burbank, age 6, who just finished building the English-style chest shown on page 21 of the same book. His father, Graham T. Burbank, takes over the story from here:

“Attached are a couple of shots of the chest my son built after we read ‘Grandpa’s Workshop.’ Built from two pine 1x12s, the box is nailed together. In order to keep the project moving at a pace that would keep a 6-year-old focused, I processed the boards on a sliding table saw and wide-belt sander (Boo! Hiss!).

“Although we regularly practice sawing to the line, the number of cuts across 11-1/4” material would likely have spent his ambition. I marked out in pencil where he should pre-drill and nail. He held each board in the vise on his bench and nailed them together with white glue and wire nails.

“Most of his corners were reasonably flush, however, he did have to clean up the ends at the top and bottom for the skirt and lid with a No. 2 Ohio Tool smoother. One shot shows him using a Stanley steel block plane chamfering the edges. After softening the corners further with a sanding sponge and planing the top edge further to ease the fit of the lid, he has started a rainbow paint scheme. Perhaps we will finish up that on Sunday. He has asked to make lift-out trays and a ‘place for my saw,’ so we’re not done yet.

“Why the long, rambling description? You sent his book Express Mail, and it arrived the day after his birthday. He has had me read it to him over and over again. So, a bit more formal ‘thank you’ was in order.”

Here’s what keeps our company running: Anything that we publish that prompts anyone to build anything. To be sure, there is a lot of intellectual crap that leads up to transforming an idea into a book. But all we are after is to encourage you to build. Read. Then build. Think. Then build. Plan. Then build.

So thank you, Archer. And know that I am not far behind you in building my chest from “Grandpa’s Workshop.”

— Christopher Schwarz

A Review of ‘Grandpa’s Workshop’

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Scott Stahl, aka The Pragmatic Woodworker, has posted a review of “Grandpa’s Workshop” on his blog.

As Scott is a father with a 10-year-old daughter, I was particularly interested and pleased to see how his young one reacted to the story.

I know that this book isn’t for every family. It possesses none of the Disney-era varnish that is comforting, bland and easily digested. And that is exactly why I love “Grandpa’s Workshop.”

Check out Scott’s review here.

— Christopher Schwarz