Lost Art Press

A New Corporate Logo?

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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

5 Things We Aren’t Doing

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Here’s a quick update on things that are not happening in the shop at Lost Art Press.

I know this is a weird topic for a blog entry. But I was asked these five questions dozens of times during Woodworking in America and recently via e-mail.

We Are Not Opening a School
While we are looking for a large building for our inventory that will have a shop, a loading dock, living quarters and space for experimentation, we have no plans to open a school. I enjoy teaching, writing and building furniture. But running a school is a huge administrative task.

When we get our building, I hope we’ll have the space to allow other woodworkers to come there and collaborate with us on book projects. But it won’t be a school.

We Aren’t Hiring Employees
So who the heck is Ty Black, my so-called “shop assistant?” I never want to manage people. I’m done with that. But I am happy to work with others. Ty is a local software engineer and woodworker who works with me three days a week. He helps me with my projects. I help him with his. Some days I teach him something about handwork. Other days he teaches me something about improving my shop processes. He is definitely not an employee. I don’t pay him. I don’t tell him what to do. From henceforth I shall call him “helper monkey.”

We Aren’t Starting a Hand-tool Magazine
I’m done with running magazines and newspapers. They are crazy businesses that I have lived and breathed since 1990. I want to make things that in 100 years will still be used daily.

We Aren’t Becoming a Custom Furniture Business
I’m building a lot of furniture and selling it, but it is all in service to the writing and the publishing. After building 10 Roorkhee chairs for customers, I know a ton more about this unusual form. And I have campaign chests in mahogany and teak that I’ll be selling as the campaign furniture book progresses. And a buttload of boarded chests for “The Furniture of Necessity.”

But I’m not in the business of making (especially) workbenches and tool chests. I’d probably starve.

We Aren’t Exploring Other Crafts
Yup, blacksmithing, weaving and other traditional crafts are interesting. But we won’t be publishing books on them because we aren’t tuned in to them. We know traditional woodworking. We eat, sleep and breathe it. We know what needs to be published for other woodworkers. I couldn’t say what a blacksmith needs.

— Christopher Schwarz