I think the last time these saw vises got used was during Matt Cianci’s last saw sharpening class in our shop. In 2019. We unearthed them from our respective basements for Matt’s class going on today and tomorrow – and we will have our ear plugs at the ready. (It is not a quiet c … | Continue reading
I hope no on has a heart attack upon reading this…but I will be turning in the completed manuscript for the long-promised Dutch Tool Chest book by the end of this month. This year. In two weeks. Why is it so late? I am definitely the problem. I’m not great anymore at working 18 h … | Continue reading
Join via Zoom (if you can’t make it to Bloomington in person) at 6 p.m. Eastern on May 24, for the 2024 Rosemary Miller Lecture, this year celebrating the life and work of Nancy Hiller (1959-2022). Duncan Campbell will speak about Nancy and her deep commitment to historic preserv … | Continue reading
The last year has been chaotic here at Lost Art Press as we doubled in size, bought a warehouse, fixed it up and launched new ways of teaching people the craft. This blog entry is a brief update on… everything. But especially the “teaching people the craft” part. First let me say … | Continue reading
We’re having one last sale to get our inventory under control. We have put seven books on sale from now until June 14 – some of them deeply discounted. You can see all the titles on sale here. We don’t like to put things on sale, so why do this? Last year we bought a... | Continue reading
The following is excerpted from Vol. IV of “The Woodworker, The Charles H. Hayward Years, The Shop & Furniture.” This fourth book in our “Woodworker” series covers three different topics: 1) The Workshop, including the design and construction of workbenches, tool chests and wall … | Continue reading
I just completed this large comb-back chair in ash and elm and am selling it via a silent auction (details below). The chair is set up for dining and keyboarding, with its back tilted at 13° and the seat tilted at 2°. This chair is probably the tallest comb-back I’ve made in year … | Continue reading
This may or may not work. For the last month, our blog has been sinking into madness. Subscribers weren’t receiving emails, our RSS feed was jacked up and this week we started receiving fatal errors whenever we tried to post. We have lots of technical help, and I hope in the comi … | Continue reading
If you, too, would like to get bunny ears from Chris while making a chair in our shop, log in to our ticketing site at noon (Eastern) today. Signups go live for: Build an Irish Armchair with Christopher Schwarz (Aug. 12-16) and Build a Welsh-style Comb-back Chair with Christopher … | Continue reading
I find this difficult to believe…but it must be true. Chris and I have never flown to a place to teach concurrent classes. Or flown concurrently to different places to teach classes. But it is finally happening: Chris and I are both presenting at the London International Woodwork … | Continue reading
The following is excerpted from “The Stick Chair Book,” by Christopher Schwarz. “The Stick Chair Book” is divided into three sections. The first section, “Thinking About Chairs,” introduces you to the world of common stick chairs, plus the tools and wood to build them. The second … | Continue reading
What follows is a broad overview of historic styles, by Henry R. Birks, who was an instructor in cabinet work t Regent Street Polytechnic in London. He earned City and Guilds first-class honors in cabinet work. This article is from Vol. IV (which covers Furniture and the Workshop … | Continue reading
Chris is getting ready for a chair class that starts on Monday, and if all goes as planned, I’ll be gluing up panels for a Shaker project…but we’ll be also be online off and on until 5 p.m. to take your woodworking questions. So post ’em in the comments below (as always, brevity … | Continue reading
For more than two weeks, our blog has been hobbled by problems with our Domain Name Servers (DNS). Basically, the majority of our email subscribers weren’t receiving updates when we posted something new. Also, our RSS feed took a dump. So even fewer people knew we were posting an … | Continue reading
This stick-back armchair is designed for reading and relaxing. It is based on Irish examples I’ve studied during my travels, and I have gradually tweaked this design to get it right where I want it. I’m offering it for sale for $1,700 via a random drawing. The price includes crat … | Continue reading
Several people have asked my permission to teach classes in making stick chairs using my designs. My answer is always: Please do. All my designs I give freely to the public for any purpose, including commercial uses. My book on the topic, “The Stick Chair Book,” is a free downloa … | Continue reading
The following is excerpted from “To Make as Perfectly as Possible: Roubo on Marquetry,” translated by By Donald C. Williams, Michele Pietryka-Pagán & Philippe Lafargue. It is the first English-language translation of the most important woodworking book of the 18th century. While … | Continue reading
We’ve gotten many requests for more stick chair classes this year, so we added two more to the calendar. Both classes will be held at our Covington, Kentucky, storefront and the cost includes all materials and hearty lunches – plus pastries, coffee and tea each day. Some students … | Continue reading
As Megan and I mentioned yesterday, we are having serious problems with our WordPress site. We have a technical expert working on it. WordPress has mostly ignored our pleas. In some ways, we are still trying to find out what is wrong with our Domain Name Servers (DNS). Some reade … | Continue reading
Chris should be done with the chair above by the time you’re reading this. As I write and schedule this post, he’s doing the “make pretty” on the arms, legs and seat, and the backrest will be installed by lunchtime. Then he’ll spray a coat or two of shellac and rub on a coat of.. … | Continue reading
Thankfully, things have calmed around here since the madness of last week’s multi-day move of inventory from storage to Anthe. With all books now on site we’ve been able to focus our energy towards the vision for Anthe (as well as packing and shipping orders, of course). Gabe, Ma … | Continue reading
I have two more classes this year that have open spots. One in Germany, and one in Indiana. I’m teaching people to build the Dutch Tool Chest in Munich July 14-16. You can register and read more about the class here. The class takes place next to Dictum’s lovely Munich showroom a … | Continue reading
The following is excerpted from Vol. II of “The Woodworker: The Charles H. Hayward Years: Techniques.” This book is chock-full of invaluable hand-tool technique instruction and tool knowledge…including finer points about screwdrivers. I didn’t know until I started working with ni … | Continue reading
Wally and I are busy today helping students turn the sticks shown above into sawbenches. But Chris is back this week, eagerly awaiting your Open Wire questions. So, please post your (succinct) woodworking questions in the comments below, and Chris will answer. You can also ask hi … | Continue reading
Tickets are on sale now for the June 2 “Backwoods Chairmakers” Event in beautiful Berea, Ky. The all-day event (9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. EDT) will feature 13 Appalachian chairmakers from Andy Glenn book. We’ve asked each demonstrator to bring some of their chairs so you can see the work … | Continue reading
At 2 p.m. (Eastern time) on Friday we will open up ticket sales for our Backwoods Chairmakers event that will take place on June 2 at Berea College. Tickets will be $33 for the event. This fee covers only the honorariums for the 13 chairmakers who have agreed to attend. Berea Col … | Continue reading
I have been invited back to Germany this summer to teach a four-day introduction to chairmaking course at Dictum’s classroom in Niederalteich, a gorgeous monastery in Bavaria. The class is in English (my German is terrible), and the location is a fantastic place to stay and learn … | Continue reading
Andy Glenn’s new book “Backwoods Chairmakers” has been a runaway hit – we’ve about blown through the first press run after only 3-1/2 months. Recently, Andy had the great idea to gather the chairmakers from his book at Berea College so readers can meet these chairmakers, hear the … | Continue reading
The following is excerpted from Peter Follansbee’s “Joiner’s Work.” Forget what you think about 17th-century New England furniture. It’s neither dark nor boring. Instead, it’s a riot of geometric carvings and bright colors – all built upon simple constructions that use rabbets, n … | Continue reading
House & Garden magazine in the U.K. has a nice feature on vernacular stick chairs and cricket tables in its current issue. You can read the article here. Tim Bowen of Tim Bowen Antiques is quoted throughout. Tim and Betsan Bowen authored “The Welsh Stick Chair,” a lovely book tha … | Continue reading
“The Anarchist’s Tool Chest,” the book that allowed me to quit my corporate job is now available as a free pdf download, now and forever. To download it, you need only click on this link. You don’t have to register, give up your email or do any other smarmy marketing idiocy. We w … | Continue reading
We’ve had a grand week of visitors and video shoots. Roy Underhill made a quick trip to town, then headed a little farther northwest to experience eclipse totality. And Whitney Miller, author of “Henry Boyd’s Freedom Bed,” spent the week recording a video on how to make a Swedish … | Continue reading
Woodworker and musician Joel Paul – you might know him as 13starsfarm (and formerly as punckrockshaker) on Instragram – had a devastating accident while helping a neighbor to fell a tree. Joel’s injuries are severe, and his recovery will be long and expensive. If you can spare a … | Continue reading
Any time a picture or video shows up of Chris or me or a student using the low bench to shave spindles, I get questions about the “planing stop” against which the workpiece is held. That’s the “Hulot Block” or “head” that shows up in 1775 book “L’Art du Tourneur Mécancien.” Chris … | Continue reading
Lee John Phillips, an illustrator from Pembrokeshire, West Wales, is no stranger to Lost Art Press. A while back, Chris Schwarz commissioned Lee for the “Family Tree of Chairs” that was on the end sheets of “The Stick Chair Book” and a poster. As much as we love Lee’s work for “T … | Continue reading
Somehow the stunning mosaics unearthed at the Huqoq synagogue during the last 12 years have escaped my attention. Reader Richard Mahler pointed them out to me, and I have been thinking about them all week. (Why? Roman woodworking is the subject of my book “Ingenious Mechanics.”) … | Continue reading
My Saturday goal is to get the final coat of paint on this chair. I just I assume it’s going to need a third coat after Friday’s second coat, because this chair hates me (this is General Finishes “milk paint” in Westminster Green – no longer available, unfortunately). But my othe … | Continue reading
We have lowered the price on four products that we are discontinuing. The complete list is here. Many of these products have stopped selling for a variety of reasons. With some products, such as the square kit, I overestimated how many we could sell. With other products, I made a … | Continue reading
The following is excerpted from “The Workbench Book,” by Scott Landis. First published in 1987, “The Workbench Book” remains the most complete book on the most important tool in the woodworker’s shop. “The Workbench Book” is a richly illustrated guided tour of the world’s best wo … | Continue reading
On Friday, we raised a celebratory toast to Matt Cianci (theSawWright.com) after sending to press “Set & File: A Practical Guide to Saw Sharpening.” (Chris had a Sierra Nevada pale ale; I had an Aperol spritz.) And though it was nine years in the making, we think it is worth the … | Continue reading
With the addition of Kale Vogt to our staff at Lost Art Press, I have been pondering the meaning and implications of the word “apprenticeship.” For me it is a real thing. Apprenticeship requires papers that lay out an agreement. Something like: I will do this. You will do that. A … | Continue reading
Chris and I are here all day to answer your woodworking questions – in between some work at the bench, of course. You know the drill: post your (succinct) question(s) in the comments field below, and we shall do our best to answer. Comments will close at around 5 p.m. – Fitz | Continue reading
This week we launched two new substacks that you might want to check out. Never SponsoredFor the last 28 years I have been neck-deep in the world of woodworking tools. First as a user and reviewer of tools for Popular Woodworking Magazine. Then as a designer, maker and user of th … | Continue reading
Today I am offering for sale this low-slung armchair in red oak. This chair is completely set up for lounging, and is about as comfortable a chair as I can make (it’s comparable to the Gibson chair). The seat is low – 16-1/4” – off the ground, like old stick chairs. The seat tilt … | Continue reading
The following is excerpted from our reprint of “Woodworker’s Pocket Book,” edited by Charles H. Hayward. I have screwing on the brain (so to speak) because I’ve been teaching Kale about pilot holes and clearance holes. I could have just handed this book to Kale, and it likely wou … | Continue reading
Our sale of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest” – our bestselling book – ends at midnight March 31. Until then, the book is $34 – 34 percent off – and comes signed by the author and a special bookmark. This sale has helped enormously to clear floor space in our warehouse in downtown Cov … | Continue reading
Sunday thoughts from Charles Hayward (excerpted from “Honest Labour” – a collection of essays from The Woodworker magazine). The mediaeval system of apprenticeship, by which the apprentices helped to sell—in booths which then served as shops before their master’s dwellings—the wa … | Continue reading
The fellow above is here this weekend teaching a class in making traditional sash, so Chris and I are twiddling our thumbs and awaiting your questions about woodworking, cats, LAP books, Shakespeare, the Anthe building restoration (we’re finally on to the stuff that should be don … | Continue reading