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Geo. R Walker & Jim Toplin, BY HAND & EYE Ref: LAP-BHE

New from LOST ART PRESS

By Hand & Eye” is a deep dive into the world of history, architecture and design.
Instead of serving up a list of formulas with magical names (i.e. the Golden Section, the Rule of Thirds) that will transform the mundane into perfection, George R. Walker and Jim Tolpin show how much of the world is governed by simple proportions, noting how ratios such as 1:2; 3:5 and 4:5 were ubiquitous in the designs of pre-industrial artisans. And the tool that helps us explore this world, then as now, are a pair of dividers.

The key to good design is to master these basic “notes” – much like learning to sing “do, re, mi.” How to do this is the subject of the first three-quarters of the book. It offers exercises, examples and encouragement in opening your inner eye, propping it up with toothpicks and learning the simple geometry that will help you improve your design.

The last quarter of “By Hand & Eye” takes these principles and puts them into practice by designing nine projects that are decidedly contemporary – proof positive that design isn’t reserved for highboys and 18th-century Philadelphia side chairs. The projects show all of the book’s design principles in full flower, and yet the projects are small enough and simple enough (for the most part) that you can use them as a way to explore the book’s concepts without risking a lot of wood or time in the process.

“By Hand & Eye” is not, however, a recipe book for better design. The principles of good design are learned through exercise and repetition, and the authors offer the critical exercises in every chapter. Reading about good design is not enough to be able to master it. You have to practice it until it becomes second nature and your hand and your eye work together as one.

“By Hand & Eye” is 200 pages long with full-color illustrations printed on heavy coated paper. The book is casebound and Smythe sewn so it lasts a long time. The hardback boards are covered in cotton cloth with a black matte stamp.

Like all Lost Art Press books, “By Hand & Eye” is produced and printed entirely in the United States.

Stock due into Classic Hand Tools at the end of May / early June..

Reserve your copy now.

Price: £27.95

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Christian Becksvoort - WITH THE GRAIN Ref: LAP-WTG

A little knowledge about trees goes a long way toward improving your woodworking.

You don’t need a degree in dendrology to build a desk. But you do need intimate knowledge of how our raw material grows and – more importantly – how it responds to its environment after it has been cut and dried.

This knowledge allows you to tame the wood into the shapes that you have envisioned in your head. And it ensures that your furniture will endure the seasons and age with grace and aplomb.

The latest book from Lost Art Press: “With the Grain: A Craftsman’s Guide to Understanding Wood” by Christian Becksvoort is the book about wood that Lost Art Press wished they had when they started woodworking.

It is, above all, succinct, easy to understand and perfectly suited for the furniture-maker. As important as what is in its 144 pages is what is not. It’s not a detailed analysis of cell growth. It is not a heap of tables and equations for figuring truss loads in residential construction. It is decidedly not a scientist’s approach to the material.

Instead, “With the Grain” contains the facts you need to know at the timber store and in the workshop. It gives you enough science so you understand how trees grow. It explains the handful of formulas you have to know as a furniture-maker. And it gives you a hearty dose of specific information about North American species that will inspire you.

You’ll learn to identify the trees around you from their silhouette, leaves and shoots. And you’ll learn about how these species work in the workshop – both their advantages and pitfalls.

Becksvoort then takes you into a detailed discussion of how wood reacts to it environment – the heart of the book. You’ll learn how to calculate and accommodate wood movement with confidence and precision. And you’ll learn how to design furniture assemblies – casework, drawers, doors and moulding – so they will move with the seasons without cracking.

There’s also a chapter on how to manage a small forest or copse of trees – how to care for them, encourage them to thrive and harvest them. You’ll learn the basics of cutting, stacking and drying the wood, if you should ever have the privilege of harvesting your own timber.

The book is hardbound with a green cotton cover.

Price: £20.00

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Grandpa's Workshop - Pommier Ref: LAP-GW

This 48-page book has been translated by Brian Anderson, an American-born writer and woodworker who lives and works in France. It is ostensibly a book for children, though the stories, lessons and drawing style will appeal to anyone who has an appreciation for the natural and the fantastical.

Pommier paints an unbroken line of craftsmen from a French family, and he traces the history of their lives and their work through their tools and the stories of them being handed from one worker to the other – against the backdrop of colonisation, the gold rush, World War I and the time when Dragomir the dragon wreaked havoc in the Black Forest.

The tale is told through the eyes of Sylvain, the youngest of the woodworkers in the family, as he spends his vacation in the shop of his grandfather, whom he calls Pe´pe`re. Sylvain wants to learn all about the hand tools in Pe´pe`re’s shop and the elves who hide amongst the shavings, benches and tool chests there.

As each tool’s story is told, Sylvain learns a little more about his family and its connection to woodworkers all over the world, and this eventually leads to him being haunted by a sad family secret that is told to him by the woodshop’s elves (in a dream).

“Grandpa’s Workshop” is a magnificent tale filled with hundreds of beautiful illustrations that you and your children will find intoxicating. It is a story that is untouched by the modern tendency to sugar coat stories for our children, and it is a little bit scary in parts – there is a vicious dragon, a tragic workplace accident, a war and even a family murder.

In the end, of course, “Grandpa’s Workshop” is a tale that will fascinate and perhaps spark something in the reader – perhaps a love for wood, the mysteries of the forest or even working with one’s hands. It is the perfect gift for a child who might just have woodworking in his or her blood.

The English translation of this 2007 book has been approved by Pommier, the author.

Lost Art Press have diligently contructed the English version of this book so it matches the experience of reading it in the original French. They have even printed the book in an oversized European size with a special thick paper stock to closely match the original’s print run.

Like all Lost Art Press books, “Grandpa’s Workshop” is printed in the United States. Its signatures are Smythe sewn and casebound for durability.

This book is part of a special run of 3,000 copies that is authorized by the French publisher. We are not sure if the French publisher will authorize a second printing so act now to avoid disappointment.

Read an excerpt from Grandpa's Workshop here

Price: £16.50

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NEW Steve Bisco, STONE CARVING FOR THE HOME & GARDEN Ref: 19883

You may not have considered the ancient art of stone carving to be something that can be practised as a hobby but assume it is the territory of stone masons and sculptors undertaking intricate work on a grand scale. This inspiring book introduces the medium of stone to the hobby carver as an accessible and rewarding pastime without having to undertake a stone mason’s apprenticeship or tackle heavy and unwieldy materials and equipment. Based mainly on the period styles of carving found in historic buildings and ancient ruins, the projects are a mix of decorative and sculptural objects on a practical and manageable scale that can be easily displayed in the home or garden. Each project is presented in a clear step-by-step format and includes some historical context for the style of the piece along with a handy pattern to trace and scale to size. An introductory section includes comprehensive information on stone-carving tools, different types of stone, how to handle stone, the basics of stone carving and information on periods and styles of carving.

Price: £15.00

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Matthew Sheldon Bickford - MOULDINGS IN PRACTICE Ref: LAP-MIP

Words from Chris Schwarz of Lost Art Press

After years of publishing woodworking information, you often hear that there is nothing new in the craft. Everything has been done before, written before and fully figured out.

I used to believe that was true, until I read the manuscript that was to become “Mouldings in Practice” by Matthew Sheldon Bickford. This books explains how to make mouldings in a simple way that I have never ever encountered – either in print or from an instructor.

The book turns a set of complicated mouldings into a series of predictable rabbets and chamfers that guide your hollow and round planes to make anything – anything – that has been made in the past or that you can imagine for your future projects.

During the last several months, we had many proofreaders edit this book and the universal reaction was much like this:

“Well crap. Now I want to buy some of these stupid planes.”

During the past 14 months, Matt and I have been working to make “Mouldings in Practice” into a book that is accessible for even the beginning hand-tool woodworker. It uses more than 200 color illustrations and dozens of photos to explain how to lay out, prepare for and cut any moulding you can draw.

The first half of the book is focused on how to make the tools function, including the tools that help the hollow and round planes – such as the plow and the rabbet. Matt also covers snipes bills and side rounds so you know their role in making mouldings. Once you understand how rabbets and chamfers guide the rounds and chamfers, Matt shows you how to execute the mouldings for eight very sweet Connecticut River Valley period projects using photos and step-by-step illustrations and instruction.

The book has a full index by Suzanne Ellison (the saucy indexer for “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest”), plus appendices on fixing up old moulding planes, building a sticking board and how to capture moulding profiles in the wild.

This book is, by far, the most complex thing we have published here at Lost Art Press, thanks to the hundreds of illustrations, photographs and geometry involved. Like all our books, “Mouldings in Practice” has been produced entirely in the United States. It has color illustrations with black-and-white photos, and it is printed on #60 white uncoated and acid-free paper. The pages are Smythe sewn to last a long time. And the book is hardbound and covered with cotton. Old school.

Classic Hand Tools also have perfect copies of E.J. Warne’s had to find book “Furniture Mouldings.” . The book is a collection of full-scale mouldings from historic furniture pieces. It is the perfect companion to “Mouldings in Practice.” (See below)

Price: £28.50

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E. J. Warne, FURNITURE MOULDINGS (1574 - 1820). Ref: CHT0012

Originally published in 1923, this book contains 140 plates of full-size English furniture mouldings from the late 16th to early 19th century. There are over 500 detailed mouldings of bedsteads, cabinets, a bureau, shelves, a secretaire, clothes presses, wardrobes, chests, chairs, lace boxes, chests of drawers, stools, settees, seats, tables, sideboards, a dresser, knife cases, mirror frames, tea chests (caddies) and clock cases. Plates are grouped according to types of furniture. A companion to Small & Woodbridge.

Price: £18.95

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Joiner & Cabinet Maker Ref: BK-JACM01

"The Joiner and Cabinet Maker" has more than 370 pages of detailed handtool instruction, including many processes that have not been covered before in the early woodworking literature. In 1839. In that year, an English publisher issued a small book on woodworking that has – until now – escaped detection by scholars, historians and woodworkers.

Titled "The Joiner and Cabinet Maker," this short book was written by an anonymous tradesman and tells the fictional tale of Thomas, a lad of 13 or 14 who is apprenticed to a rural shop that builds everything from built-ins to more elaborate veneered casework. The book was written to guide young people who might be considering a life in the joinery or cabinetmaking trades, and every page is filled with surprises.

Unlike other woodworking books of the time, "The Joiner and Cabinet Maker" focuses on how apprentices can obtain the basic skills needed to work in a hand-tool shop. It begins with Thomas tending the fire to keep the hide glue warm, and it details how he learns stock preparation, many forms of joinery and casework construction. It ends with Thomas building a veneered mahogany chest of drawers that is French polished. However, this is not a book for children. It is a book for anyone exploring hand-tool woodworking.

Thanks to this book, we can stop guessing at how some operations were performed by hand and read first-hand how joints were cut and casework was assembled in one rural England shop.

Even more delightful is that Thomas builds three projects during the course of his journey in the book, and there is enough detail in the text and illustrations to re-create these three projects just as they were built in 1839.

Here's what you'll find in our expanded edition of this book:

• A historical snapshot of early 19th-century England. What England was like at the time this book was written, including the state of the labour force and woodworking technology. This dip into the historical record will expand your enjoyment of Thomas's tale.

• The complete text of "The Joiner and Cabinet Maker," unabridged and unaltered. We present every word of the 1839 original (plus a chapter on so-called "modern tools" added in a later edition), with footnotes from Moskowitz that will help you understand the significance of the story.

• Chapters on the construction of the three projects from "The Joiner and Cabinet Maker." Schwarz built all three projects – a Packing Box, a dovetailed Schoolbox and a Chest of Drawers – using hand tools. The construction chapters in this new edition of "The Joiner and Cabinet Maker" show the operations in the book, explain details on construction and discuss the hand-tool methods that have arisen since this book was originally published.

"The Joiner and Cabinet Maker" is hardbound, printed on quality paper and made entirely in the United States.

Price: £29.50

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Joiner and Cabinet Maker - DVD Ref: BK-JACMDVD01

This DVD accompanies the Joiner and Cabinet Maker book listed above.

DVD with three narrated slideshows and SketchUp drawings of the projects.

Price includes VAT.

Price: £7.20 (Including VAT at 20%)

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Jennie Alexander & Peter Follansbee, MAKE A JOINT STOOL FROM A TREE: AN INTRODUCTION TO 17TH CENTURY JOINERY Ref: BK-MAJSFAT

When it comes to exploring the shadowy history of how 17th-century furniture was built, few people have been as dogged and persistent as Jennie Alexander and Peter Follansbee.

For more than two decades, this unlikely pair – an attorney in Baltimore and a joiner at Plimoth Plantation in Massachusetts – have pieced together how this early furniture was constructed using a handful of written sources, the tool marks on surviving examples and endless experimentation in their workshops.

The result of their labour is the new Lost Art Press book “Make a Joint Stool from a Tree: An Introduction to 17th-century Joinery.” This book starts in the woodlot, wedging open a piece of green oak, and it ends in the shop with mixing your own paint using pigment and linseed oil. It’s an almost-breathtaking journey because it covers aspects of the craft that most modern woodworkers would never consider. And yet Alexander and Follansbee cover every detail of construction with such clarity that even beginning woodworkers will have the confidence to build a joint stool, an iconic piece of furniture from the 17th century.

Joint stools are a fascinating piece of British and early American furniture. Made from riven – not sawn – oak, their legs are typically turned and angled. The aprons and stretchers are joined to the legs using drawbored mortise-and-tenon joints, no glue. And the seat is pegged to the frame below. Because of these characteristics, the stools are an excellent introduction to the following skills.

• Selecting the right tools: Many of the tools of the 17th century are similar to modern hand tools – you just need fewer of them. “Make a Joint Stool from a Tree” introduces you to the very basic kit you need to begin.

• Processing green oak: Split an oak using simple tools, rive the bolts into usable stock and dry it to a workable moisture content.

• Joinery and mouldings: Learn to cut mortises and tenons by hand, including the tricks to ensure a tight fit at the shoulder of the joint. Make mouldings using shop-made scratch stocks – no moulding planes required.

• Turning: Though some joint stools were decorated with simple chamfers and chisel-cut details, many were turned. Learn the handful of tools and moves you need to turn period-appropriate details.

• Drawboring: Joint stools are surprisingly durable articles of furniture. Why? The drawbored mortise-and-tenon joint. This mechanical joint is rarely used in contemporary furniture. Alexander and Follansbee lift the veil on this technique and demonstrate the steps to ensure your joint stool will last 400 years or so.

• Finishing: Many joint stools were finished originally with paint. You can make your own using pigments and linseed oil. The right finish adds a translucent glow that no gallon of latex can ever provide.

“Make a Joint Stool from a Tree” is also the long-awaited follow-up to Alexander’s 1978 book “Make a Chair from a Tree,” which has been out of print for many years. “Make a Chair from a Tree” inspired generations of woodworkers to pick up hand tools and the skills required to use them. That book was one of the essential sparks that ignited the resurgence of handwork we are experiencing today.

This new book – Make a Joint Stool from a Tree” – is sure to inspire many more and give woodworkers a fuller understanding of how furniture can and should be made with hand tools.

“Make a Joint Stool from a Tree” is printed in the United States on acid-free paper with a sewn binding. This 128-page book is in full colour, with more than 200 photos and a dozen illustrations. “Make a Joint Stool from a Tree” is in an oversized 9” x 12” format, covered in dark blue cloth and has a full-colour dust jacket.

Price: £34.95

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Robert Wearing, THE ESSENTIAL WOODWORKER Ref: BK-EW

Robert Wearing's hand-tool masterwork. This book contains every skill you need to get into hand-tool woodworking. And it is explained with a minimum of fuss, using accepted traditional practice and with the assistance of more than 500 beautiful hand-drawn illustrations.

“The Essential Woodworker” is one of the best books on hand-tool usage written in the post-Charles Hayward era. Wearing was classically trained in England as a woodworker and embraced both power and hand tools in his shop and in his teaching.

He begins with a table. As you read the chapter on building a table, Wearing connects the dots for the hand-tool user by showing how all the tools are used in concert to produce accurate work. It’s not just about sawing a tenon or planing an edge. Instead, it is about how to gather these skills and apply them to building furniture – tables, doors, carcases, dovetailed drawers, plinths etc.

The book is filled with more than 500 hand-drawn illustrations by Wearing that explain every operation in a hand-tool shop. His illustrations are properly drafted, drawn in perspective and masterfully clear.

"The Essential Woodworker" is printed in a 6" x 9" format, hardbound with a cloth cover, and produced entirely in the United States.

Price: £18.50

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