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Euclid's Door: Building the Tools of 'By Hand & Eye'
By Geo. R Walker & Jim Tolpin
Illustrations by R. Keith Mitchell & Barb Walker
“Euclid's Door: Building the Tools of ‘By Hand & Eye’” is an illustrated how to journey through building the ancient tools that still help us to build, well, everything today.
You’ll learn how to use basic, easy-to-follow artisan geometry to make eight indispensable...
Henry Boyd's Freedom Bed
A children’s book written and illustrated by Whitney L.B. Miller
“Henry Boyd’s Freedom Bed” is the true story of an enslaved Kentucky man who purchases his freedom and becomes one of the most innovative and important furniture makers in 19th-century Cincinnati.
In this children’s picture book, appropriate for ages 3-8, you can follow young Boyd as he learns to farm...
Mechanick Exercises
Joseph Moxon’s “Mechanick Exercises or the Doctrine of Handy-Works,” is the first English-language book on woodworking (and other trades) – but it was written by a man who wasn’t a woodworker. Instead, Moxon (1627-1691) was a printer, a maker of mathematical instruments and (for a time) hydrographer to King Charles II.
Oh, and the engravings of woodworking tools in...
Workshop Wound Care
by Dr. Jeffery Hill
“Workshop Wound Care” – part of the Lost Art Press pocket book series – delves right to the heart of what you need to know when faced with common workshop injuries, from lacerations, to puncture wounds to material in the eye.
The author, Dr. Jeffery Hill, is an emergency room physician and an active woodworker. So he knows exactly the information a...
Slojd in Wood
by Jögge Sundqvist
We'd like you to visit the world of slöjd, a place where people make the things they need using simple tools and materials that are all around them.
Your guide on this journey is Jögge Sundqvist, who has been making things with his hands and little bits of steel since he was a boy. To join in, you need only a knife and a few other simple tools to make useful...
The Anarchist's Tool Chest
By Christopher Schwarz
"When I am too exhausted, ill or busy to work in my shop, I will shuffle down the stairs to my 15' x 25' workshop and simply stand there for a few minutes with my hands on my tools.
To be sure, I thought I was a touch nuts because of this personality quirk. But after reading the oral histories and diaries of craftsmen from the last 300 years, I found it's...
The Essential Woodworker
By Robert Wearing
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...
The Joiner & Cabinet Maker
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...
The Woodworker's Pocket Book
Edited by Charles H. Hayward
“The Woodworker’s Pocket Book” is small – just 4” x 6-1/2” – but it contains 112 pages of critical woodworking information for the hand tool woodworker.
Edited by the great Charles H. Hayward and published in 1949, “The Woodworker’s Pocket Book” is a guide to everything from finishing recipes to drawing ellipses...
Mechanic's Companion
by Peter Nicholson
“Mechanic’s Companion” is one of the foundational English-language texts in woodworking and the building trades. First published in 1812, "Mechanic's Companion" is an invaluable and thorough treatment of techniques, with 40 plates that provide an excellent and detailed look at the tools of the time, along with a straightforward chapter on the geometry...
By Hound & Eye
By Geo. R Walker & Jim Tolpin, Illustrated by Andrea Love
"By Hound & Eye: A Plain & Easy Guide to Designing Furniture with no Further Trouble" is an illustrated cartoon journey through the world of pre-industrial design geometry. It stars Journeyman and his pizza-loving dog, Snidely, as they untangle the world of points, segments, arcs and the three-dimensional world using...
Cut & Dried
By Richard Jones
Serious woodworkers have long been starved of accurate information on wood technology that's explained in language for artisans - instead of for scientists.
Author Richard Jones has spent his entire life as a professional woodworker and has dedicated himself to researching the technical details of wood in great depth, this material being the woodworker's most important...
Making & Mastering Wood Planes (Revised Edition)
By David Finck. Foreword by James Krenov
No matter what sort of handplane you use, “Making & Mastering Wood Planes” is perhaps the best guide available to understanding, tuning and using these tools at a high level.
Written by a graduate of the College of the Redwoods (now The Krenov School), “Making & Mastering Wood Planes” is ostensibly about the laminated handplanes...
With The Grain
By Christian Becksvoort
July 2023 - Note the change in cover colour.
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...
Principles of Design: Furniture, Pottery & Metalwork
By William H. Varnum
We hope to have this book delivered in December and will update should this change.
A friend recently took a furniture design course taught by a guy I'll call Mr. Famous Furniture Maker. During the class there were lectures, field trips to find inspiration, drawing lessons, scale model-making and critiques.
''Well,'' I asked my friend, ''how...
The Anarchist's Design Book: Expanded Edition
Why is this book on sale? Basically Lost Art Press need some storage space as the floors are creaking in their new Anthe Building. Please visit the Lost Art Press Blog for more information.
By Christopher Schwarz
Most of the American furniture we celebrate as the pinnacle of design is overbearing, over-embellished and a monument to waste and excess.
These high styles of furniture took hold...
By Hand & Eye
By Geo. R Walker & Jim Tolpin
"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...
The Intelligent Hand
By David Binnington Savage
"The Intelligent Hand" is a peek into a woodworking life that's at a level that most of us can barely imagine. The customers are wealthy and eccentric. The designs have to leap off the page. And the craftsmanship has to be utterly, utterly flawless.
How does one get to this point? And how do you stay there?
One answer to these questions is in this book....
From Truths to Tools
By Jim Tolpin and George Walker, Illustrated by Andrea Love
Good books give you a glimpse of small truths - about workbenches, joinery or sharpening, for example. Great books, on the other hand, stitch together seemingly disparate ideas to present a new way of looking at the whole world, from your marking awl, to your hand or to the line of the horizon.
"From Truths to Tools" is a hand-illustrated...
Kitchen Think
A guide to design and construction, from refurbishing to renovation
Cricket Tables
by Derek Jones
We will be sending out signed copies of this book until they are out of stock. If you did not want a signed copy then please contact us.
Simplicity, necessity and ingenuity are the three key principles for making cricket tables. This traditional three legged table exists in a variety of forms and woods – no two are the same. So making them follows an organic process –...
Chairmaker's Notebook
By Peter Galbert
Some words about Chairmakers Notebook from Chris Schwarz of Lost Art Press...
Whether you are an aspiring professional chairmaker, an experienced green woodworker or a home woodworker curious about the craft, "Chairmaker's Notebook" is an in-depth guide to building your first Windsor chair or an even-better 30th one. Using more than 500 hand-drawn illustrations,...
Campaign Furniture
By Christopher Schwarz
For almost 200 years, simple and sturdy pieces of campaign furniture were used by people all over the globe, and yet this remarkable furniture style is now almost unknown to most woodworkers and furniture designers.
The latest book from Lost Art Press seeks to restore this style to its proper place by introducing woodworkers to the simple lines, robust joinery and ingenious...
Chairmaker's Notebook - Full-size Plans
For those woodworkers who prefer full-size plans, we now offer plans for the two chairs featured in Peter Galbert's book "Chairmaker's Notebook".
The plans feature handmade full-size drawings of the following components of the fan-back and balloon-back chairs:
Full-size turning patterns of legs, stretchers and posts - both bobbin and baluster forms.
Full-size drawings of...
Joiner's Work
by Peter Follansbee
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 colours – all built upon simple constructions that use rabbets, nails and mortice-and-tenon joints.
Peter Follansbee has spent his adult life researching this beguiling time period to understand the simple tools...
Shaker Inspiration
Five Decades of Fine Craftsmanship
Set & File: A Practical Guide to Saw Sharpening
by Matt Cianci
In "Set & File," Matt Cianci (aka The Saw Wright) teaches you the fundamentals of maintaining backsaws and handsaws: how to file and joint your saws with the correct rake, fleam and pitch to keep them cutting sharp. You'll also learn how to deal with saw teeth that are in good shape but dull, plus how to successfully doctor teeth that have been abused.
Plus, Matt...
American Peasant
by Christopher Schwarz
''American Peasant'' is an introduction to a style of furniture and decoration that is almost unheard of in the Americas. Built primarily with tongues, grooves and pegs, the furniture is frequently engraved with geometric symbols that beautify the piece and protect its owner.
With this book, you will learn to build 10 simple pieces using common tools and...
Welsh Stick Chairs
By John Brown
Welsh Stick Chairs is a small but mighty book. At 104 pages long, this book can be read in an afternoon, but it has changed the lives of thousands of woodworkers all over the globe.
John Brown (1933-2008) was a chairmaker in Wales who specialized in Welsh stick chairs, a vernacular form of furniture that was typically made by the end users. Compared to Windsor chairs, Welsh stick...
Mouldings in Practice
By Matthew Sheldon Bickford
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....
Carving the Acanthus Leaf
By Mary May
Learning to carve the acanthus leaf is – for carvers – like a pianist learning a Chopin étude, a young oil painter studying the genius of Rembrandt or an aspiring furniture maker learning to cut dovetails by hand.
For carvers, especially those who focus on Classical Western ornament, there comes a time they will inevitably encounter the acanthus leaf, learn it,...
Woodworking in Estonia
By Ants Viires; translation by Mart Aru
It's one of Roy Underhill's three favourite woodworking books, but you can't buy a copy of it for love or money. Translated into English without the author's permission in the late 1960s, "Woodworking in Estonia" has been a cult classic ever since it first surfaced.
It is, according to Underhill, "one of the best books on...
Doormaking and Window-Making
As the Industrial Revolution mechanized the jobs of the joiner - building doors and windows by hand - one anonymous joiner watched the traditional skills disappear and decided to do something about it.
That joiner wrote two short illustrated booklets that explained how to build doors and windows by hand. And what was most unusual about the booklets is that they focused on the basics of construction,...
Good Work: The Chairmaking Life of John Brown
by Christopher Williams
“Good Work: The Chairmaking Life of John Brown” by Christopher Williams is the first biography of one of the most influential chairmakers and writers of the 20th century: Welshman John Brown.
The book’s title of “Good Work” was an expression John Brown used to describe a noble act or thing. He once mused he wanted to create a “Good Work”...
Karvsnitt: Carving, Pattern & Color in the Slojd Tradition
by Jögge Sundqvist
You can download an excerpt from this book here.
Cutting patterns and symbols in wood, and enhancing them with vibrant colour, are folk traditions kept alive in the slöjd craft. Through decorations imbued with meaning, chip carving has given soul to slöjd woodcraft throughout history. Even today, chip carving offers a natural complement to an artfully crafted...
Country Woodcraft: Then & Now
By Drew Langsner
In 1978, Drew Langsner released his book “Country Woodcraft” to the world, and it sparked a movement – still expanding today – of hand-tool woodworkers who make things with mostly green wood.
The 304 pages of “Country Woodcraft” showed you how to split wood from the forest and shape into anything you might need, from a spoon to a bowl, from...
The Workshop Book
By Scott Landis; foreword by Roy Underhill
First published in 1991, "The Workshop Book" by Scott Landis remains the most complete book about every woodworker's favourite place: the workshop.
“The Workshop Book” is a richly illustrated guided tour of some of the world’s most inspiring workshops — from garage to basement shops, from mobile to purpose-built...
The Workbench Book
by Scott Landis
First published in 1987, "The Workbench Book" by Scott Landis 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 workbenches — from a traditional Shaker bench to the mass-produced Workmate. Author and workbench builder Scott Landis...
The Anarchist's Workbench
By Christopher Schwarz
The Anarchist’s Workbench” is – on the one hand – a detailed plan for a simple workbench that can be built using construction lumber and basic woodworking tools. But it’s also the story of Christopher Schwarz’s 20 year journey researching, building and refining historical workbenches until there was nothing left to improve.
Along the...
Ingenious Mechanicks
by Christopher Schwarz
Workbenches with screw-driven vises are a fairly modern invention. For more than 2,000 years, woodworkers built complex and beautiful pieces of furniture using simpler benches that relied on pegs, wedges and the human body to grip the work.
While it's easy to dismiss these ancient benches as obsolete, they are - at most - misunderstood.
For the last three years,...
Virtuoso: The Tool Cabinet and Workbench of Henry O. Studley
By Donald C. Williams. Photographs by Narayan Nayar
In a space of just 10" x 39" x 19½", H.O. Studley managed to arrange - with perfection - more than 250 of his tools into a dovetailed mahogany cabinet that has captivated tens of thousands of woodworkers since it was first unveiled in 1988 on the back cover of Fine Woodworking with a single shocking photograph.
After a...
Roubo on Furniture
By Donald C. Williams, Michele Pietryka-Pagán & Philippe Lafargue
Representing a decade of work by an international team, this book is the first English translation of the 18th-century masterpiece: "l'art du Menuisier" by André-Jacob Roubo. This, second volume, covers Roubo's writing on woodworking tools, the workshop, joinery and building furniture.
"Roubo...
Roubo on Marquetry
By Donald C. Williams, Michele Pietryka-Pagán & Philippe Lafargue
"To Make as Perfectly as Possible: Roubo on Marquetry" is the first English-language translation of the most important woodworking book of the 18th century.
A team of translators, writers, woodworkers, editors and artists worked more than six years to bring this first volume of A.-J. Roubo's work to an...
The Stick Chair Journal - Issue No 2
We hope to have this book delivered in December and will update should this change.
The Stick Chair Journal is an annual publication that expands the universe of all things stick chair. More history. More plans. More techniques. Plus reviews of tools. The Journal is a supplement to the content of "The Stick Chair Book" (which is free to download or can be bought as a book here).
Each...
Backwoods Chairmakers
In Search of the Appalachian Ladderback Chairmaker
By Andrew D. Glenn
For more than 200 years, chairmakers in Appalachia built ladderbacks to sell to neighbors and the occasional tourist. It was a tradition that was handed down through generations. But with the rise of furniture factories and mechanisation, woodworker Andy D. Glenn wondered if there were any traditional chairmakers left.
So...
The Stick Chair Book: Revised Edition
By Christopher Schwarz
From the outside, it seems like you need to harvest special wood from the forest, buy a bunch of exotic tools, master a lot of crazy angles, and learn high-tolerance joinery to make a chair that is comfortable, strong and approaches sculpture.
The truth is that everyday woodworkers – farmers, amateurs and people in other trades – made wonderful chairs using...
The Stick Chair Journal - Issue No 1
By Christopher Schwarz
This is issue No. 1 of The Stick Chair Journal, which Lost Art Press planned as an annual publication to expand the universe of all things stick chair: More history. More plans. More techniques. Reviews of tools. And Big Thoughts. It is a supplement to "The Stick Chair Book."
In this issue, you'll find:
• A Lousy Way to Run a Railroad: An explanation...
Make a Chair from a Tree: Third Edition
By Jennie Alexander
In 2014, Jennie Alexander somewhat reluctantly agreed to a third edition of her 1978 seminal book on green woodworking, “Make a Chair From a Tree” – a book that launched the careers of thousands of woodworkers and helped ignite a green woodworking movement in this country.
Her reluctance wasn’t due to a lack of passion for the book’s subject –...