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5 days ago | 
christopherschwarz.substack.com | Christopher Schwarz
Publisher’s note: Good morning and welcome to Earlywood, a free weekly excerpt from one of the thousands of pieces I’ve written since 1996. Sometimes, it’s from a magazine article. Or a book. Or (in this case) a blog post published in 2022. Each entry has been updated or annotated with some modern context or point of view. Enjoy!My Grandma West spent a large part of her life observing my grandfather, Joe, and my uncle, Tom, at work – either on a house or in the shop.
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1 week ago | 
christopherschwarz.substack.com | Christopher Schwarz
Today we released “Build a Chair from Bulls%$t,” one of our pocket-sized books that tries to make chairmaking more accessible. The book is $21. But if that’s too rich, you can download a pdf for free here. The full-size patterns can be downloaded here. This book is a personal accomplishment because it is the first of my books with no photographs. It’s just words from me and drawings from Keith Mitchell.
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1 week ago | 
theanarchistsapprentice.substack.com | Christopher Schwarz
This entry is not intended to make you feel shame. One of the funniest woodworking jokes out there was first published on the oldtools usenet. It goes like this: “Stop anthropomorphizing your tools. They hate that.”The Anarchist's Apprentice is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. I constantly anthropomorphize my tools. In fact, I have closer relationships with my tools than I do with some members of my extended family.
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1 week ago | 
neversponsored.substack.com | Christopher Schwarz
For years (maybe a decade) we have used a pressurized plant mister from the home center to keep our waterstones wet. Yes, it’s a luxury compared to the old Windex, but we live on Fancy Street. The brand of mister we can get at our Home Depot is Flo-Master, which is made in China. The first one I bought is still in use. Its tip leaks most of the time. And sometimes it forgets to stop spraying when you release the trigger. But other than that, it’s OK.
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1 week ago | 
christopherschwarz.substack.com | Christopher Schwarz
On Thursday morning, we signed off on the final corrections to “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest: Revised Edition” so it could make its journey to the printer’s platemaking department. From there it will be printed, sewn, bound and shipped to Covington, Kentucky. Its journey will be brief – about five or six weeks, which is the gestation period of your workaday ferret. When planning this revised edition, I weighed two approaches to the new book.
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1 week ago | 
christopherschwarz.substack.com | Christopher Schwarz
Publisher’s note: Welcome to Earlywood, a free weekly excerpt from one of the thousands of pieces I’ve written since 1996. Sometimes, it’s from a magazine article. Or a book. Or (in this case) a blog post published in 2020. Each entry has been updated or annotated with some modern context or point of view. Enjoy!When I need to mentally travel from Point A to Point B, I sit down and think hard. I’ll draw it out on paper like this:1. Steal the underpants. 2. Convert them to face masks. 3. Profit.
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2 weeks ago | 
neversponsored.substack.com | Christopher Schwarz |Kale Vogt
Because of Paul “Just Sayin’” Sellers’ love for the Preston/Tyzack form of router plane, the price of vintage versions of the tool have increased ($400 is typical these days), so manufacturers have stepped in to fill the demand. Several years ago, Walke Moore Tools began making a version that closely followed the Preston. But we were never fast enough to snag one, and I haven’t seen any activity on the Walke Moore site for a while.
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2 weeks ago | 
christopherschwarz.substack.com | Christopher Schwarz
Note: This is one of my occasional posts for paid subscribers only about the inner workings of Lost Art Press. “Build a Chair from Bulls%$t” was supposed to be released two weeks ago. But right now the press run is sitting in three separate pieces on a loading dock: the book blocks, the finished covers and the printed endsheets. Our printer is too busy to bind the book. So the job has to go out of house – somewhere – to get bound. Once bound, it will get shipped to us. But when will this happen?
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2 weeks ago | 
christopherschwarz.substack.com | Christopher Schwarz |Kara Gebhart Uhl
Editor’s note: When it comes to choosing wood for a project, I almost always use hardwoods and softwoods that are domestic. Wood is this continent’s greatest resource, so there is no need to use imported or exotic species for most projects. Except when it comes to the mahoganies. These tropical species are some of the most perfect furniture woods. And if you make reproductions or historical pieces, it is tempting to splurge on some of these expensive hardwoods. Should you?
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2 weeks ago | 
christopherschwarz.substack.com | Christopher Schwarz
Publisher’s note: Good morning! Welcome to Earlywood, a free weekly excerpt from one of the thousands of pieces I’ve written since 1996. Sometimes, it’s from a magazine article. Or a book. Or (in this case) a blog post published in 2012. Each entry has been updated or annotated with some modern context or point of view. Enjoy!In the world of design, you read a lot about the acceptance or rejection of symmetry. Wait, wait. Don’t go away.
