Kale Vogt

Writer at The Anarchist's Apprentice

Assistant Editor at The American Peasant

Editor at Never Sponsored

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Articles

Advice for the New Apprentice

1 week ago | theanarchistsapprentice.substack.com | Kale Vogt |Christopher Schwarz

My daughter Katherine started work for Lost Art Press this week with a bang. Monday was fulfilling orders (300 came in over the weekend). Tuesday was all about learning to edit video (including this one) and making a carved woodblock. And today she learned all about keyways and pulleys to fix the band saw at our warehouse. It is never dull here. I wouldn’t call it chaotic, but there is always lots to do.
Fantasy Land

3 weeks ago | theanarchistsapprentice.substack.com | Kale Vogt

Kale VogtJune 2, 2025In two days I will be en route to Vermont to take a settee class with George Sawyer. This will be my second chairmaking class of the year outside of Lost Art Press and my first time working with George. Yesterday I swapped vehicles with my dad in preparation for the trip north. Unfortunately, my nimble, gas-friendly hatchback isn’t big enough to haul a settee. So this morning I got a taste of what it’s like to drive an ’06 Toyota Tundra through the skinny streets of Covington.
New Experiences, New Opinions

1 month ago | theanarchistsapprentice.substack.com | Kale Vogt |Christopher Schwarz

Kale VogtMay 12, 2025Three nights ago I rolled up to my apartment around midnight after having driven more than four hours from Hendersonville, Tennessee. I was utterly exhausted but the feeling of accomplishment I felt from the chair lying upside down in my passenger seat made the drive all worthwhile. I spent last week at Greg Pennington’s workshop building the George Peddle chair with Jon Grant, a talented and knowledgeable chairmaker from Tasmania.
Blue Spruce Router Plane

1 month 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.
Am I More Than You Bargained For Yet?

2 months ago | theanarchistsapprentice.substack.com | Kale Vogt

Kale VogtApril 28, 2025Sometimes you build something that fights you at every step. Physically and mentally, it challenges you and beats the question “why” into you over and over again until it keeps you up at night. No matter what you do, you can’t seem to make this project sing to you — but you have to finish it.
Deliberation Station

2 months ago | theanarchistsapprentice.substack.com | Kale Vogt

Kale VogtApril 14, 2025Little evidence from my time in college remains today. There wasn’t much proof I ever attended to begin with. I dealt with college for only about a year-and-a-half before I asked myself, “Why am I doing this?”There is one college notebook, though, that somehow dodged all my closet purges over the years. It’s a notebook from my “Design Fundamentals” class.
So, Where to Next?

Mar 25, 2025 | theanarchistsapprentice.substack.com | Kale Vogt

I sit writing this from a favorite coffee shop of mine in Cincinnati. The windows are open, oldies1 are softly playing through the overhead speakers while I stare at a blooming cherry tree through the adjacent window. If my blood pressure were any lower, I’d be dead. This is my third crack at capturing my thoughts from this weekend. I got off my flight last night red-eyed and stale, but with my cup full to the brim. I spent last weekend in Portland, Oregon, working the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event.
Hump Day

Mar 12, 2025 | theanarchistsapprentice.substack.com | Kale Vogt

Kale VogtMarch 11, 2025Today, for the first time ever, I drove Catbus outside of the slow and safe streets of Covington. And I survived. Okay maybe that’s dramatic, but for a millennial never acquired the desire to learn how to drive stick shift, this was quite the feat. Let the record show that if I didn’t have to take Catbus for this errand, I wouldn’t have. The 4x8 sheets of underlayment I was picking up, however, wouldn’t fit in my small hatchback. I may have stalled out at a red light. Twice.