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6 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 $21. But if that’s too rich, you can download a pdf for free here. The full-size patterns can be downloaded here. This book is a personal accomplishment because it is the first of my books with no photographs. It’s just words from me and drawings from Keith Mitchell.
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1 week ago | 
christopherschwarz.substack.com | Christopher Schwarz
On Thursday morning, we signed off on the final corrections to “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest: Revised Edition” so it could make its journey to the printer’s platemaking department. From there it will be printed, sewn, bound and shipped to Covington, Kentucky. Its journey will be brief – about five or six weeks, which is the gestation period of your workaday ferret. When planning this revised edition, I weighed two approaches to the new book.
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1 week ago | 
christopherschwarz.substack.com | Christopher Schwarz
Publisher’s note: Welcome to Earlywood, a free weekly excerpt from one of the thousands of pieces I’ve written since 1996. Sometimes, it’s from a magazine article. Or a book. Or (in this case) a blog post published in 2020. Each entry has been updated or annotated with some modern context or point of view. Enjoy!When I need to mentally travel from Point A to Point B, I sit down and think hard. I’ll draw it out on paper like this:1. Steal the underpants. 2. Convert them to face masks. 3. Profit.
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2 weeks ago | 
christopherschwarz.substack.com | Christopher Schwarz
Note: This is one of my occasional posts for paid subscribers only about the inner workings of Lost Art Press. “Build a Chair from Bulls%$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 | Kara Gebhart Uhl
Back in 2000, prior to CITES regulations, with funding from the World Wildlife Fund, TRAFFIC analyzed the U.S. market for big-leafed mahogany and made some recommendations: · “Educate mahogany consumers on CITES and expand markets for certified and plantation-grown mahogany” · “Improve implementation and effectiveness of CITES” · “Monitor conservation implications for mahogany substitutes (African mahogany)” · “Fund mahogany conservation through import duties”51 Several of these...
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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.
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3 weeks ago | 
christopherschwarz.substack.com | Christopher Schwarz
Last year, the third insurance carrier for our building on Willard Street told me it was not renewing our policy. The reason: their new product line didn’t fit our situation and needs. So for the last six months, I have shopped hard for a replacement policy with both independent agents and carriers that specialize in unusual circumstances. I have had no luck. Last week, I made the difficult decision to stop holding classes here.
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3 weeks ago | 
christopherschwarz.substack.com | Christopher Schwarz
Most book revisions are a cash grab by publishers and a disappointment to readers. Here’s how it works: A popular book saturates the market, and after a long run, sales decline to the point where the book isn’t worth reprinting. So the publisher asks the author to “revise” the old boy so they can re-release the title and tempt fans to buy it again. Even though I know the game, I have fallen victim to this ploy a hundred times, both with books and music. Expanded anniversary edition? Cash grab.