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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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2 weeks 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.
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3 weeks ago | 
theanarchistsapprentice.substack.com | Christopher Schwarz
Kale has almost finished the third chair of their apprenticeship (I’ll let Kale show off the chair and discuss it). So, soon they’ll start the fourth and final chair. Here’s the brief on the fourth chair: It must be a new design and made without consult or assistance. That’s a tall order, and I know Kale is ready. This substack entry was supposed to be a discussion/lesson I planned to have with Kale last week. But last week went by in just seconds.
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1 month 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.
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1 month ago | 
theanarchistsapprentice.substack.com | Christopher Schwarz
When you work with other woodworkers – even when picking out wood at the lumberyard – it helps to know some of the marks and special words that will help get the job done right. These symbols are helpful to even the lone woodworker. When you return to the bench after a hiatus, the symbols will help you pick up where you left off. (Note: I made these marks in ink to make them easier to see. Typically, I use pencil.)True Edge: This edge has been jointed by hand or machine.
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1 month ago | 
theanarchistsapprentice.substack.com | Christopher Schwarz
Taking on a full-time apprentice is expensive, time-consuming and completely worth it. But there are lots of other ways that home woodworkers can pass on their knowledge and help the next generation of young woodworkers. For example: Before there was Kale, there was Ty Black. Ty was a local coder who had lost his job and then became a stay-at-home dad for his two kids (I think he got a promotion). Ty wanted to become a better woodworker and was willing to trade: my instruction for his scut-work.
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1 month ago | 
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.
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1 month ago | 
theanarchistsapprentice.substack.com | Christopher Schwarz
With this apprenticeship agreement between me and Kale, the goal is obvious: Kale needs to build four chairs of increasing difficulty. I need to supply the wood and the education that makes it possible. But there’s another way of looking at this apprenticeship that goes beyond the paper we both signed. Is it working for both parties? Are they happy? Is the process a chore or a joy? When the apprenticeship is over, will the relationship be over?
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2 months ago | 
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.
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2 months ago | 
theanarchistsapprentice.substack.com | Christopher Schwarz
Now that Kale has been working here for more than a year, the outside world has decided this apprenticeship is working. As a result, I’ve had a lot of woodworkers (professional and amateur) ask me how Kale got this position. How did I find them? How did I know they would be a good fit in our workshop? Also, I know that other young woodworkers are wondering: How can I get a good apprenticeship? My answer to all of these questions are this simple story.