jmaichel Posted October 20, 2011 Report Share Posted October 20, 2011 I did an Interview with Chris Schwarz from Lost Art Press that I posted on my blog if anyone is interested. Next week I am going to do a review of the Anarchist Tool Chest. Chris Schwarz is one of the founding members of Lost Art Press a small publishing company in Kentucky that focuses on teaching modern woodworkers traditional hand tool skills. Chris is the also the former editor of Popular Woodworking Magazine. In the next week or so I will post an article about “The Anarchist Tool Chest“ but before I do, I wanted to do ask with “The Schwarz” some questions, so we did an email interview. I was going to include them with my ATC article but decided that the interview should be a separate post. James, OK, here we go: I noticed in your book that you recommend your tool list as a good starting point for a new woodworker. I myself am relatively new woodworker and decided to go the all hand tool route last year. I found myself struggling to plane a board straight and flat, let alone build furniture that would be suitable for use and ultimately ended up adding a planer, then a jointer and finally a table saw. in all honesty is it practical for a new woodworker, who has a full time job, a family and various other obligations to build furniture using the tools from that list with acceptable results?That is a tremendously good question. I have nothing against machines, as long as the woodworker is guiding the process. That said, I think you can build nice furniture with any tool set. It has been only in the last 50 years that machines became affordable for the home woodworker. Before that, there was a thriving community of home woodworkers who used hand tools. What was their secret? Starting with modest projects. Using wood that had been fully processed at the lumber yard. And perhaps they had more realistic goals about time.Processing stock rough from the tree is hard work when done by hand. Thicknessing material is hard work. Long rips are hard work. But that’s about all the hard work there is in hand-tool woodworking in my experience. Eliminate those three chores with some help from a lumberyard (or a friend) and you will advance faster. 2) I noticed in one of your PW blog posts that you have ditched your chop saw about 6 months ago and are even thinking about getting rid of your table saw, is that something you are seriously considering and could you have lived without your table saw, say 5 or 6 years ago?Though I am a home woodworker, all my work is deadline-driven by magazine deadlines and book deadlines. So I could not have lived without my table saw and met my deadlines while editor of Popular Woodworking. But when you build for yourself and the only deadlines are yours, then you are free of this shackle. As Tony Konovaloff once wrote: “The things I make may be for others, but how I make them is for me.”I am seriously considering selling my table saw. But for now it is an excellent sharpening station. 3) What do you attribute to this latest resurgence in hand tools? Do you think it will last? I think it’s pretty clear that more people are working with hand tools because of two reasons:A) The Internet. When I was getting started in hand tools about 1993, I thought I was a freak and there was no one else like me. The Internet helps freaks find one another (see also, eHarmony.com). The Internet. Small-scale hand-tool manufacturers can now find a customer base that would have been impossible to find in the 1980s, for example. And we can thank the Internet for that. 4) With online instruction gaining some serious ground in the woodworking community, do you see yourself at any point offering a premium service online?If I had my way, my face and voice would never appear on a television or computer screen. I was impossibly shy as a kid and retreated into writing as a way to communicate with the outside world. I was deep into photography (had my own darkroom) so I was always behind the camera. Unfortunately for my psyche, modern media requires – actually demands – that you put yourself in every channel if you want to do this for a living. And this writing thing is the only thing I know how to do.This is the long way of saying no, I don’t plan on a premium streaming video site, though I think it’s a tremendous idea for teaching the craft. I have been developing a different technology to teach woodworking via the Internet, and it uses tools we already have. I just haven’t had the time to develop it much. 5) Do you have any intention of opening your own school locally or do you prefer to continue to travel around the world and teach?Probably not. Running a school is hard work and requires a lot of administration to do it well. My next goal is to buy a big old building in downtown Covington, Ky., with a shop and our publishing activities on the ground floor and our living quarters upstairs. If I teach there, it would be sporadic and probably small-scale. Something like: You want to build a workbench. So together you and I will build two custom workbenches during a week. When we are done, you will take yours home, and I’ll sell mine to someone. 6) It looks like you have a lot irons in the fire over at Lost Art Press, what project are you most excited about? [*]That’s like asking me which of two daughters I like the most. I’m always most energized about the book I have in the immediate works, and that’s Jennie Alexander and Peter Follansbee’s “Make a Joint Stool from a Tree.” It’s a great book that weaves history and intellectual investigation with practical hand-work practice. I’ve been through the manuscript three times now, and every time I finish it, I want to go pick up a hatchet. 7) Will there be a third workbench book? [*]There are no plans for one. My next book is on furniture designs that have remained unchanged for 300 years or more. It will share the same core idea in the workbench and too chest books – exploring historical designs and rebirthing them into the present day. I’ve been starting some spreadsheets and looking through thousands of pages of furniture books and auction catalogs. 8) I notice you eat a lot pizza and drink plenty of beer while on travel. Do you prefer deep dish or thin crust and what is your favorite beer style? [*]Again, this is like asking me to choose one daughter. Ugh. If I were stuck on a pizza parlor on a desert island, I would hope it would have a thin, almost cracker-like crust and have lots of IPAs on draft. I hope you enjoyed this interview. It looks like there is some good stuff coming from LAP in the near future. I thought it was a pretty interesting idea about getting your lumber processed by your lumber yard. No doubt that it would make hand tool work a lot easier and more rewarding. Don’t forget to check back for the ATC article and your chance to win a signed copy of ATC simply by posting a comment. Please visit my blog! James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlingenfelter Posted October 20, 2011 Report Share Posted October 20, 2011 Thanks for sharing. That was fun. Also, I used to live in Oak Harbor, Wa. I'm now down in Bothell, Wa. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyNoName Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 Cool! Thanks James! Jonathan ============================ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verteramofurniture Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 James I too started out with a number 4 1/2 plane to flatten a table top (acutally the blue tables i have pics of in my gallery) and soon went out and picked up a dewalt planer to do the job. now that I look back I wish I just took the time to figure out how to use the handplane correctly. Great interview! Marcus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmaichel Posted October 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 Thanks for sharing. That was fun. Also, I used to live in Oak Harbor, Wa. I'm now down in Bothell, Wa. Mike I have lived here for about 7 months now and I love it! I saw that you went to one of the classes in PT but can't remember which one. Are you thinking about taking a class next year? If so let me know what class and I might join you. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmaichel Posted October 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 Cool! Thanks James! Jonathan ============================ No problem Jonathan. Chris has a ton to offer and I feel like I learn something new every time I read his blog, an email, article, etc.... We are fortunate to have him in the woodworking community. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmaichel Posted October 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 James I too started out with a number 4 1/2 plane to flatten a table top (acutally the blue tables i have pics of in my gallery) and soon went out and picked up a dewalt planer to do the job. now that I look back I wish I just took the time to figure out how to use the handplane correctly. Great interview! Marcus Hi Marcus, I feel your pain, hand tools are tough and the learning curve is steep. If you read "The Anarchist Tool Chest" you saw that Chris went through several shop progressions before he finally realized that he could do a lot of work with his list of essential tools. Unfortunately I think every woodworker needs to go through the same process to some degree or another to fully understand what is really needed to build furniture. Let's face it though, for most of us woodworking is a hobby and we don't have enough time to build furniture to be able to furnish an entire house so we have to add power. Thanks for reading the post, take care! James 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlingenfelter Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 I have lived here for about 7 months now and I love it! I saw that you went to one of the classes in PT but can't remember which one. Are you thinking about taking a class next year? If so let me know what class and I might join you. James I've taken a few classes in PT. This last year I took the Saw Making class with Mike Wenzloff. It was a fun class and I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about saws and sharpening them. In 2012 I'm looking at the Design Class with George Walker & Jim Tolpin. I really want to go to Woodworking In America in 2012 but this class is around that time. I got a survey from WIA, and they are asking for input on where and when the next conference should be. For those interested I have included the survey link. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DPF8VB6?et_mid=522936&rid=3312115 Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmaichel Posted October 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 I've taken a few classes in PT. This last year I took the Saw Making class with Mike Wenzloff. It was a fun class and I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about saws and sharpening them. In 2012 I'm looking at the Design Class with George Walker & Jim Tolpin. I really want to go to Woodworking In America in 2012 but this class is around that time. I got a survey from WIA, and they are asking for input on where and when the next conference should be. For those interested I have included the survey link. http://www.surveymon...936&rid=3312115 Mike The Saw Making class looked like it would have been a good one. I really wanted to go to one of two classes that Schwarz was teaching but by the time I could manage to get those days off the classes were already full. Thanks for the survey, WIA is on my list for next year...hopefully! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlingenfelter Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 The Saw Making class looked like it would have been a good one. I really wanted to go to one of two classes that Schwarz was teaching but by the time I could manage to get those days off the classes were already full. Thanks for the survey, WIA is on my list for next year...hopefully! Yes, Chris's classes fill up fast. I was in the same boat this year. By the time I was able to get the time off, his classes were full. When Kelly Mehler opened his registration for 2012 classes, Chris's and several other classes filled in just a few hours. If you are interested, Mike is teaching his Saw Making class in PT again in 2012. Registration for 2012 PT classes is supposed to open up by the end of this month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmaichel Posted October 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 Yes, Chris's classes fill up fast. I was in the same boat this year. By the time I was able to get the time off, his classes were full. When Kelly Mehler opened his registration for 2012 classes, Chris's and several other classes filled in just a few hours. If you are interested, Mike is teaching his Saw Making class in PT again in 2012. Registration for 2012 PT classes is supposed to open up by the end of this month. I saw that was teaching his saw making class again next year but I can't commit this early. My schedule is crazy and I have no way of knowing if I can get that time off this far in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CessnaPilotBarry Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 Thanks for sharing this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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