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'Timeless'
Their products are as timeless as the skills contained within their pages.
– Justin Meehan
'Highest quality'
For 12 years I worked as a paper conservator at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, and know the importance that quality materials and manufacture makes when it comes to books. The books and tools from Lost Art Press are of the highest quality I've seen anywhere.
– Gregory Near
'Every stage'
Lost Art Press has quality books for every stage of woodworkers.
– Josiah S., shop teacher
The Short Of It
I woke to a text this morning from Chris: “Found this tip for making our carving vises lower.” (See above.) “Put the base on the underside. Works great. Might be helpful for you.” Even though he’s off teaching in Germany, he’s still looking ...
‘Drawing Salve’ – a Physician’s Thoughts
When Chris Williams was visiting from Wales, he extolled the virtues of “drawing salve” – an ointment that pulls splinters out of one’s hand or what have you. And I’ve heard the same praise from other friends from ...
Turning Tools
The following is excerpted from Peter Galbert’s “The Chairmaker’s Notebook.” Whether you are an aspiring professional chairmaker, an experienced green woodworker or a home woodworker curious about the craft ...
LAP Open Wire, July 20, 2024
Update: Comments are now closed (thought Chris still might answer later, as needed). Join us again for Open Wire on August 10. Wally and I are in the shop all day to work on 10 Shaker trays (because someone ...
Meet the Designer: Tom Bonamici
Tom Bonamici is the designer behind most of our soft goods (plane and pencil pockets, workshop waist aprons, bandanas, chore coats, vests and more). He’s also a woodworker and educator who has climbed volcanoes ...
Welsh Stick Chairs
by John Brown
You can download an excerpt of this book here. What's a stick chair? You can learn all about them here.
"Welsh Stick Chairs" by John Brown is a small but mighty book. At 104 pages long, this book can be read in an afternoon, but it has changed the lives of thousands of woodworkers all over the globe.
John Brown (1933-2008) was a chairmaker in Wales who specialized in Welsh stick chairs, a vernacular form of furniture that was typically made by the end users. Compared to Windsor chairs, Welsh stick chairs are masculine, lively and even sometimes a bit aggressive.
They are built with simple hand tools and (when made properly) are designed to last for hundreds of years.
John Brown made hundreds of these chairs, and in 1990 he published a small book that explained how he made the chairs, plus some history of chairmaking in Wales and a critique of the Windsor chairs they were sometimes confused with.
The book electrified woodworkers everywhere. Even those who weren't chairmakers were fascinated by John Brown's approach to the craft. His disdain for measured drawings. And his honest and forthright writing style.
"Welsh Stick Chairs" has been out of print for some time. But thanks to the efforts of Matty Sears, one of John Brown's sons, and the rest of the heirs, we are pleased to present a beautiful and well-made edition of this important work.
Using first-edition examples of "Welsh Stick Chairs," we reset the entire book in the original font to ensure the text was crisp. We rescanned and processed the photos and drawings and cleaned them up. And we spent weeks researching the paper stock of the original in order to capture the same earthiness and perfection of the first edition.
We also made a small but invisible improvement – we sewed the signatures together to ensure the book will last for lifetimes.
The book is a softcover, covered in heavy card stock like the original. The book measures 7-1/4" x 9-5/8".
Our version includes John Brown's original introduction to the book, plus the additional introduction he wrote for the third edition and an updated essay on John Brown by Nick Gibbs.