The following is excerpted from “Smalls: 18 Well-designed, Easy Projects for an Afternoon in the Workshop.” In addition to the projects, you’ll find chapters on the techniques you need to build them (which will, of course, come in handy for all sorts of projects – not just the 18 in this pocket book). We used...
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Thanks to some tectonic shifts in our business at Lost Art Press, it looks like we will have a new woodworking school in Covington, Kentucky, that is literally in our back yard. Last year we had to stop holding classes in our Willard Street workshop after our insurance carrier dumped us (it’s a long tale...
Well, this is another long video but so, so much to get through!
The bridge is made and I have brief chat about its design, the strings go on and I show you how I set-up my mandolins. And finally……..the New Model Mandolin gets to sing its first notes!
So, cuppa at the ready and off we go.
Cheers Gary
Welcome to The Splinter Report, where I gather the assorted interesting and amusing things I’ve seen in the woodworking world. This week we’re looking at George Washington, eagle carving, and...
Sometimes, the simplest shop accessory is one you’ll never find in a tool catalog. This one announced itself with a solid thunk! against my shop door. It’s not a good...
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Baffle your friends with perplexing joints Press a dovetailed board into another board with matching sockets, and you’ve created woodworking’s most iconic joint. The dovetails and sockets wedge the boards...
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Floor Sweep Dust Port My router table is probably the most-used tool in my shop. I have dust collector ports on the fence, but when I rout with a bearing-guided...
For Episode 115 of the podcast, we're joined by classical guitarmaker Marco Bortolozzo.
In our conversation, Marco tells us about the mentorship that launched his career, and the story behind his signature Olympic ring rosette, which was inspired by a 19th-century Spanish guitar. We also discuss his neck joint design, his unique use of shellac records in guitar finishes and much more.
https://www.marcobortolozzo.com/
Luthier on Luthier is hosted by Michael Bashkin of Bashkin Guitars and brought to you by the Fretboard Journal. This episode is sponsored by the Looth Group, Dream Guitars and StewMac.
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The Lost Art Press storefront, office and warehouse will be closed on Friday, July 3, 2026, for the Independence Day holiday. Normal store hours will resume on Monday. (And those are, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.)
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A graceful slipper-footed design enhanced with additional period details. In Colonial America, prior to Paul Revere’s famous midnight ride, colonists adopted many of the lifestyles of English citizens. One such...
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Tool: Polycarbonate Round MalletShop Now Manufacturer: Blue Spruce Toolworks MSRP: $139.99+ As a woodworker with an affinity for traditional hand tools, I was admittedly skeptical when I first saw the...
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These five simple shop aids help you work more effectively & efficiently. Every woodworker eventually runs into problems that just cannot be easily solved using hand tools or power tools...
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Answering the question “how is your shop so clean?” My mother is a writer and editor. From a young age, I understood what writer’s block was, this sort of wall...
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In our previous chapters, we built the vaulted branch pedestal, mapped out the mechanical friction-drive movement, and whittled the faceted wooden body of our bee. Now, we are ready for...
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In this episode of the ShopNotes Podcast, the crew dives into the world of tool restoration., shares thoughts on building a practical starter tool kit for new homeowners, and discusses...
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Katherine Schwarz was born in April 2001. She grew up in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, with her sister, Maddy (five years older), her mom, Lucy May, and her dad, Christopher Schwarz. “Both of my parents have just been the best ever when it comes to raising us,” Katherine says. “My dad worked at the magazine...
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I’ve always loved clamshell bookcases – fold-up bookcases that allow you to transport your personal library to a lighthouse, campsite or war zone. I started building them while working on my book “Campaign Furniture” (a free pdf download for everyone). They can be simple (such as the one shown above), or as complex as the...
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Welcome to The Splinter Report, where I gather the assorted interesting and amusing things I’ve seen in the woodworking world. This week we’re watching some videos. Tool News Quick Bites...
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A closer inspection revealed bits of metal slightly embedded in the surface: the culprit that destroyed my planer knives. A month or so ago I did something awful to my...
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Amazon Prime Day 2026 is here, and we’re rounding up the best deals for woodworkers! Keep checking in throughout the next few days as we update the list with tools...
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Organize your workspace with a handsome six-drawer cabinet. This handsome little cabinet just might solve the universal problem of never having enough drawer space. Small enough to tuck under a...
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Tool: Alternating-Shear Carbide-Tipped Pattern and Flush Trim Bit Shop Now Manufacturer: Woodpeckers MSRP: $68.61 Pattern or template routing is something I use on almost every project in my shop. Whether I’m...
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Class tourism and how I have chosen to teach classes. I have by far taught more woodworking classes than I have taken (I’ve taken a total of 3). I took...
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Time now to shape the neck!
Also, I have a brief chat about the tools needed for this process. After running through the shaping process, I start the clean-up in preparation for setting-up the mandolin, “in the white.”
Cheers Gary
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Tool: Helical Cutterhead Shop Now Manufacturer: WGM Toolworks MSRP: Varies by Machine If you’ve watched any of our videos, or listened to our podcast, you’ll know that I’m a vintage tool...
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An introduction to laser engravers and their uses in your shop. Engraving, scoring, and cutting wood with a beam of light may sound like science fiction, but it’s becoming an...
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Phil and Logan discuss the latest woodworking news from Woodsmith and Popular Woodworking. They also get into some non-woodworking things again. Head to the Woodsmith website for more info about...
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In this episode, I design and make a new jig for routing the neck joint. Then: fit the neck, the fretboard’s supporting wedge, and the fretboard itself. Quite a lot there to take in!
I skim over the fretting process as I’ve demoed this many times before, but if you’re interested in how I fret, have a look at thisvideo-
Although I fret my short scale bass, the actual process is the same, just the scale is different!
Cheers Gary
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Comments are now closed. Please join us again on August 8 – same place, same time. Welcome to Lost Art Press Open Wire, where until 5 p.m. Eastern, you can ask any and all woodworking questions, and we and your fellow readers will do our best to answer. Simply post your questions in the comments...
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When woodworker and instructor Kelly Mehler died unexpectedly last year, he left behind a shop full of meticulously maintained woodworking machines that he used in his personal work after he closed his woodworking school. The Mehler family is trying to find new homes for these machines, avoiding the chaos and unpredictability of an auction. These...
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Welcome to The Splinter Report, where I gather the assorted interesting and amusing things I’ve seen in the woodworking world. This week we’re looking at multitools, a close call, and...
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There’s good news about two recent fires, and bad news about another. Reports of lumberyard or production shop fires affect us deeply and emotionally, even when we live nowhere near...
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Peter Follansbee’s “17th-Century Essex County Cupboard” is about as close a description as we’ll ever get to how complex pieces of 17th-century furniture began in the forest and progressed through the workshop. This particular cupboard contains a multitude of operations: riving stock, insane amounts of tricky (and simple) joinery, drawboring, nailing, faceplate and spindle turning...
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Craft, History, and Living Apprenticeship at Colonial Williamsburg’s Joiner Shop I just returned from a visit to The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in Williamsburg, Virginia, and it struck me how rare...
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Software:EngraveFill PRO MSRP: €0.07/image+ It’s not often that we feature software in our New Tools section—and even less often that a piece of software excites me. A few months ago,...
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This table is a picnic to build with dimensional lumber, screws and bolts. I’m usually not intimidated by undertaking projects. We need some artwork for the new apartment? I can...
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We’re cooking up answers for Open Wire this Saturday (June 20) on the Lost Art Press blog – so if you have a woodworking question, you’ll have until 5 p.m. Eastern to ask it in the comments section on the Open Wire post, which will go live at 8 a.m. Chris and I will do...
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I enjoy making picture frames but always found it a pain to use tacks or staples to hold the picture in place. Plus tacks and staples are hard to remove...
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Finding good information in the age of AI and SEO The hardness of Red Pine It’s 6am and I’m at my desk reading and drinking coffee. My phone dings and...
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Tool: Hand-Stitched Woodworking Rasp Shop Now Manufacturer: Blue Spruce Toolworks MSRP: $189.99 A rasp is one of the most valuable shaping tools you can have in the shop. If you...
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In the first two installments of this series, we explored how to construct the vaulted wooden pedestal and mapped out the mechanical anatomy hidden inside it. Today, we turn our...