Christopher Schwarz

For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to be knowledgeable and useful with tools and how to make things. Despite this desire, as a kid, I never really picked up any real skills even though my father and grandfather were both quite handy. Even now my father is a seasoned mill wright and manages and teaches other mill wrights. He knows his away around wood, metal, and electricity. My mother's father had his own wood working shop filled with electric tools where he made toys and show more furniture. In fact, almost all the men in my extended family are fairly handy with tools and can simply just make and/or fix things. There is probably a plethora of reasons why this proximity to skilled practitioners never really rub off on me, some psychological some practical. Regardless of the reasons, the desire has always been itching back there in shadows of my mind.
Now, I earn my bread as a seasoned "College Administrator" in which I solve lots of problems but the only things I really shape are young minds. I have always been a "story and ideas" guy, specializing in the abstract. I am often found with my nose in a book. A few years back I read "Shop Class as Soul Craft" by Matthew B. Crawford in which he argues many things, but mainly that the loss of making real things with our hands has deprived humans of a certain sense of meaning. I found his argument convincing and I endeavored to find a way to eek a craft into my over flowing bank of free time.
I've had two children since then, so you know how that goes. After lots of sorting and sifting, I settled on wood working, since I have had some nominal success building shelves for all those books I insist on keeping around the house. Woodworking is an intimidating field for a beginner, not to mention expensive. The hardest part is figuring out where to start. As a reader far away from any real wood working classes, I started checking popular publications. It took me a while but after the fifth recommendation from trusted sources, I turned my attention to this fine tome, The Anarchist's Tool Chest.
Some of my friends might think "leave it to Ben to find the only book about woodworking that incorporates fringe political philosophy" and they would be right, but only mostly. Chris Schwarz is the author of the ATC (as it's known in the world of wood working) and Chris happens to be one of the most respected wood workers in the states. This is a fact I wasn't quite apparent of when I first picked up the book. Chris is a former editor of the magazine "Popular Woodworking" and now runs an indy publishing house called Lost Art Press where the staff rescue lost tomes of yore on wood working and republish them so that their secrets might not be lost to time.
The ATC is one part political manifesto, one part tool advice, and one part tool chest plan. It is a trifecta of diverse knowledge, almost 500 pages long. I know what you're thinking: how does one crawl their way through a 500 page diatribe about wood working? Well, my dear friends, you do it with great ease. Chris is an amazing writer and reading the ATC was so enjoyable I find myself reading for hours at a time without really knowing where all of the day went. The book is very funny and I surprised my wife several times laughing out loud as we read next each other in the evening. Amber would often look over with a raised eyebrow and comment about how odd it was that wood working could be so humorous.
Besides enjoyable, the book is also inspiring. Chris makes an impassioned argument for the use of non-powered hand tools in the shop. He is not a purist, he still uses some powered tools, but he is still a champion for the traditional tried and true. He is also a practical man and believes in buying quality tools but not necessarily expensive tools. The best service this book does for the interested amateur is that it takes away some of the scary bits of where to start and what pit traps to avoid. Getting into a hobby like wood working may seem a bit intimidating but this book offers some great guidance.
I feel that the road map for this goal is now laid out for me and all I have to do is press forward. If you are interested in learning more about wood working, especially with traditional hand tools, I highly recommend The Anarchist's Tool Chest.
If you are interested in reading a pretty good blog article that might get you stoked for shop life, check out this post from AoM:
http://www.artofmanliness.com/2016/05/25/7-skills-you-should-have-learned-in-hig...

Next up on Project Wood Wright: The Essential Woodworker by Robert Wearing show less

I made myself finish the book I was reading before this because I didn't want to split my attention between them. That was a wise choice. I powered through all 475 pages in just 7 days. (Huzzah for my year-end vacation that made it possible.) For someone interested in woodworking using hand tools, this is indispensable content. But it is also incredibly well written, with sparkling humor distributed throughout. Strongly recommended.

The level of construction detail for two bench types was a pleasant surprise. While I am unlikely to build either style soon, Schwarz provides plenty of other information that may prove useful in modifying my current bench. Good photos and drawings.

I have admired the writing of Chris Schwarz for a couple of years now, ever since I discovered Woodwooking Magazine issue 2 in a Wal-Mart while killing some time one day. Finally, I had found a woodworking magazine that seemed to be aimed right at me. A mix of hand tools and power tools. A mix of projects and how-to articles. And, done with taste, style and no advertisements. What a great magazine. Since that find, I have subscribed to Popular Woodworking (his “regular” magazine), his show more blog and haunt the bookstores for each new edition of Woodworking magazine.

Since I come at woodworking from my interest in medieval history, I tend to favor the period furniture reproduction type of projects and that’s a lot of what he does. Also, what woodworker isn’t also interested in collecting tools? Add to that the workbench “thing”. It’s the largest and most facinating tool in a woodworker’s arsenal and it’s the one big item that almost every woodworker has to make for themselves.

I made my current workbench several years ago when I determined it was time to move from the door on saw horses version that seems to be some sort of universal starting place for hobbyist woodworkers. It’s fine. I still use it every time I am in the shop. It’s got a lot of things going for it: it’s long (10′), it’s against a wall that faces west under a large window, it’s heavy, really heavy. And all was good as I persued the hobby.

Then, through the pages of his two magazines and his blog, Chris introduced me to a new tool, the hand plane. Suddenly, my workbench was obsolete. I didn’t figure this out right away, but over the course of struggling to learn the hand plane I discovered that the surface that couldn’t be high enough was too high. The massive bench that could easily dampen vibration from power tools was weak to the racking forces of a large guy pushing a #7 plane. Hrm.

So, I need to make a new workbench. Then, just as I make that determination, Chris’ writing reveals his almost unhealthy obsession with workbenches. The thing that he brings to the conversation is the “why” certain features are as they are. We have noted the different styles of workbenches in other books, but now we are getting some information on historical benches and methods of work that places these benches and features in context.

Even though I had read a lot of the material contained in this book before, the whole discussion, put all in one package was very valuable. I love the many historical etchings and photographs. The more the better.

I firmly believe that there is no perfect bench. I think this is something Chris Schwarz has already come to grips with. What your bench needs to look like depends on not just what sort of projects that come off it, but how you work as well. This book will help you understand what sorts of things a bench can do and help you sort through the options in designing and building your own.

This was one of the few books I have ever pre-ordered from Amazon and I waited impatiently for it to show up. It was work the wait, an excellent book. Don’t miss out on the version with the CD, it contains drawings and a PDF of the book. Highly recommended. show less