What I've been reading and doing lately, thinking round, and the curious case of Mr Schwarz

So, I've been home at this point for almost 100 days. I've lost count. I spent money on various things, including a bunch of books from Lost Art Press. (Campaign Furniture, Welsh Stick Chairs, Good Work, Ingenious Mechanics, pre-order for Kitchen Think, and...one more.) I also ordered a copy of Doug Stowe's book on working wood with kids. I can't wait.

I've been gearing up to do some chair making, because it sounds very straightforward, and more visceral than the work I'm used to doing. Quite frankly, the Welsh stick chair thing has been an interesting footnote in my understanding of Chris Schwarz, and what he's been up to: The Anarchist's Design Book has a little more depth for me than it did before. Design Book was a bell-clear call for the reader to start doing things, without obsessing, or stressing the little things. And the more I read from, and about, John Brown, the more I understood those undertones of Design Book. My understanding of Brown's 'Welsh' approach to things boils down initially to 'I'm not a classically trained anything. I needed a chair, so I made one.  It came out the way it came out.' And when he saw the chair that apparently inspired a career, he went straight after it, know-how be damned. Don't have a lathe? Grab a block plane, and 'think round.' I wonder, a little, how he'd have gotten on with Lance Patterson.

Schwarz, the editor, spent a career, publishing a magazine dedicated to all of the must-know techniques, must-build pieces, must-have tools and jigs, must-try suggestions, must-own shiny things, and on and on. So I could see why Schwarz, the anarchist, would ultimately decide that the list of must-anything should be zeroed out, and to follow that thread. And now that I've read a bit about John Brown, that notion has crystallized a bit more. Think round, indeed. And get on with it.

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Aside from that, I've also been reading the news, and despairing at how much of a boost it's given companies like Amazon, and gutted so much of the rest of the economy. Had anyone asked me, I might have justified buying the books, and a few spokeshaves, by citing my own effort to help stimulate the economy... Money should go to the small businesses, who need it.

Truth be told, I was just aching to get my hands to work. I needed space to work, so I carved out some space in my basement. Got my bench situated, and put an extension on the thing to use for homework, and such. The last piece fell into place yesterday, when the wheels started spinning on my bandsaw. With any luck I'll be writing about building things again soon, instead of just writing about reading about it.

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Schwarz bent my head the other night. He's announced plans to give away his next book electronically, for free.

Initially, I was a bit angry. As far as I'm concerned, people should be paid for their work. How dare he... but who am I to judge, really? It's his to give away. But, still... you just can't do that.

Can you?

Then I thought, maybe he's worried about legacy at this point, and what he leaves behind. This idea seemed to miss the mark, somehow. I'm sure the book will have various new observations and helpful hints, but his legacy, when it comes to bench-building, is all over the internet. He's already written a book or three on the topic, blogged (almost) ad nauseum about workbench builds and theory, and inspired a lot of workbench builds. And that experience is pretty evident in the lines of the bench that he's built. (Or, at least, the bench that he shows us a photo of. I can't imagine he'll pull the rug out at the last minute and do a big reveal of a door on sawhorses. But I'd laugh if he did.) In point of fact, it may have been easier for him to actually write a whole new book, than it would be to actually index everything he's ever blogged about.

Then this morning, I thought about his focus on Individualistic Anarchy and where that goes, and it overlaid with my frustrations about Amazon laying waste to the economy and the little guy, and wondered if that's been on his mind as well. The notion that he's distilled 20 years of bench building and offered it up for free, so people can get on with it, and get set up and start building things for themselves... Well, I can't say that it's the kind of thing he would do, because it's something he's already decided to do. But in the absence of any other meaningful gesture in the face of Amazon's gigantic money-funnel... it's actually not a bad response.

Or, maybe it's just that the pandemic has been a windfall for him, too, as the woodworking world has been left with not much to do but stay at home, and read, and build things, and he issued that missive from his yacht. I doubt that, though. It feels more like an attempt to keep the community active and engaged, and help everyone get up to speed while we're all locked up anyway, so that the seeds of more anarchists can be quietly nurtured in a soil that should be good for such things. The idea that people should stop obsessing, think round, and get to work?

Maybe it's not about legacy at all, so much as what he's trying to accomplish right now. Maybe this is his version of thinking round, and working with what he has, in the absence of whatever else he's lacking while we're all locked down. Or maybe he's more worried, in the context of this particular content, about the students than the teacher. Lost Art Press seems to be on more solid ground these days, and the catalog is expanding. Maybe this feeds the community, some of whom may be unemployed right now anyway, more than anything else he could be doing.

Maybe I've been thinking too much. I'm still on lockdown, too.

In any event, in the absence of a better response, I decided to continue to support his lunatic ideas, and ordered another book. According to my email inbox, it'll be on its way shortly.