Tool Chest Handsaw Till

2011.08.30

The saw till has two uprights with a series of kerfs spaced far enough apart to accomodate several saws and their handles.  I started by drilling a hole in the board I would use for the uprights.  This involved unsafe operations with a hand drill and very large bit, which I do not recommend.  In the end, it was not as smooth as I had hoped.  A better approach would be to cut the arcs with a coping saw or turning saw.  I sawed through the circle, creating the arc shape for the top of each upright.  Honestly I am not entirely sure of the purpose of this shape, but I have seen it on old tool chests and it was shown in Chris Schwarz’s book.  Maybe it is just aesthetics, but there is probably some functional reason I am not considering.

I laid out the kerfs at 3/4″ apart, which is a little tight.  I started the kerfs with a backsaw, then sawed them through with a 6-point ripsaw.  The kerf was not really wide enough, however, so I followed with one of those impulse-hardened handsaws from the home center.  Terrible saw, but it did make a wider kerf.  Schwarz says to make the kerfs 1/8″, and that would give plenty of room, but the only way I could think of doing that safely would be with a tablesaw, which I do not have.  The snug kerfs make it more fussy to replace the saws, but it works.

To the uprights I added a dividing board to separate the saw till compartment from the rest of the floor of the chest.  I used some of the “select” pine, a piece that just happened to be almost the right size.  Clamping these pieces together to predrill and drive the screws turned out to be a head-scratcher, but I figured out a solution.  I attached each upright to the divider with two countersunk screws.

The divider wall and attached saw till are held with just friction between two nailed cleats at each end.  A few tests suggests the weight and friction are enough to prevent the till from pulling out as I pull a saw out (even with the somewhat narrow kerfs), but the saw till can be replaced in the future if needed.

2011.09.14

I decided to widen the kerfs after all.  At first I thought to use the plow plane, but then I realized that because the kerfs are stopped, the skate would prevent the blade from cutting all the way through.  Then I remembered I had recently purchased a 1/8″ blade for my Veritas router plane, and I had the fence which I had never used.  So I put that combination together.  It worked, if a little messy, but it was very tedious and slow.  So after doing a couple that way, I did the rest with the compound miter saw.  The saws are now much easier to slip in and out.

2013.03.10

Later I built a separate backsaw till.