C'est finis

So the saw till got emptied and I tried to get it down. I failed.

That's not strictly true. If I'd worked at it a bit, I could have done it. If I'd been taking it down or moving it permanently, I would have done it. But when I knew I'd only be putting the thing up again? Nope. I decided to take a risk and hang the doors while the thing was still on the wall.

Three tools made this possible.

1. The Yankee #41 push drill I got from Pennyfarthing Tools in 2008 shortly before I dropped off the face of the woodworking world. It's a thing of wonder and brilliance and I love it madly. Why was it ever let go out of production? It leaves the unwieldy bulk of a cordless battery-powered drill standing. Wonderful device.
2. The flat-topped saw horse (Yet again) on which I was able to stand in comfort and security while I did the job. I have yet to be convinced of the benefit of the traditional narrow-topped saw horse in the workshop. If you're hauling it about on site, yeah, maybe, but wide tops rule here at Alf Towers.
3. The Yankee #135 ratchet screwdriver. They weren't as popular as sliced bread for nuffink, you know.

Every other tool cabinet I've drooled over has put piano hinges on the outside like this, so I went with it. Easy to fit. Yeah, in an ideal world a little rebate to take it would be preferable, but planing a rebate vertically up the side of the till didn't appeal, oddly enough. It looks okay anyway, so that's the main thing.

As a bonus, the depth of the till is just right to take the bow saw, so a couple of brass cup hooks went in for the purpose while I was up there.

Things moved on apace towards the oft-distant finishing line, and taking pictures went out of the window in favour of just getting it done. I almost decided to declare it finished without any door knobs, on the principle that I'd do those later. Then I remembered I still have two doors and two drawers that I have to prise open with my fingers because of a declaration like that, so I decided to bite the bullet and finish every last thing. Another scrap of old window frame was duly found from which to turn a couple of door knobs. First turning for a long time, and an uncooperative tailstock and slightly dodgy grind on the spindle gouge conspired to make it take at least twice as long as it should have. But the end result isn't as bad as it looked like it was going to be at one stage... And yup, I'm afraid electrons were sacrificed for that. No treadle lathe about my person, unfortunately.

I believe I've mused before on the way the fiddly little bits seem to take almost as long as the major stuff? Well holders for certain select saws took a while. By all means imagine me cutting them out with bow saw and coping saw and fairing the lines with rasp and file. Imagine away. Unfortunately I forgot I was being hand tool biased and used bandsaw and drum sander. Sorry, sorry, sorry... I indulged in some fun making different styles of turnbuckle - purpleheart from the scraps box. (Not sure that's what I should call them, to be honest. What's the right word?) and I did use the coping saw for them, if that helps at all.

And there we are. First fielded panelled doors, and first go at making a pair of doors meet in the middle. It's far from perfect - the camera is a happy co-conspiritor in deception - but it doesn't look half bad.

Open sesame!

Another first - using rare earth magnets as door catches. The jury's out at the moment, but we'll see.

Anyway, at last the Wenzloff saws have a proper home where they can be seen - instead of two of them dwelling in their boxes, forever at risk of damage - and all of them hiding their good looks from the appreciative woodworker. Plus there's room for another one, methinks. ;) Even the flush cut saw that did such sterling work with the draw bore pegs has a hook to live on. What an improvement.

So, 'tis done. Even by my standards it's been with me a long time, this quick workshop project. Learnt some things, tried some things, definitely a better woodworker now than I was when I started. And that was its purpose, why it wasn't slapped together with ply and screws in a weekend - although that became a mighty tempting idea once or twice. That and housing all those saws of course. Let us not talk of the other half a dozen on pegs elsewhere, for whom there is no room.

Next up, the bench. Except I'm wondering if first I won't move that tenon saw holder up just a tad. Looks a little low, now I come to see it in photo form...