New-old saw till

[Derek Cohen]

As part of the gradual rationalising of my tools - the last episode being the building of an underbench cabinet - it was the turn of my saw till and backsaws. Actually, Lynndy is more astute - she just calls it as it is ... I promised to build a new outdoor table, and I am avoiding it ...

If you get down to it, joinery is what it is all about for me. Chiselling and sawing. The saw till is pretty much dedicated to joinery backsaws: rip dovetail, small and large crosscut, small and large tenon saws, and a mitrebox saw. I have a few dovetail saws. Some I made and some have sentimental attachments: a birthday present dovetail saw from Mike Wenzloff, another from Rob Lee and Lee Valley, my first new dovetail saw from Lie Nielsen, the forerunner from Independence Tools, another a gift made by my mate, Ian Wilkie. I use them all as they have different configurations and suit different woods. And then there are Japanese saws. A Nakaya dovetail dozuki is sublime. The whole Nakaya range is sublime.

This is my old saw till, taken probably about 10 years ago ...



Here is the new saw till, stripped and rebuilt ...



The triangular rests at the front pivot away ...



The rear of the till is home to Knew Concepts saws: 5" and 8" fretsaws and 5" coping saw. (The 8" fretsaw was the one that Lee Marshall sent to me, and we worked on together to eventually come up with the fretsaw line for woodworkers). Plus the Japanese saws: flush cutting, dozuki, ryoba, kataba and azebiki.



Here is the completed till ...



The Western saws sit in mortices ...





These were made this way ...



Lastly, there are drawers for all the saw stuff: files for sharpening, Stanley 42X and Eclipse 77 saw sets, and so on. Of course, the dovetailing was a fun part of this build.



Hopefully some ideas for you.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[David Publicover]

Hi Derek,
That is very nicely done. The timing is also excellent as I have been contemplating making a saw till once I get a few other chores completed.
We moved this summer to a place with a much bigger workshop but I don’t have it close to sorted out yet. I’m hoping to have it wired up soon and a saw till is on my list after that. However, as I’m sure you’ll appreciate, I’m not the only person in the house that keeps a list…
Beautiful work. Thanks for sharing.
David

[Curt Putnam]

A very save of the old till. If I ever get wall space, I will keep these ideas in mind. Thank you for sharing.

[Scott Winners]

I like it. I looks like you have a veritable crap ton of saws in there, but you can get to all of them easily. Nice job, elegant as usual.

[Mike Allen1010]

Derek, I really like how you use the hinged racks to create two layers of saw storage in a single space – nice to be able to access both the commonly used joinery saws and the other saws on the back of the cabinet, while using only a single "footprint" of space on the wall. Typically well designed and executed. I always enjoy your threads. Thanks for sharing.

Best, Mike

[Joe A Faulkner]

I also like the hinged saw racks. I see saws all of the time in tills with the blades touching wooden components of the till. Any concerns with corrosion or similar reactions that the saw blade might have to prolonged contact with the wood?

[Derek Cohen]

Thanks everyone.

Joe, the way the saw backs are held in the slots ensures that the teeth do not come into contact with anything that may damage them. There is also no chance of the plate being twisted, and all weight id taken off the backs and plate. This orientation is possible the safest way to store backsaws.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Christopher Charles]

Derek,

Clever solution, the racks remind me of the saloon doors from old westerns

Best,
Chris

[Clifford McGuire]

Beautiful work. Lots of great ideas for us there Derek.

Way better than an outdoor table.

[Lee Laird]

Great ideas in that saw storage. Thank you for elevating the forum!

Cheers,

Lee

[Eric Rathhaus]

Derek - do you have a similar till for your western, non-back saws?

Eric R.

[Derek Cohen]

Eric, I have a few panel saws. These hang from a hook alongside the cabinet. Reason: they are used but only for breaking down boards when it is not possible to manage them on my slider (Hammer K3). I am comfortable integrating power and hand tools. There is a place for each, sympathetically. Most of my ripping and crosscutting is done by machine now. The handsaws are my go-to for all joinery.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Scott Winners]

Then, when you use the saw file guide, it will amaze you how easily it is to alter the file angle without meaning to do so. Once you have checked a few times how you are progressing, it becomes more automatic.

Regards from Perth

Derek

So follow up question, where do you store your binocular magnifier, and what else do you use it for? I have one coming in from Amazon this weekend, and I am running out of room for drawer width in my new saw till in a bigger hurry than I like. My magnifier is "supposed to be" 10.8 inches wide...plus the drawer will need two sidewalls.

It never ends does it? Leave a little room here, and something in the shop moves into it. Leave a little room there, something moves in.

Bold mine. That is an astute observation right there. Up to 10-11-12 teeth per inch I have learned - from practice paying attention- to use the guide bar on the Veritas saw filing guide to good effect with my peripheral vision. I am happy with my kerf walls anyway. With a magnifier on the way and my carcass saw needing some attention, I am likely to slice up some thin plywood at the fleam angle, paint it a contrasting color, and slide it along the plate as I file along. My concern is with the reduced focal length and depth of field using the magnifier I won't be able to see the guide bar on the filing guide in my peripheral vision. The LV carcass saw is - I will go find the manual- 15 degrees horizontal fleam in the crosscut version, published.

I guess I will find out this weekend. That little rascal has become my favorite saw in the shop despite my original skepticism. If I can't sharpen it with a magnifier I will buy two so I can have a sharp one to use and a second being sharpened by someone with better eyes than mine.

Thanks again Derek.

[Derek Cohen]

Scott, I just hand the magnifiers (I have two) on the saw vise. This is the one I use. It has a range of lenses ...

https://www.amazon.com/AZFUNN-Headba...%2C311&sr=8-12

It takes me about 10 minutes to re-file a dovetail saw. Setting is an extra 5-10 minutes.

I have just redone a Veritas 14 tpi, with the first 1 1/2" at 15 degrees and the remainder at 7 degrees - starts easily and then powers up.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Cory Newman]

Derek - I enjoy your builds. Are the backsaws attached in any manner? I'd be a little worried that I might knock an adjacent saw out when retrieving one if I wasn't really careful?