Galoot sawtill dimensions for the saw collector

[Scott Winners]

I happen to have a ripsaw with a 30" plate, and my wife has agreed we can downsize starting by listing our current home in Feb 2023. I am building a hardwood till now to hold all my saws, but I want it tall enough to hold any saw I might bring home in the future too. My top and bottom panels are s6s, my two side panels are s5s and tonight I had to figure out the length for the side panels.

TLDR: I come up with 38 1/16 inside case height to hold any 30" handsaw I can find dimensions for online. I am using 11" wide panels to make my case 11 inches deep. The perch rail for the long saws is 2 1/4 inches above the lower deck and 8.5 inches on center from the rear of the case. The comb is going to be a particulary well seasoned piece of Douglas Fir 2x4 with one half inch deep kerfs on the 3.5 inch face, the upper edge of the comb shall be 28" above the lower deck.

NB: future builders will need stock longer enough from (more than) 38 1/16 to allow for tails at each end, both ends, of the vertical panels. So 38 1/16 plus thickness of top panel plus thickness of floor panel = total panel length required for through dovetails.

There is a twist. I am going to use 4/4 stock for a French cleat on the back, but then also close the back with probably ship lap from 1/2 stock. When it is time to move I will be able to pack some paper around my well waxed saws, and then nail more shiplap up the front of the case and be ready to move house just like Mr. Jefferson's library. I have one inch of airspace all around so my saws don't get banged up.

There will eventually be a build thread. This thread is all about designing a reasonably efficient take on the standard galoot till that can easily hold any western handsaw an avid collector might find in their lifetime. When I posted my 30" rip saw here a couple years ago Pete Taran called it +/- 1860, and only the third saw he had ever seen with a 30" plate. 30 inch saws are in all the catalogues, but not common on rust hunts.

I will open with one picture of my trashy construction debris saw till. Long saws (30-28-26) go in the deep end on the left; shorter saws, 26-24-22-20 go on the right, above the storage area for files and spare nuts and so on. This isn't pretty, and it is starting to sag in the middle. However, it has been protecting my sharp saws and I will be able to recover some drywall screws from it as it transitions to the dump.

FWIW my circa 1860 Spear-Jackson is schooch taller here and a smidgen longer there blah blah compared to a golden age Disston D7 or D8. My dimensions in the TLDR paragraph should work for any normal saw up to a 30" plate. I don't collect misery whips, I do own a chainsaw. The 30" is on the very very far left.

[Scott Winners]

As above, here is the 30" saw plate with perch rail and comb and so on... Right. So these four pics show the saw parked in the till. Plate is 30 1/16 length by 7 15/16 height. I don't know the length on the golden age Disston D7 and D8s, but I got room. The plate height on mine is a bit over any Disston I have seen a plate height listed for. As rendered I have about 3/4 inch clearance between the tip of the lower horn and the floor of the till, and about an inch between the top of the tote and the front face of the till.

The cross piece at the bottom held on with spring clamps is an offcut from cutting the bottom panel to length.

[Scott Winners]

With the perch rail clamped down, it was time to rotate the saw "out" of the till, with the tote pressed against the perch rail and a pencil at the far end to leave a mark... 38 1/16 inside height gives me an inch to spare at the top when tipping the saw out.

[Scott Winners]

Next I clamped in a different scrap to represent a perch rail 7 1/4 inches above the lower deck instead of 2 1/4 inches above the lower deck, and found a saw with a 20 inch plate can reach the one comb when stored on the upper deck. I am planning to put a tenon on each end of the single comb and fit the comb into mortises in the side panels.

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[Scott Winners]

I think I am ready. I will double check (measure twice) before I cut my side panels down to length and update this thread (with shame) if I am wrong. I do have a golden age D8 thumbhole rip and a golden age D7, both with 28 x 7.5 inch plates that also fit in just fine, plenty of clearance all around for both.

[Scott Winners]

I have an extra 3/4 inch clearance at the top today. I setup using the "too long, didn't read" paragraph in post one this thread without referring to my written notes from yesterday. Good space all around at the bottom, 1.75 inches clearance at the top.

I will try it again tomorrow before I cut my side panels to length. A little extra room I am OK with, maybe a LED strip up top, or a smidge of extra room for some other make/model of saw.

Tie breaker round tomorrow. Simplest explanation would be I had the end of the tape measuring the thickness of my bottom panel AND inside case height yesterday, all 27 times I measured it, even though I explicitly set out to measure required inside casde height regardless of panel thickness.

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[Thomas Wilson]

This saw till is a labor of love and mechanical precision. Plus, you have some really nice saws.

[Scott Winners]

This saw till is a labor of love and mechanical precision. Plus, you have some really nice saws.

Thanks. I much prefer touching up old saws to fooling with old handplanes.

And mystery solved, picture one in post three, where I came up with 38 1/16 inside case height my tape, besides a bit skewed on the board, is also clearly hooked over the offcut representing the bottom panel, so the extra 3/4 vertical clearance I found the next time around is demonstrably accounted for.

I got called in to work today, so tomorrow will be making the holiday feast. But I start two weeks of vacation Monday and hope to have a legitimate build thread posted before 01-10-22.

[Scott Winners]

Or not. I have a new finding. This sucker is HEAVY. So far all I have is the external case, the comb board went in during glue up. I have the french cleat (both halves) installed at the top, and the widest 4/4 board I could find (poplar) bracing the bottom corners of the case. I still plan for 1/2 TG poplar to close up the back of the case, plus perch rails and I haven't made wee little drawers to hold sharpening files and so on.

On the one hand I want to be able to nail a panel over the front and move all my saws while they are still in this till, with some dunnage, when we downsize. I am pretty much moving the empty (incomplete) till around with the comb board as the handle for now, but that won't be an option once the T&G goes up the back.

I could screw or nail grip handles to the exterior of the case, which might be ugly. I could maybe carve some grip holes into the vertical case sides to make it easier to grip- but that might compromise my planned shipping crate. I could have made it out of pine, only pine is $$$ up here.

Putting this problem in my crock pot to stew for a bit, ideas welcome. Thankfully it hangs flat on the wall.

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[Scott Winners]

And another design question. I am ready to crosscut the board that will make up, of its lower half, the lower perch rail and then drawer fronts across on the right side, the upper half of the same ripped board will be the upper perch rail, with the area top left in these pictures going to the BBQ pit or maybe a couple knife handles.

The upper figured beech board is the two halves of the french cleat. To my eye the darker pattern in the grain goes sorta ...))) at the top.

For the lower board I can echo that with ...))) or go with (((....

FWIW taller longer saws will go on the left, shorter saws to the right.

At the end of the day I am not sure there is a right or wrong answer. However, were you to inquire of my wife or any of my daughters they will assure you with a straight face my sense of style is similar to that of a boulder or a bulldozer. Possibly competitive with a dead fresh water fish on stylistic grounds.

Insecurities revealed and feeling somewhat vulnerable, here are the three possible options. FWIW the upper figured board, the French cleat, has six coats of well soaked and well buffed oil, followed by three coats of well seasoned and buffed wax. The lower board is simply wet with isopropyl.

Choice A:
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Choice B:
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Choice C:
20220120_185806[1].jpg

Thanks in advance. I am going to bed leaning heavily towards letter A, but welcome input.