Far and away my most ambitious ww project ever.
Besides needing to upgrade my original saw till, the wife and I have not yet downsized from the home in which we raised four kids. Our current plan is to list and sell the 'big house' Feb 2023, downsize maybe in Alaska and then maybe move back to America a few years after that if the winters start getting to us even more than they already are getting to us.
So besides a saw till, I needed a shipping crate.
Briefly, I used American Beech as the primary, poplar as the secondary. Interior beech finish is hemp oil to saturation, then 3-5 coats (I lost count) of SCJohnson floor wax, all hand rubbed. Interior poplar was painted with one very thin coat of "mustard" milk paint from the Real Old Fashioned Milk Paint company. Exterior finish was one coat of salem red, and then mustard yellow above. I shall in a little while go flagellate myself in the finishing section. I did a fair bit of prefinishing on his build and made many many mistakes.
For the 'drawer' fronts (they are really more like Akro bins) and runners under the bins I used 3:1 beeswax:lac wax, a small iron and a couple burnishers.
There were a couple times along the way where I was just about ready to throw this thing in the burn pit and start over. I can't find a perfectly square joint anywhere. I used TB2 to glue up panels, then fish glue from Lee Valley for the joints.
The small drawer on the left holds my saw files, the large center bin has my saw sets and binocular magnifier, the drawer on the right has spare saw nuts, a paint pen to label saw plates, and some rubber bands to hold teeth protectors onto plates when they are leaving the shop.
Overall I am happy with the design, my execution is advanced beginner. I am old enough to move on and keep this till near my bench as a reminder that "square enough" and "square" are not the same.
Before, after, and obligatory half blind dovetail shots:
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When the bins are pushed home, the only end grain showing is on the half blind dovetail supporting the upper perch rail. there is some plywood edge showing in the middle drawer that I shall address directly. FWIW the shipping envelope in there between a couple saws holds a mirror from the timberframe people. It is about 9x9 with a 2" hole in the center, and some marks on it 90 degrees from each other to help drill square holes. Also, one of the saw spaces is occupied by a ripped 2x2 I use as a saw vise in my leg vise. Behind the ripped 2x2 are some kerfed strips to protect saw teeth when they are travelling outside the shop...