Plane Till Done, Hung, and Filled

[Dave Anderson NH]

Mid afternoon the plane till got hung with the assistance from a woodworker living 2 streets away. The project is done, my bench is clear for the first time in recent memory, and at least half of the horizontal surfaces in my shop now have room for other things. As you will see in the photos, the till is already filled and the first photo shows the obligatory end of project wine glass with the planes which won't fit in the till. These and other aquisitions will get another form of storage out of sight which befits their very occasional use. The goal of the till was to put often used tools within easy reach of the bench. Thanks to all of you here for bearing with me as this project moved along. I still haven't figured out how I want to hang the spokeshaves on the right hand ramp which is still empty. This one bears some thought and won't be entered into quickly. Note the lifted ramp in the last photo. The left hand ramp already stores my York Pitch frog for my L-N 4 1/2 and my complete Stanley #45 combination plane. I am truly glad this is done and I'm pretty well satisifed with the results.

[jay hanks]

Dave, that looks great. I dont often post but enjoy looking at your work. You might want to make another one or two and try ebay, might be able to make some cash for that great idea !!. Jay

[Tom Scott]

Dave,
Great job as always. The new addition perfectly compliments your previously made saw till.
I bet the left side ramp is plenty heavy with all that iron on it.

Tom

[David Klug]

Mid afternoon the plane till got hung with the assistance from a woodworker living 2 streets away. The project is done, my bench is clear for the first time in recent memory, and at least half of the horizontal surfaces in my shop now have room for other things. As you will see in the photos, the till is already filled and the first photo shows the obligatory end of project wine glass with the planes which won't fit in the till. These and other aquisitions will get another form of storage out of sight which befits their very occasional use. The goal of the till was to put often used tools within easy reach of the bench. Thanks to all of you here for bearing with me as this project moved along. I still haven't figured out how I want to hang the spokeshaves on the right hand ramp which is still empty. This one bears some thought and won't be entered into quickly. Note the lifted ramp in the last photo. The left hand ramp already stores my York Pitch frog for my L-N 4 1/2 and my complete Stanley #45 combination plane. I am truly glad this is done and I'm pretty well satisifed with the results.

Looks great Dave. I noticed the wall to the left is white. Is it some type of paneling? The reason that I ask is because I am wanting to put some type of paneling in my shop and I haven't figured out what to use.

Dave

[harry strasil]

Beautiful work Dave, excellent craftmanship and fine looking tools taboot.
Keep up the good work

[scott pollack]

this is truly spectacular. awesome job dave!! i reckon all i can say is , when i grow up can i have the condo next to the smoothing planes? talk about living right!

scotty

[Glenn Clabo]

Dave...
Very...very...very...well done and inspiring work.

[Kevin Gerstenecker]

I must echo the response of others here Dave, that is one outstanding storage unit you have there. The design was obviously very well thought out, and it looks to be perfect for it's intended use. Along side your saw till, it just "belongs" there. I am sure you have that dude anchored well to the wall..............I wouldn't want to be anywhere NEAR that unit if it decided to go south. Just for grins, take a shot at the approximate weight of the unit, fully loaded. Just curious? Very nice work, as usual Dave. Thanks for sharing the photo's with us.

[Terry Quiram]

Well Dave you have gone and gotten my wife all fired up again. First the saw till and now this. "You need one of those and one of those other things" she said. "Yes I know" I replied. "You should start today" she says. "What about the things I am doing for you right now"? Oh you better wait until after you finish, but you need one of those. Nice addition to your shop. Whats in the space these planes formerly occupied?

Terry

[Dave Anderson NH]

If ever there was a case of planned (or was it unplanned) obsolesence, this wall till for the planes fits the bill. As you might have noticed, all but one slot is filled and that already is earmarked for the Shepherd Tool Spiers style infill smoother kit which now sits on my bench. Some of my planes will eventually get less prominent and fancy storage elsewhere in the shop. The wall till was for those planes which will see regular use and needed to be handy to the bench. It was a time consuming but satisfying project for which I will offer attonement starting two weeks from now as I rip out all the wall to wall carpet on the first floor and install Sue's new hardwood flooring. The budget for that project will keep me in Brownie points for a very long time and exceeds my tool budget for the next 3-4 years.

For Tom and Kevin- Yes, the left hinged ramp is plenty heavy, but I can lift it when full though with difficulty. With a Sargent 409, two #5s, a #5 1/2, a #6, a 24" razee, and a #7 jointer, it weighs about 25 pounds. If I had to estimate weight, the empty rack is 80-90 pounds and the "stuffing" is probably another 125 pounds. The rack hangs on a single 36" long French cleat screwed into 3 wall studs with 2 1/2" screws. It also has another 6 screws into the 1by tongue and groove pine.

Dave- The wall to the left of the wall racks is a poured knee wall covered with the tongue and groove pine to mid wall height and capped with a SYP shelf. The framed wall above it is covered with drywall and painted white for light reflection. Only the hand tool wall is pine floor to ceiling.

Terry- Originally the planes were in a set of shelves where the saw till currently resides. The shelves were to far apart and too puny to support the weight. Additionally, they wasted lots of space and many of the palnes didn''t fit right. When the saw till went up the planes migrated to an ugly old formica and steel kitchen table which was intended to serve as an assembly table in the back half of the bench room. I say intended, because the table is too rickety to serve as an assembly table and it became a magnet for junk. I'm sure you know the rules about what happens with unoccupied horizontal surfaces.

I'm hoping that by the end of the winter I will be able to start a new workbench and relegate my current bench to the status of assembly table. The old kitchen table will then become dumpster bait, it's too rickety for any other use and became ours 3rd hand more years ago than I choose to remember.

[Jim Becker]

Dave, that turned out outstanding! I really like the idea of a "place for everything and everything in its place". It makes things easy to find and keeps them out of harms way. I really like the contrast between the milk paint and the natural wood, too. Thanks...this was an inspiring project.

[Tom Stovell]

Dave,
Nice work on the storage unit. It beats the heck out of my 'vintage cardboard box' storage system for most of my tools. When I get my shop finished perhaps I'll aspire to something like you've created.

Sort of sets a standard for handplane storage.

Thanks for sharing,

TomS

[Daniel Rabinovitz]

Dave
The unit is very nice although a bit plane.
Great work!
Well engineered
Daniel

[Carl Eyman]

Now you'll have time to go to Wialliamsburg in January, no?
Hope to see you there first session. Great work, but others have told you that. Carl

[Dave Anderson NH]

I'll be at Williamsburg for the first session in January. I want to learn about clock making. A nice relatively plain cased tall clock would look nice in our living room. On the other hand, a mantle clock might be more practical over the fireplace.