Finally got some shop time!

[Pappy]

I have been spending most of my free time trying to clean up my property.

Heavy rains over the last few monthws nade the weeds go crazy. Finally got the parts ordered for my lawn sweeper and pretty much got caught up. Still need a full day of burning to take care of some branches that fell from 2 dead Hackberry trees, buit at least I can see some light at the end of the tunnel!

Last week I talked the Austin Postmaster into letting me have an old sorting bin for $25 rather than it going to auction. I brought it home Saturday.

There are 110 (11 high and 10 wide) bins.

[Pappy]

Sunday I took time off from yard work and spent the day disassembling and sanding to see what was under the paint.





The top of the base is Maple. The rest of the base and the case frame is White Oak. The outside frame of the upper cabinet is dovetailed together.

I still have to pull the back and clean the paint off it. Once the back is off, I will see if the dividers come out easily for stripping/sanding. If not, I will stain the parts I sanded down to match the original stain and then finish with precat laquer.

I am going to make slide in boxes for each bin and give it to my wife for her sewing/craft room. My original intent was to use it for a parts bin in the shop, but it is just too nice a piece to put in the shop.

[cabinetman]

That's a great piece for your wife's use. You have your work cut out with this one. I'm bettin' it will look real nice when finished. Price was right too.


.

[big tim]

You've got eight days to Mothersday.

Tim

[gerti]

Nice find! Please share the finished results with us.

[leehljp]

THAT IS NICE and I know your wife is gonna love that!

[JoeyGee]

That thing is really cool and you stole it at that price.

I would love to have something like that. I would REALLY like to have a few of those old card catalogs from a library.

What did you use to strip the paint?

[Pappy]

I think I got a steal, too, especially after I the paint started coming off to reveal the White Oak and quality construction. I had 2 problems with it going to auction. First, it would have likely been offered as part of a lot of other items. Second, the auctions are held on a weekday when I am working.

Tim, it probably won't be finished by Mother's Day. With a little luck I will get the cabinet ready, but not the boxes.

Joe, the stripping was done with a ROS and 80 grit paper, still a lot af sanding time to go.

Including breakdown and loose reasembly of the base I spent about about 5 hours in the shop. That included doing some repairs. The Maple top had cracked along one of the joints and had to be cleaned up and reglued. Also, I had to remove the lip at the top of the cabinet and the brass label holders for the top row of bins. Amazingly, all 110 of the label holders are still there with only some minor, reparable damage to a few.

I will post the results of the refinish in the 'Completed Projects' section and add pictures when the boxes are done. I will get better pictures with my camera(These were taken with my phone) detailing the construction of the piece and set up an album in Webshots.

[JR]

Pretty cool, Pappy! It will make a fantastic crafts center.

JR

[pelligrini]

That is cool, and was a steal.

It should be able to house a really nice collection of handplanes... Can't leave a bin unfilled though.

[LCHIEN]

110 bins to build!
you might take a look and see if you can't just find some small plastic of cardboard boxes that will fix... unless you want to be making that kind of stuff all weekend.

[Pappy]

110 bins to build!
you might take a look and see if you can't just find some small plastic of cardboard boxes that will fix... unless you want to be making that kind of stuff all weekend.

I have an idea in mind on how to build them fairly simply and still make them look good. Oak face and the rest plywood that can be batch cut. The time will be in glueing them togther.

[chopnhack]

Nice score Pappy! Regarding the bins, I am sure a jig and a brad nailer would speed things along :-) Are nails out of the question?

[Pappy]

Nice score Pappy! Regarding the bins, I am sure a jig and a brad nailer would speed things along :-) Are nails out of the question?

My idea is to cut the box fronts from a single piece of oak for each vertical row, giving continuous grain. The rabets would be cut on the sides for thin ply and on the bottom for 1/2" ply. The bottom and back would be 1/2 BB ply the width of the inside of the side rabets and the sides glued on flush with the edge orf the face.

"A few brads to hold it while the glue dries" along the sides wouldn't be a problem. A single clamp should be all that is needed to hold the front and back to the bottom tightlly.

[atgcpaul]

Nice score! Were there any maker's mark or date on there? Was this custom to Austin or "standard issue" for all post offices?