Toolemera Blog

Exonian and Excelsior - The Wootan Desks Of Tool Cabinets

Ever see a Wootan desk? Here is one from the Smithonian.

Not to be outdone, during the latter part of the 19th century, Melhuish put their  creative minds to work and came up with a couple of all purpose, will wash windows, put out the trash, walk your dog combination workbench tool cabinets carving stations desks lingerie bureaus that defy the imagination.

Before you say "Ha! I don't believe any where ever made or bought!", I have to add that over on the other side of the Atlantic, these peculiar constructions have a life of their own. They were made, the were bought and here is the proof, courtesy of Mark Fortune, how uses his for carving.

and what it looks like in the catalog

For the full monty on both the Excelsior and it's older sibling, the Exonian, go to:

Melhuish Excelsior Bench

Melhuish Exonian Bench

and think again about what workbenchtoolcabinettoolchest you really want.

Till next, Gary

 

RSS Feeds, Catherine Kennedy and Razor Straps

No, there is no direct connection between the three topics. Catherine can rest easy on that one.

The RSS feeds for the Shop and the primary site are in the process of rolling into one. If you visit the Toolemera home page you'll see the all purpose email link sign up in the right hand column. There's a similar but less flashy text link encased in the Shop pages.

I've added the box top for a Charles Emerson Celebrated Razor Strap at the Museum. Here's a small image. A rather larger one is available at the Museum section of the website along with a link to an 1869 Supreme Judicial Court case involving the company, the family and who owns what names.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lastly, I've finally added photographs of Catherine Kennedy's amazing tool chests for woodworking and engraving tools.  Sorry, to see what's inside this one and the other's you'll have to check the site. Cruel of me, isn't it?

 

Till next, Gary

The Melhuish Exonian Cabinet Bench

Not to be outdone by Hammacher Schlemmer, Richard Melhuish of Holborn Circus, London, offered a unique all-in-one Swiss Army Knife Bench-Cabinet-Dressing Bureau-Music Cabinet thing for sale during the later part of the nineteenth century. I'll confess, the dressing bureau music part is my invention. It just looks as if that could be part of the equation.

Over at the inimitable Oldtools list, there was a discussion of what the Exonian Bench/Cabinet measured and what was in it. Some poor soul wanted to construct a reproduction of the thing. There's a 1925 edition of the Melhuish catalog on display at the Toolemera site. I have a copy of the 1899 special catalog which amounts to the woodworking related tools and machinery offered by Melhuish.

Herewith, the relevant three pages from the 1899 No. 11 catalog. In time, this triplet will find it's way to the Tool Chest sub-domain but for now, here 'tis in all it's glory.

till next, Gary

Tool Chest Blog Revival

At last, I've kicked my butt enough to get The Tool Chest Blog back in operation. Months of vitamins does the trick. I tell ya, gettin' old tain't no fun sumtimes. Who ever heard of Folic Acid or D3 or B12 as stuff that'll make ya feel punky?

On to Zachary Dillinger's 1924 Popular Woodworking plans for a wall mount tool cabinet. This will be the first of as many sets of plans as either I can dig up or contributors can come up with. Modern, vintage, really old, ancient, it's all good.

Check out the new plans.

Till next (and there will be a next), Gary

New Stuff at The Tool Chest

Jeff Gorman and Bill Ghio have sent along, respectively, plans for a vintage tool chest and photo's of a wall hanging cabinet.

Preview: Jeff Gorman

Preview: Bill Ghio