New word from the new world.

[Cabinetman]

TILL. Despite my searching I was no wiser, yes I knew it meant a drawer in a shop for the cash, and it is short for until and turning the soil etc.
This is an American word for an open wall cupboard to hold/display tools. You can have a saw till or a plane till, who knows you may even have a snuffbox till for all I know.
It started on a hand woodwork site I look at on FB and even after asking I was no wiser, the guys grasp of English wasn’t the best. ( The spelling and Grammar on the site is awful) but after a few more examples I take it to mean the above.
By bringing you this I only hope I haven’t started a new bad habit! Think Tote for handle etc.
Ian

 

[Alf]

Ian, where on earth have you been?! I'm so out of date with common wood torturing things that it came as a revelation that gopher wood was good for ark building, and yet the term "till" in relation to tool storage is old hat to me. Must be a very sturdy bucket you've had your head under these last few decades, s'all I can say.

Although my saw till has doors - eventually. Took from Jan 2007 to Sept 2010 to finally finish it, and it was inspired by the much earlier Old Tool List saw till, so definitely a term that's been sloshing around on this side of the Atlantic for long enough to me to finish a project (!) and then be unable to get to it for the cobwebs...



I've called this image "saw till", but it's really "Wenzloff Saw Drool" if I'm honest. Wonder if I can remember how to use them.

 

[Cabinetman]

Oh haha, it’s just like me to be years behind! Hilarious lol.
Thanks Alf.
Ok the next question will have to be where does it come from?

 

[AndyP]

Here you go Ian, from wiktionary…

Etymology 2[edit]
From Middle English tylle (“till”), possibly from Middle English tillen (“to draw”) from Old English *tyllan (“to draw, attract”) (as in betyllan (“to lure, decoy”) and fortyllan (“to draw away”); related to *tollian > Middle English tollen). Cognate with Albanian ndjell (“I lure, attract”).

Alternatively, Middle English tylle is from Anglo-Norman tylle (“compartment”), from Old French tille (“compartment, shelter on a ship”), from Old Norse þilja (“plank”).

Noun[edit]
till (plural tills)

A cash register.
A removable box within a cash register containing the money.
Pull all the tills and lock them in the safe.
The contents of a cash register, for example at the beginning or end of the day or of a cashier's shift.
My count of my till was 30 dollars short.
(obsolete) A tray or drawer in a chest.
Derived terms[edit]
have one's hand in the till

 

[AndyP]

I've called this image "saw till", but it's really "Wenzloff Saw Drool" if I'm honest. Wonder if I can remember how to use them.

I find a push / pull motion with the teeth in the wood works for me Alf.
Remember the one you sharpened for me…..a long time again now….. It is still doing the business.
Go on get back out there and make some sawdust it will do you and us a world of good.

 

[Lurker]

In Ian’s defence, it was widely known that you were regularly consorting with the colonials, Alf.
It was inevitable that you would pick up bad habits.

 

[AJB Temple]

Well, I had never heard that word to describe a tool cabinet either.

 

[Mike G]

I have no idea where to send Carruthers. I've known it as a saw till since I has n'ere but a lad.

Mine is in the corner of my tool cupboard:

 

[Cabinetman]

Here you go Ian, from wiktionary…

Etymology 2[edit]
From Middle English tylle (“till”), possibly from Middle English tillen (“to draw”) from Old English *tyllan (“to draw, attract”) (as in betyllan (“to lure, decoy”) and fortyllan (“to draw away”); related to *tollian > Middle English tollen). Cognate with Albanian ndjell (“I lure, attract”).

Alternatively, Middle English tylle is from Anglo-Norman tylle (“compartment”), from Old French tille (“compartment, shelter on a ship”), from Old Norse þilja (“plank”).

Noun[edit]
till (plural tills)

A cash register.
A removable box within a cash register containing the money.
Pull all the tills and lock them in the safe.
The contents of a cash register, for example at the beginning or end of the day or of a cashier's shift.
My count of my till was 30 dollars short.
(obsolete) A tray or drawer in a chest.
Derived terms[edit]
have one's hand in the till

Thanks Andy, yes I had seen that but it was the use of the word in relation to tool storage I was trying to discover. Unless it’s from tylle, Anglo Norman for compartment, as you say.
Well Mike, if it’s that old (sorry) it may be that the words use started here and like all good things it got appropriated by them over there. But still not really sure as to it’s derivation and the reason.
Ian

 

[Cabinetman]

Alf, that’s quite a beautiful collection of saws you have in your till there. (Still not tripping off my tongue) just noticed you are in Cornwall now, well I’m increasingly not in Lincolnshire either so it really is a woodworking desert now lol.

 

[Alf]

(obsolete) A tray or drawer in a chest.

Not exactly obsolete, and perhaps a saw till taken out of a tool chest may be the beginnings of how the modern "till" notion came about?

Anyway Andy, very helpful on the push/pull thing. IIRC you fix the saw, teeth upright in the vice, and then manoeuvre the wood over it. At least I think that's how it goes. Know there was something about using the weight of something to do the work. Must have been the wood - much the heavier. :eusa-think:

...regularly consorting with the colonials...

Can't decide whether that sounds treasonous, risqué, or both! :eusa-shifty:

...just noticed you are in Cornwall now...

Ian, for a given value of "now", yup, 'tis so. Believe it's about 26 years. :lol: