The bellpush is almost finished. It just needs another two or three coats of exterior varnish, then I’ll put it up for sale (haven’t decided how yet – probably an eBay auction). Here are pictures of a few of the final details.
Deeply countersunk holes for three mounting screws (I thought two might be a little wobbly if the wall/door isn’t completely flat, particularly as there wasn’t room to space the screws evenly):
My maker’s mark carved on the back. This is a different thing to the Holden Concertinas logo (which isn’t on the bell push because I haven’t designed it yet). The HC logo will be the company brand and will be externally visible; my maker’s mark is my personal signature and is usually hidden away somewhere (I put it on most other things I make too).
A brass serial number plate (visible when you remove the top plate), rather crudely stamped with a worn set of letter punches. The letters stand for “Holden Concertinas Bell Push 1”. Also seen in this picture is a little drain slot so any rainwater that leaks into the switch recess can run out of the bottom.
First coat of exterior clear varnish (thinned down so it soaks into the grain), after sanding the bellows valleys because the bottoms of the trenches were a bit fluffy. The grain of the plain oak looks really pretty. I debated with myself for quite a while over whether to stain it darker to look more like a vintage rosewood concertina. In the end, after staining and varnishing a test piece, I decided against it because it looked a bit fake and the end grain stained much darker than the side grain.
