Found a free bench today

[maximillian arango]

I've been doing all of my work on a bench that came with my house but I found it limiting. I saw this pop up and figured I would post it as I'm sure you guys will have your own imput which is more than welcomed.

I got it home and had to rush in and clean up for work tomorrow I hope to have it up right tomorrow and situated.

[David Myers]

Awesome find. Get her put together and show us some more.

[Frederick Skelly]

Very cool!

Where have you been Max? Haven't seen you around here in a while.
Fred

[Stew Denton]

Hi Max,

Very cool! Can't wait to see it set up. It looks like it has a tail vise, is that a tail vise?

It also looks like it had a front vise on it at one time. The mortise looks like that anyway.

Free! Super cool.

Stew

[Joe A Faulkner]

Looks like it has some good bones.

[maximillian arango]

Space was a premium living in an apartment so I all my tools ended up getting boxed up. Then I got married bought a house had a child. He's 1 and a half now so I am starting to have some time again and I have been itching to get into woodworking more then anything. Hopefully this time around I will produce some atrocities for you guys to help push me in the right direction.

[maximillian arango]

Had a few minutes after getting home today to put the top on. Doing this alone sucked a bit but I managed to get it down flush on the legs. It has a lot of wobble so that will be the first thing I would like to correct and I have a spare vice I picked up in Vermont last year that should fit fine along the front. I'm going to remove the lag bolts drive in some dowels to fill the holes then reattach the top. I still have a lot going so I hope to get this done within the next month.

Feel free to request more pictures if anyone is curious about the bench.

[Stew Denton]

Max,

Do you know the vintage of the bench? The wooden screw tail vise makes me think it could be 100 years old, and the square heads on the lags are not new, but square head lags have been around recently. Build your own vise metal bench screws have been around at least since the 1930s and probably well before that.

I would think the metal bench screws would have done away with most of the wooden ones, which again makes me think 90 to 100 years old minimum. The tail vise type makes me think it belonged to a professional woodworker with a continental European background.

The shadow of the mounting bracket for the old face vise looks like it was wooden, which implies a wooden vise screw, as does the width of the track for the screw for the face vise. Again, 100 years old minimum I think. Maybe much older than that.

With some restoration I think you might have a real winner there.

Stew

[Frederick Skelly]

Space was a premium living in an apartment so I all my tools ended up getting boxed up. Then I got married bought a house had a child. He's 1 and a half now so I am starting to have some time again and I have been itching to get into woodworking more then anything. Hopefully this time around I will produce some atrocities for you guys to help push me in the right direction.

Well congrats on wife, home and baby boy! You've been a busy guy.
Look forward to seeing what you build with that bench. A good place to start might be a little chair for your son. (They aren't too hard.)
Fred

[maximillian arango]

Hey Stew,

I need to get some time to look over any fasteners on the bench the lag bolts aren't square(that attach the bench to the legs) like you've mentioned the are obviously from my lifetime but those are the only ones that I've seen, I just looked over the pictures clearly I haven't been looking very hard. I only have had time before my night routine to do anything with the bench I should have some time on Friday before a leave the state for a week. The "dog hole peg thing" looks home made but there is a metal spring on it so I could be wrong other then that its now sitting in the middle of my garage while I move some of my son's toys and my mountain bikes around for a home for the bench.