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Antique Workbench Top
I'm starting to think more seriously about building a new Shaker or Moravian Workbench and was looking at CList for something else and this popped up. I was half hoping that it would be in good enough shape for me to restore as a work bench. One thing that it had going for it was that it was only 6 minutes from me.
The seller said it came out of a barn in Delaware County, PA. The legs were gone, and some genius recently cut off the long bolt that held the dog leg vise on. Overall it was in pretty rough shape. I'm guessing it was leaning against a wall with the left hand side down in the dirt, since that end is a little soft. Both vises turn as freely as the day it was built. I'm honestly not sure what I'm going to do with it.
1. I could cut out the bad spots, flatten it, put skirt boards around it, and use it as a bench. But that would ruin the antique part.
2. I could build legs, but leave the top exactly as I found it, and just use it as a general purpose table in the shop. That's appealing but would eat up precious floor space.
3. The wife would be ok with it in the house, to use as a narrow writing table. Again I'd be torn whether to do nothing or at least do something to the missing wood down by the tail vise.
I wish there was someway of dating the bench. Anyway, thought I'd post some photos for posterity.
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Well, you could replace the wood on it. :)
As a user, it is worth what the screws are worth. Does the construction style say something about its origin? For example, the boards are face- rather than edge up.
Regards from Perth
Derek
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Clearly seen far better days, some projects are more work than starting from scratch; that looks like one of them. I can’t imagine it would ever be what you want to use.
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Dry rot, rusted hardware, twist and racking, missing fixtures...
The woodworking equivalent of "It ran when it was parked."
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Yeah, option #1 pretty much went out the window when I actually saw it in person. I should have probably left it there but I like something about it.
The top is actually one big slab of wood, not glued up. The vises are brass or bronze and very smooth.
I think maybe I'll put Moravian legs underneath of it and use it as a table. That would be good practice for when I actually get around to making my bench.
