Anyone know how old this workbench might be?

[bissonnt]

Hi guys,
This is my first post. Looking forward to seeing what all you guys are up to in your garages. Mine still needs cleaning out, but I'm finally starting to work toward that goal. Want to get a little workshop area setup.

To that end, I was lucky this week to acquire an old workbench and am wondering how old it might actually be. No markings on it, except for a number indented on the drawer locking mechanisms. Not even sure what kind of wood the top is, although it looks like maple to me. The vises use wooden screws and need some cleaning and lubricating, but otherwise seem to be in good shape. I just wanted learn what I could about this bench before I decide what to do with it. I'm trying to decide whether to leave it as is or make a restoration project out of it. It looks very similar to a C. Christiansen carpenter's bench that I saw online, but there are some subtle differences. Thinking maybe it's a copy of the C. Christiansen design that somebody built themselves.

Any info would be much appreciated. Here' some pics.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=669448&stc=1&d=1501356097

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=669449&stc=1&d=1501356097

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=669450&stc=1&d=1501356097

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=669451&stc=1&d=1501356402

 

[BUYRETURNS]

I do not think last century. It looks like a table costco had a few years ago.,

 

[bissonnt]

Really? Costco sold a workbench with wooden screw vises? I never would have guessed that! LOL

Here's a couple other pics that might provide a clue. The joinery seems old fashioned to me, as do the bolts that lock the legs & rails together (square heads). I'll be disappointed if it turns out to be just a Costco bench that's been left out in the rain, but then again, I wouldn't have any guilt about rebuilding it.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=669466&stc=1&d=1501358541

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=669467&stc=1&d=1501358541

 

[tym]

Do the drawer pulls look original? If so, I'd guess no later than the 1950s.

 

[bissonnt]

Drawer pulls look original ... but hard to tell, since they're quite rusty.

I forgot to mention ... the side and back panels appear to be made of plywood. Old plywood, but plywood nonetheless. I'll have to look up when plywood became common for building things like this.

 

[bissonnt]

One other interesting item ... still had one of the dogs inserted. A rubber piece slides into the side of the dog to provide some friction when inserted into the hole.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=669481&stc=1&d=1501362029

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=669482&stc=1&d=1501362029

 

[sgs236]

I think it is older than 1950's. From what I can see the bolts are all square head and the screws are flathead.

 

[turbowoodworker]

The bench probably represents a home build woodworking bench. In the past it was very common for workers to build their own toolbox and workbench as part of their apprenticeship. It may be a copy or it could be a manufactured bench as well but there is no real way to know unless you can trace that number on the inside of the drawers. Just be aware that the drawer base portion may not be related to the bench top itself and may have been salvaged to act as a base.

Regardless that is a very good bench and requires little to any restoration at all. In order to make it a fully functional bench, sand or plane the top flat and add some paste wax and you have yourself of very good to excellent woodworker bench. Those bench dogs are homemade but depending on the exact measurements of those bench dog holes one can obtain bench dogs from places like Veritas/Lee Valley.

It is certainly a keeper. Nice find.

 

[PelicanPines]

Homemade by someone born before 1920... My uncle was born in 1920 and his custom stuff was slightly more modern.

 

[turbowoodworker]

The styling of traditional woodworking benches has not changed very much in 300 or 400 years and of those wooden screws are still commercially available today. That is why I say it is very hard to tell how old the actual bench is, but your guess of 1920 is as accurate as mine of 1980.

 

[Duker]

Just some observations.... the plywood looks rotary sawn which wasn't invented until the late '20's but not really into production until the late thirties. The joinery is simple dado but at a depth that would have been done by a homeowner not an apprentice on a saw produced more than likely in the late forties at earliest as the cost of a dado set was beyond most homeowner budgets until the mid forties to late footies when the Homecraft (I.e Wards, Sears ) lines came out and went mainstream after the war. I say restore it, use it and make some family heirlooms!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[ducksface]

I'm all but positive that's the table sold as a semi kit just post war.
Look in the back of a 1948 or so popular mechanics.


For what it's worth
Rubber was white until vulcanization was invented. Early car tires were white.

 

[bissonnt]

Thanks for the feedback guys. After doing some more inspection, the base cabinet is going to need some work to replace various panels, dividers, and drawer bottoms, as most are pretty far gone and not really salvageable. So I think I'll go ahead and plan to refurbish the base. The legs and rails are still pretty solid. And like turbo woodworker suggested, I'll flatten out the top and wax it and put it to work. Yeah! I just love old stuff.
.

 

[Rileysan]

The styling of traditional woodworking benches has not changed very much in 300 or 400 years and of those wooden screws are still commercially available today. That is why I say it is very hard to tell how old the actual bench is, but your guess of 1920 is as accurate as mine of 1980.

I agree with this wholeheartedly. It's not possible to tell when it was built unless the builder himself tells you. The wood and the hardware used to make that are still available to build the same bench today - and still have the same patina.

That's not to say anything of the quality. It's a beautiful bench that should be used, not put on display. Just my two cents ...

Brian

 

[Lynden]

It certainly looks like a Charles Christainsen workbench, possibly with a new top. Too bad we don't have an old catalog or magazine ad.

http://www.penturners.org/forum/f18/found-old-woodworking-bench-65298/

 

[DadsTools]

IMHO, items like these are made to be used. It's nice to have the pride of ownership of an older piece, but in the end, I don't see them as collectibles, because they can't really be displayed as such except perhaps in a museum. The only it can justify the real estate it takes up is to be used. So....rebuild and refurbish away. It will be worth more restored to functionality than if it's all original but can't use it.

 

[Carla]

I'd think that bench is most likely a commercial product, a 'manual training' or school woodworking shop bench made by one of the several furniture makers who competed for the school furniture market.

Quite a few varieties of those may be seen in old catalogues. This one is one of the 'basic' or less expensive models, as may be seen by the use of wood for the vises. One may see old catalogue listings in which these benches are offered with a choice of wooden or iron vises, the latter being significantly more costly. (by the 1920's, going by illustrations in old catalogues, school shop benches with angle-iron base construction were becoming more common, and wooden vises less so.)

Going by appearances, this one could have been built anywhere from the 1890's to the 1920's, more or less. Of course, it is entirely possible that it was hand-built by a woodworker, for his own use, but I'd tend to doubt that, given a look at the relatively precise 'wood machining' involved in the wooden vise parts. More likely, someone just took an old school shop bench home when the shop was remodelled with newer benches, maybe in the 1930's or '40's.

cheers

Carla

 

[bluebolt]

No opinion on age but I like it!

 

[4xdog]

...For what it's worth
Rubber was white until vulcanization was invented. Early car tires were white.

Tires (and many other rubbers) are black due to the carbon black added during compounding to give strength and abrasion resistance, not due to vulcanizing. Other fillers can and are used in vulcanized rubber, including, for example iron oxide in red rubber, and white pigments like zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, and others in white rubber.

Carbon black-filled, vulcanized rubber dates to the second half of the 1800s. Vulcanization of rubber using sulfur was invented in 1845, and Charles Goodyear got the first patent in the US.

Unpigmented natural rubber tends to be a tan-brownish color -- think a gum eraser.

 

[jd_1138]

Yeah it was probably made by a carpentry trade school student -- hence the lack of markings from a factory. First task would be to build a workbench as the other person said above. Like a rough carpenter usually makes a set of sawhorses when he's starting a project.

 

[bill300d]

It certainly looks like a Charles Christainsen workbench, possibly with a new top. Too bad we don't have an old catalog or magazine ad.

http://www.penturners.org/forum/f18/found-old-woodworking-bench-65298/

I'd have to agree. The OP's top may have been modified a bit but they essentially are the same.

 

[bissonnt]

There's a couple reasons why I don't think it is a C. Christiansen ... first, all the C. Christiansen workbenches I've seen have a round metal plate on the vise clamp (to protect the face of the wooden clamp while turning the screw). Second, the quality of the woodworking doesn't seem good enough for a manufactured product. If you look at the picture of the drawer, note how the joint on the left side of the drawer is different than the right side. Not exactly fine woodworking. In addition, the side panels of the drawers do not appear to have ever been sanded (some big rough spots, like on rough sawn lumber). Again, I imagine a manufacturer like C. Christiansen would have done a better job. (But, who knows?).

Given what I've learned about it so far, I think I will just refurbish it as best I can while trying to retain the character. Maybe even make a few improvements here and there. Might be a while before I can really get started on it, but will try to post some pics as my little project progresses.

 

[jimreed2160]

Nice workbench and very desirable. Not only is it a good bench for woodworking, it is small enough to be used inside as chic furniture like a kitchen island. I hope yours gets refurbed, waxed, and put back to woodworking.

It looks like something made in the USA sometime between 1900 and 1940. It could have been made for schools or homeowners. It might have been a kit. You could probably get a better idea comparing it to furniture of the era. Sometimes small details give good clues. From what I can see, it looks like post war WWI stuff made in the 1920s.

If you plan to do much plane work, you will probably have to add some bracing and stiffen it up. The rubber idea is clever, but no cigar is awarded. I would make some new dogs. Some of the carcass might need to be reglued. I would rub it with BLO (75% turpentine and 25% boiled linseed oil.

Good luck with your new bench and be sure to join us on the Woodworking 101 thread.