RTM
Well-known member
Dang, 65 pages in just under 24 hours. What a read. Really a shame that a bunch of the early pictures are gone, or are blurred out after some website went sideways. Lots of cool info I hadn't seen before, and some of you guys are even more obsessed with these things than my friends are.
I suppose a little background is in order here. I am the curator of the Workmate type study referenced here and there throughout this thread. My buddies and I put it together starting in 2008, following a gathering of a bunch of woodworkers. So our motives were a bit snobbish, we were looking for those which were best for woodworking, stable enough for planing, and that mostly included the Type 1-4(i). The others were mostly included because people brought them along. It has been added to over time, mostly when people found the UK made Smurfmates. If you go to the spreadsheet link, it will be updated again soon. There are multiple tabs there, including links to the Patents, appearances of the Workmate in various print and video media, some which show the pre-history of the Workmate.
It hurts a little to hear wolfcj say that there are errors in my spreadsheet, but I can't deny them either. He has way more cross era knowledge of them, and I hope to pick his brain offline and update things. (Honestly the Type 3 was the only one I never saw in person, so will use that as part of my excuse for being wrong)
My stake in this thread? I now own 4 of the aluminum Cast H models, Types 1,2,4(i), and one I never took the time to type, it sits out in the yard under a tarp, my beater. I also have a cheap TV tray one that Outlaw despises, for good reason. I bought it cheap, NIB, only to find out there were two specialized fasteners missing, and they cost me more than the original purchase. But, it is tall, which is a plus for a few things I do. And it has the single layer top, which fits my Log Jaws (UK product). Also had a few stamped metal ones that I gave away when thinning the herd.
In the offshoot category, I have the mitre mate, and a router thing too, never used either, think they are still in the box, will need to look to see if they have manuals. Couple pairs of the clamp things, but only 2 bases.
I've been contacted by people across the US sharing information, trying to track down parts, and even found one guy who was trying to make replacement metal handles. More later if he responds.
Somewhere I also have the old parts breakdowns (50+) for some early models, that's where I got the discontinued dates, they are PDFs, have to figure out a way to post them to the smugmug or Box site. Also have a few manuals that I should scan and upload into a central repository.
I also have dimensioned drawings for the tops, but can't find the quickly.
The real esoteric thing that I have that I haven't seen in this thread is a Table Top workmate, not to be confused with the little Bench Top or Hobby ones, or the Wall Mount, which is where my original attempts to track it down went. This is seen in pix 129 - 141 of the type study. Think I gave it away to a luthier friend.
If you want to see something different that a buddy put together, check out his Mate's Mate, a heavy top which allows him to use it as a planing bench.
And if you want a planing bench on a low budget, check out this setup from another person who I've lost contact with.
So the pics of the type study examples are still here, as well as a few of my samples.
https://kirkhmb.smugmug.com/Woodworking/Workmate-Type-Study/
The spreadsheet is here (will need to recall my log in to update it)
http://www.box.net/shared/hchozbe4d7
Thanks for sharing, hope to keep adding to the knowledge base.
I suppose a little background is in order here. I am the curator of the Workmate type study referenced here and there throughout this thread. My buddies and I put it together starting in 2008, following a gathering of a bunch of woodworkers. So our motives were a bit snobbish, we were looking for those which were best for woodworking, stable enough for planing, and that mostly included the Type 1-4(i). The others were mostly included because people brought them along. It has been added to over time, mostly when people found the UK made Smurfmates. If you go to the spreadsheet link, it will be updated again soon. There are multiple tabs there, including links to the Patents, appearances of the Workmate in various print and video media, some which show the pre-history of the Workmate.
It hurts a little to hear wolfcj say that there are errors in my spreadsheet, but I can't deny them either. He has way more cross era knowledge of them, and I hope to pick his brain offline and update things. (Honestly the Type 3 was the only one I never saw in person, so will use that as part of my excuse for being wrong)
My stake in this thread? I now own 4 of the aluminum Cast H models, Types 1,2,4(i), and one I never took the time to type, it sits out in the yard under a tarp, my beater. I also have a cheap TV tray one that Outlaw despises, for good reason. I bought it cheap, NIB, only to find out there were two specialized fasteners missing, and they cost me more than the original purchase. But, it is tall, which is a plus for a few things I do. And it has the single layer top, which fits my Log Jaws (UK product). Also had a few stamped metal ones that I gave away when thinning the herd.
In the offshoot category, I have the mitre mate, and a router thing too, never used either, think they are still in the box, will need to look to see if they have manuals. Couple pairs of the clamp things, but only 2 bases.
I've been contacted by people across the US sharing information, trying to track down parts, and even found one guy who was trying to make replacement metal handles. More later if he responds.
Somewhere I also have the old parts breakdowns (50+) for some early models, that's where I got the discontinued dates, they are PDFs, have to figure out a way to post them to the smugmug or Box site. Also have a few manuals that I should scan and upload into a central repository.
I also have dimensioned drawings for the tops, but can't find the quickly.
The real esoteric thing that I have that I haven't seen in this thread is a Table Top workmate, not to be confused with the little Bench Top or Hobby ones, or the Wall Mount, which is where my original attempts to track it down went. This is seen in pix 129 - 141 of the type study. Think I gave it away to a luthier friend.
If you want to see something different that a buddy put together, check out his Mate's Mate, a heavy top which allows him to use it as a planing bench.
And if you want a planing bench on a low budget, check out this setup from another person who I've lost contact with.
So the pics of the type study examples are still here, as well as a few of my samples.
https://kirkhmb.smugmug.com/Woodworking/Workmate-Type-Study/
The spreadsheet is here (will need to recall my log in to update it)
http://www.box.net/shared/hchozbe4d7
Thanks for sharing, hope to keep adding to the knowledge base.
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