Old Workbench question

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Diane Kauffmds
Posts: 3246
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2014 8:13 pm

Re: Old Workbench question

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

The hardware may be tin, but looks to be iron (?) In the photo. I'd make a safe bet that it's victorian/Edwardian. The edwardian era ended in1910. That might help you date it. I became quite educated on hardware while restoring our 1920 house.

Something that my husband mentioned, that I didn't think about: Locking casters were invented in mid-Victorian Ers, so they would have been a new product. They probably wouldn't have been installed on a workbenches, given their high cost. They were very high end.

My husband, who is a true old fart, has seen a couple of very old workbenches with old casters. Some work necessitated moving an entire bench, to complete.
Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
ruby@magpage.com
Posts: 1564
Joined: Thu May 24, 2012 8:03 am
Location: Chestertown Maryland

Re: Old Workbench question

Post by ruby@magpage.com »

The dovetails are definitely hand cut, and the over cuts show it was done without the care required of a commercially offered item - like they were done by someone who doesn't cut dovetails every day. Add in the hand written "Starr Piano" on the bottom of the top instead of a brand, a stamp, or a label, and it appears it was made for use in the plant.

Great find and you will enjoy the tail vice a lot when doing cabinet work.

Ed
Ed M
Morecowbell
Posts: 280
Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2019 10:51 am
Location: Fishers, IN

Re: Old Workbench question

Post by Morecowbell »

Thanks for the thoughts and help, really fun that its a small part of local history. The next thing will to be how much fixing and/or restoration to do. I certainly want to keep it as original as possible but also want it to be functional for woodworking - will need to do some more exploration which is a little challenging because the dang top weighs a ton!
"Facts seldom sway an opinion." - John Hall
"The difference between theory and practice is that in theory there is no difference." - Van de Snepscheut
allenjeremy
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2019 2:58 pm

Re: Old Workbench question

Post by allenjeremy »

That is a beautiful workbench, with a little TLC you can fix it up quite nicely!
Kevin Sjostrand
Posts: 3712
Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 8:06 pm
Location: Visalia, CA

Re: Old Workbench question

Post by Kevin Sjostrand »

Wow that bench is a treasure. Nice find.
If you want to use it, just do it. You can plane off the top flat and smooth I would think.
But man, it is so cool you may want to just set it in your shop and admire it. :)
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