Dutch workbenches again

Werkbank in the workshop of Ernest in Holland. Photo: Ernest Dubois
Werkbank in the workshop of Ernest in Holland. Photo: Ernest Dubois

After my post about Dutch workbenches based on information from the book of Gerrit van der Sterre I got some comments and furter information. Ernest Dubois has the blog Working with axes and live in Holland. He has an interesting workbench in his own workshop that he sent me som photos of. He call it «werkbank» or «timmer werkbank». It is almost 9 meters long and the work height are about 75 cm. It is built fixed to the wall in the workshop. The benchtop are two long planks of pine, about 40 mm thick. It has leg vices and «bankstooten».

The bench could have been made to be used by two or more carpenters as it is so long and have several vices. It seems like it could be a good workshop for three men where each has his own window, vice and space for most pieces of wood. This kind of workbench looks similar to workbenches some Norwegian traditional boat builders. They could also be as long as the workshop and are fixed to the wall.

Ernest has also found an Dutch book about carpentry. I found the book on a downloading site and bought a copy. The book are very interesting and show carpenters work in Holland 100 years ago. There are some workbenches that looks similar to our Norwegian Skottbenk that I will write about later. There are also some drawings of different workbenches.

Workbench with a similar vice as the bench Ernest uses. It has also holdfast, or "klemhaak" as the term that is used in the book. It has also a slinding deadman as the bench from Vasa. From "Handboek voor Timmerlieden".  (Groot 1914)
Workbench with a similar vice as the bench Ernest uses. It has also holdfast, or «klemhaak» as the term that is used in the book. It has also a slinding deadman as the bench from Vasa. From «Handboek voor Timmerlieden». (Groot 1914)

Litterature:

H. J. de Groot, «Handboek voor timmerlieden». Amsterdam 1914

About Roald Renmælmo

Snikkar med fokus på handverkstradisjon og handverktøy. Universitetslektor og PhD stipendiat på NTNU i Trondheim. Eg underviser på tradisjonelt bygghandverk og teknisk bygningsvern og restaurering.

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