Det første arbeidet eg gjer på den nye høvelbenken er å høvle golvbord. Eg brukar skottbenken til å høvle kantane og pløye borda så det er berre flasken som vert høvla på høvelbenken. Golvborda er saga 5/4″ (32 mm) tjukke og med rot/topp avsmaling. Høvelstoppen på benken fungerte fint på dei fleste borda, høvelen gjekk fint over. Eit av borda var kuva og vinna under tørk. Når eg høvla i bakkant av benken og la trykk på høvelen så løfta bordet seg i framkant og smatt over høvelstoppen. Det har truleg ikkje skjedd med ein benkehake med klør? Det er neppe veldig vanleg med så mykje kuv i bord som ein skal høvle.
Samla sett verkar benken veldig godt til høvling av golvbord. Det er fint å kunne stå i riktig høgd og høvle. I denne arbeidshøgda kan eg variere mellom ulike grep på okshøvlane og det er ein kjempefordel når ein skal høvle mykje material. Ein blir fortare sliten om ein må halde høvelen på ein bestemt måte og ikkje kan variere. Det kan tenkast å vere ein fordel å få festa benkeplata, anten til ein vegg, eller til bukkane? Høvelstoppen var ikkje optimal for å fungere med bord som var kuva. Å kunne lagre material under benken på denne måten kan vere praktisk. Ein får utnytta golvplassen betre.
Høvelbenk 
Hello Roald,
Do you need to secure the planing beam to the saw benches? If so, how do you secure it?
Kind regards,
Jeff
Hello Jeff
I have been working without securing the planing beam so far. It works ok but not more than that. I will have to try to secure it later but have not decided how to do it. The original planing beam I have made a copy of does have some holes after nails. It might be as easy as to drive in a few short nails in the top of the saw benches. The weight of the planing beam would be enaugh to get the nails into a hold.
Do you have other suggestions?
Kind regards Roald
Hi Roald,
I was thinking along similar lines. I thought maybe you had a cleat that was nailed or screwed into the bottom of the planing beam to push against the saw bench or a loose tenon mortised into the saw bench and beam to hold it from moving too much. I’m glad that the beam is working as is. I am making a bench now and I’m planing the bench pieces on my small saw bench. I have to keep a foot on one of the legs to keep it from moving across the floor…
I really appreciate that you share your beautiful work.
Thank you,
Jeff
Hi!
I found your blog just a few days ago. I find it really great, as You demonstrate a large variety of benches. Great pitty, You’ve only done a few posts in English 😉 Unfortunately, I don’t find Google Translate to work too good on woodworking terms.
About securing the beam to the saw benches…how about an «upside down dogging/dowel system»? You make two rows of «dog holes» in the under-side of the beam. By placing two dogs/dowels in parallel You make something like a cleat. You can then adjust the placement of the «cleat» to the length of stock You’re edge planning and for face planing, You set it, where it is most convenient. The dogs/dowels can just lean on the edge of the saw bench, or You can make two holes in the bench to correspond with the rows of holes in the beam.
Kindest regards,
Lukasz Budzynski.
http://lumberjocks.com/mafe/blog/30030
Thank you JR. There are similarities with Japanese planing boards. The direction of planing are different because of the planes in Japan and Norway work on pull or push. I did also see the dovetailed cleats under the planing board. That could work also for my bench. So far I find that the bench works without securing the bench.
Hi Lukasz
I am working with some more English on this blog. As you have found out it is not easy to use google translate on theese subjects. It is even a lot of work to find the correct woodworking in Norwegian about this.
You are right about your suggestion about how to secure the beam to the saw benches. I thought about something similar myself. My problem is that I am doing this as a research project. I do have an original old bench (beam) that I have made a copy of to find out more about how this could have been used. The original bench did not have any marks that could indicate a dogging system or dowels. There are some marks after nails thad could have either been to secure the beam to the saw benches or to fasten a cleat. I will have to try that. In my work so far I have found that the beam are heavy enaught to work as it is without any fastening. I will continue to use it this way a bit longer before I do something about it. Your suggestions might be something to consider.
Kind regards Roald
Hi Roald!
Thanks for the quick answer 🙂
I think it’s great, that the beam itself is enough to be stable. On some pictures I’ve seen additional boards placed on the lower stretchers of the saw benches. Was that just used as a storage place or was it suppose to act as additional weight, to make to whole more rigid?
Regarding the different systems for attaching the beam. Considering historical evidence and the usage of nails, which is a rather fixed (not regulated) way of securing the beam, I think this prooves, that regulation and adjusting for different length of the stuff just wasn’t needed. Maybe the craftsmen did some kind of work, that required some specific length of stock…or the setting was to accomodate the minimum and longer lenghts? I find your job and work really interesting 🙂
Take care,
Lukasz.
Hi Lukasz
The additional boards placed on the lower stretchers on the saw benches are just stored there. Still they act as additional weight and that seems to be a good thing.
I dont know if this kind of bench where used in more estabilshed workshops or where made at building sites to get a job done. I think the last. Job site workbenches might not look like the «normal» workbench and are therefore not recognized as such. If the original workbench from Heiberg in Bardu are a job site workbench it is one of very few I have found. My first use of this bench are to make floor boards as you can see in a post on another blog:
http://skottbenk.wordpress.com/2014/08/16/hovling-av-golvbord/
I think that is a typical boulding site job from the time the workbench where made and used the first time.
If the beam was used only for this kind of work, it might have been secured with nails a few times when it was used. Then it was stored for the next time they needed to make floor boards? If it where supposed to be used in a carpenters workshop as a primary workbench for several years it might have been mounted to the wall on some fixed feets? There are similar benches used by boatbuilders in Norway. These are usually fixed to the wall in the workshop.
http://skottbenk.wordpress.com/2014/05/29/skottbenken-i-batbygging/
Kind regards Roald