My last post about the tools at Skokloster had a lot of pictures of very nice tools and the unfinished hall in the Castle. Skokloster has a lot to offer if you are interested in 17th century. Fine furniture, paintings, glass, roof construction or weapons, just name it, and you will find it at Skokloster. That is almost true ;-). I would just like to show some of the lathes and lathe tools at the castle. The first owner, Carl Gustaf Wrangel (1613-1676) where not only rich and powerful, but also a passionate woodworker and had his lathe workshop in his castle. The workshop have later been moved several times and are now arranged in a room in one of the towers, close to the unfinished hall in the castle. Also several of the later owners where woodworkers and supplemented the already large collection of woodworking tools. The tools have been maintained in working condition through the centuries. The Castle are now a museum that are open in the summer, and all year round for group bookings. You can also get a guided tour in English.

Woodworking where common among the upper class men in Europe in the 17th century and both the tools ordered from Jan Arendtz in 1664 and the lathes and tools at Skokloster are a part of this. The oldest lathe in the lathe workshop are made around 1670-1675 by Johan Kesmaker and might have been used by Carl Gustaf Wrangel. The lathe tools are from different makers but a large group are made by Johan Kesmaker together with a late in 1673. (Knutsson, Kylsberg 1985) The workbenches and some of the other tools at Skokloster might have been used by the craftsmen working at the castle. I have not found a workbench that I believe to be as old as the tools made by Jan Arendtz. It is still possible that some parts of the workbench that Tomas have posted about can be a lot older than the workbench as it is today? It could be as old as the tools from 1664 and have been used by Wrangel, but we can not find a way to date this bench.
Further reading/ references:
Knutsson, J., Kylsberg, B., & Skoklosters slott. (1985) Verktyg och verkstäder på Skoklosters slott : utställningskatalog
Bengt Kylsberg, ed. (1997). Skokloster – Reflections of a Great Era. Skoklosters slott.