Found a Scandinavian/Tage Frid style workbench on Kjiji last year for $300. I thought it was a steal, my wife not so much. The kid who inherited it had been using it for small engine repair. He guesses that it is 75 to 100 years old. His great grandfather made it when he emmigrated from Denmark. The age and abuse showed but I had recently been to our local wood supplier looking for bench materials and realized that the top alone was worth at least 300. It is made from 3 hard maple boards measuring 3 1/2" thick by 5 by 76 long. The end pieces and base are made from big chunks of solid fir.
I took a full 1/4 to 3/8" off the top using hand planes to get it flat and remove the oil stains. Thank you Christopher Schwarz for the great videos. I took his advice and turned a garage sale stanley no 5 into a fore plane with a curved blade. It made a big difference getting the initial flattening done.
The L vice was missing its chop. I replaced the hardware with a Lee Valley screw for $40. The large dovetails had loosened from the hide glue giving up and age. Someone had hammered nails through them all. Cleaned them up, reglued and wedged them to make them tighter. Also replaced the original square reinforcement bolts with new stuff. Replaced the plywood tool tray bottom with a fir plank.
The base was a bit loose so I cleaned it up and double wedged the through tenons. It is a big heavy bench but it fits in the shop, 22" wide by 86" long by 36" tall.
I put about $100 into it and have new low back pain but it was worth it.
I took a full 1/4 to 3/8" off the top using hand planes to get it flat and remove the oil stains. Thank you Christopher Schwarz for the great videos. I took his advice and turned a garage sale stanley no 5 into a fore plane with a curved blade. It made a big difference getting the initial flattening done.
The L vice was missing its chop. I replaced the hardware with a Lee Valley screw for $40. The large dovetails had loosened from the hide glue giving up and age. Someone had hammered nails through them all. Cleaned them up, reglued and wedged them to make them tighter. Also replaced the original square reinforcement bolts with new stuff. Replaced the plywood tool tray bottom with a fir plank.
The base was a bit loose so I cleaned it up and double wedged the through tenons. It is a big heavy bench but it fits in the shop, 22" wide by 86" long by 36" tall.
I put about $100 into it and have new low back pain but it was worth it.
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