18th century workbench design

[richarnold]

Hi folks. I have been commissioned to make a workbench for an upcoming exhibition at the Leeds museum about Thomas Chippendale. What I'm looking for is input as to what you may feel an English bench of this period may have looked like.
My own feeling is that it would have possibly been of the so called "Nicholson" style, but I'm open to suggestions.
The only pictures I know of about this period are these, but it is not known if these depict benches generally used in a workshop of around 20 tradesmen, as was the case with Chippendale's workshop.

 

[DoctorWibble]

That's an interesting commission!
Of course I've no idea beyond what we've all read in workbench books. Might be worth considering how a medium sized operation like Chippendale would have been equipped with benches. By which I mean would his employees have been provided with benches or would they have been expected to make their own? Presumably they bought their own tools. If Chippendale provided benches then I guess they'd be some standardised version of the simplest, cheapest and proven style.
The only contemporary operations I know of that use lots of benches are the woodworking schools. Sellers uses benches made from commonly available 4 x 2s rather than harder to source heavy boards. Other schools also seem to standardise around locally available and cheap materials and a standard simple design. Surely Chippendale would've used what was most commonly available near his London workshop. And a style woodworkers of the time would've been familiar with.
If, on the other hand, his workers made their own then perhaps his workshop held examples of most of the common styles of the period. If he employed journeymen from Europe (Huguenots?) then conceivably many different bench styles of the period could've been found there at one time or another.

 

[DoctorWibble]

Any chance you could get hold of reclaimed structural timbers from an 18th century London building? Perhaps these days have gone but if you can find something suitable then at least you'd be likely to be using the same material Chippendale most likely would've used.

 

[richarnold]

Any chance you could get hold of reclaimed structural timbers from an 18th century London building? Perhaps these days have gone but if you can find something suitable then at least you'd be likely to be using the same material Chippendale most likely would've used.

I'm not sure the materials are an issue, it's more about being authentic with the design. My gut feeling is they would have used the cheapest materials available, probably deal (redwood)

 

[woodbrains]

That's an interesting commission!
Of course I've no idea beyond what we've all read in workbench books. Might be worth considering how a medium sized operation like Chippendale would have been equipped with benches. By which I mean would his employees have been provided with benches or would they have been expected to make their own? Presumably they bought their own tools. If Chippendale provided benches then I guess they'd be some standardised version of the simplest, cheapest and proven style.
The only contemporary operations I know of that use lots of benches are the woodworking schools. Sellers uses benches made from commonly available 4 x 2s rather than harder to source heavy boards. Other schools also seem to standardise around locally available and cheap materials and a standard simple design. Surely Chippendale would've used what was most commonly available near his London workshop. And a style woodworkers of the time would've been familiar with.
If, on the other hand, his workers made their own then perhaps his workshop held examples of most of the common styles of the period. If he employed journeymen from Europe (Huguenots?) then conceivably many different bench styles of the period could've been found there at one time or another.

Hello,

I would speculate, I don't know for sure, but I think Chippendale would have supplied benches. Many journeyman furniture's makers would have worked in the workshops in London and other places, and couldn't build a bench every time they moved workshop. It is possible some permanent workers might have made their own, but I should think largely the benches would have been provided. It is also likely that the benches were 'rented' to the workers, rather than 'provided'. Again, I don't know for sure in Chippendale's workshop, but it was definitely common practice to pay the workers and the deduct an amount for the rent of the bench.

The long benches in the painting above look like double sided ones, though no worker is pictures at the other end. It would be easy to employ 20 workers with perhaps just 7 or 8 of these ( 14_16 workers) and other workers being polishers, apprentices, assemlers, etc who would not need a bench.

Mike.

 

[DoctorWibble]

Bench rent. I didn't know about that. That's the kind of tradition I find it hard to see a successful businessman like Chippendale breaking with. I'd guess he ran a cramped workshop and sweated the space as hard as the tradesmen he employed. So no bench larger than it absolutely needed to be. These paintings do appear rather romanticised.

 

[G S Haydon]

I think the paintings are a safe bet Richard. I would imagine that other variations would of been about, thanks to skilled migrant woodworkers and their influence. I'm not sure if it would be the case in furniture but in our previous wheelwright workshop the bench was attached to the wall, with basic drawers below, must have saved a bit on materials I suppose.
All the best with the project!

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

I vaguely remember a quote from a wood craftsman, can't remember the source; it went something like this. You might be offered a bench near a window, which might seem like a good thing. But a view is a distraction, when your back is not bent, you are not earning anything.

The paintings in the pictures might be romanticised, the reality was something else.

Mike.

 

[richarnold]

Hello,

I vaguely remember a quote from a wood craftsman, can't remember the source; it went something like this. You might be offered a bench near a window, which might seem like a good thing. But a view is a distraction, when your back is not bent, you are not earning anything.

The paintings in the pictures might be romanticised, the reality was something else.

Mike.

Funnily enough, the bench is going to be displayed in front of a mock window!

 

[AndyT]

I think there's something similar to the window quote in Mayes' book on the history of chairmaking in High Wycombe. As well as charging for bench space, the workshop owner also charged for use of a grindstone and for glazing the windows. Apparently chairmakers were reluctant to pay for a view they didn't want to be distracted by.

(This is all from memory and needs checking. )

 

[Jacob]

Nineteenth century here but I don't suppose much would have changed. Very similar to the universal British bench design still in use (like mine), except wooden vice, no cast iron. I'd expect Chippo's benches to be very similar as he was ruthlessly practical, as is this bench design.
If you google images "christ in the carpenters shop" etc etc you will get lots of them. The Pre Raphaelites reliable as they were into photo realism

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Chippendale worked in the mid 18th century (1718 - 1779, and obviously not the first few years of that span!). I don't know when wooden bench screw vices became a common fixture, but at least in metalworking practice, screwcutting larger threads wasn't all that common before about the 1820s. There were smaller ones about, usually in instrument and clock work, but not so many bigger ones.

Consequently, I wonder whether Moxon (late 17th century) might be a better reference than 19th century practice? I know the famous Moxon vice has two screws, but they are of the smaller size one would associate with the wooden handscrew type of cramp, rather than the larger vice bench screw, so much more easily cut with a (relatively small) screwbox and tap.

 

[richarnold]

Nineteenth century here but I don't suppose much would have changed. Very similar to the universal British bench design still in use (like mine), except wooden vice, no cast iron. I'd expect Chippo's benches to be very similar as he was ruthlessly practical, as is this bench design.
If you google images "christ in the carpenters shop" etc etc you will get lots of them. The Pre Raphaelites reliable as they were into photo realism

That was an excellent idea. I particularly liked one of the images as it had been reversed making it a left handed bench!, of which I heartily approve! I always knew I was in good company!

 

[g7g7g7g7]

How regimented and specialised would Chippendales workshops have been?

I can imagine that you would have specialist carvers, panel raisers, turners, you might have people just dimensioning pieces, bookmatching and cutting veneers etc,etc.

 

[Corneel]

Ok, this is from 1694, not quite the 18th century yet. When quickly browsing a couple of Dutch museum sites, I tend to see the moxon style bench on 17th/early 18th century illustrations. The Englisg bench comes in vogue in the 19th century, and you can find lots of them.

 

[bugbear]

Nineteenth century here but I don't suppose much would have changed. Very similar to the universal British bench design still in use (like mine), except wooden vice, no cast iron. I'd expect Chippo's benches to be very similar as he was ruthlessly practical, as is this bench design.
If you google images "christ in the carpenters shop" etc etc you will get lots of them. The Pre Raphaelites reliable as they were into photo realism

That was an excellent idea. I particularly liked one of the images as it had been reversed making it a left handed bench!, of which I heartily approve! I always knew I was in good company!

Most artists paint technology as it is when they made the painting (*) - they don't do research. So a Pre Raphaelites painting will most likely show you mid Victorian stuff.

BugBear

(*) which is why medieval paintings of Joseph's workshop or the building of the Ark are so good at showing us what medieval tools looked like

 

[Corneel]

And I totally dig this picture from Hyronium Wierinx, early 17th century. Too old for your investigation, but it gives a good picture of the Moxon type workbench (and a bunch of tools!)

https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/nl/collectie/RP-P-1898-A-19903

 

[Corneel]

Here apicture, mid 18th century, a carpenter in The Netherlands. Painting by Gerrit Zegelaar. Here I see a Nicholson type bench. Period is correct for you but the country is wrong and a carpenter is of course no fine furniture maker.

Nonetheless, you can soup up your Nicholson bench design when looking at this picture.

https://lostartpress.files.wordpress.co ... age22.jpeg

 

[Jacob]

.......
Most artists paint technology as it is when they made the painting (*) - they don't do research. So a Pre Raphaelites painting will most likely show you mid Victorian stuff.

...

which will be little different from 18C stuff and any old Victorian stuff could very likely be from the 18C - there's only 37 years in it!

 

[AndyT]

And I totally dig this picture from Hyronium Wierinx, early 17th century. Too old for your investigation, but it gives a good picture of the Moxon type workbench (and a bunch of tools!)

https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/nl/collectie/RP-P-1898-A-19903

That picture is on the cover of my copy of Goodman's History of Woodworking Tools. I'm away from books at the moment but I think he included a chapter on the bench which might yield another image.