Why were English leg-vises skewed?

If you look through old literature, you will often see leg vises on work benches skewed, particularly on English workbenches. Leg vises were probably quite popular because you could get away with little or any metallic parts, i.e. they could be made in the workshop. Many of these benches had little in the way of bench-top overhang on the sides, and therefore the skewed leg might have been a result of wanting to offset the top of the vise, the screw of which was quite near the top of the bench. Placing the leg vise in vertical alignment with the bench leg would have caused a problem with the connecting point between the leg and bench top. This also meant that the parallel device would be attached to the side of the bench leg. Both account for less work when building the bench.

The other issue may be that the structural components of the bench did not seem as robust as modern benches, and so putting a hole through the leg for the bench screw, may have compromised its integrity. In the case of the example above, the screw mounting block is held on using bolts through the top of the bench.

Want to make your own glass paper?

Ever wondered why abrasives are sometimes called glass-paper? That’s because they were originally made of glass (as sandpaper was made of sand). Glass-paper was first said to be commercially manufactured by John Oakey in London in 1833 (although it existed before that). In fact the company Oakey started as John Oakey & Sons Limited, still manufactures abrasives (now owned by Norton). The glue used was initially hot animal glue. Glass or sand aren’t commonly used anyone, displaced by better abrasives.

Here is a recipe for making glasspaper from the 1837 book by G.A.Siddons, The Cabinet Maker’s Guide.

The Knapp joint

This dovetail-like woodworking joint has many names – pin-and-cove, pin-and-crescent, pin-and-scallop, half-moon, or scallop-and-dowel joint, but is not a joint readily encountered in modern woodworking. This is because it is a machine made joint, and would likely be quite tedious to produce by hand. During the Victorian era, industrial manufacturing of furniture was becoming more the norm, and new techniques were invented to replace the construction of time-consuming joints, such as hand-cut dovetails. In 1867 an inventor from Wisconsin by the name of Charles B. Knapp invented what was to be known as the Knapp joint (US Patent No.63,532). In 1870 Knapp sold the rights to the machine to a group who would form the Knapp Dovetailing-Machine Co. in Northampton, Massachusetts who began producing the machines that would make the joints.

The pin-and-cove joint on the side of a drawer

In 1870, Knapp received a patent for the joint itself (US No.D4,302). These joints were used predominantly in the construction of drawers. The drawer side was scalloped to fit into the drawer fronts matching scallops, and over the drawer front sides protruding pins.

The Knapp illustrated in Patent No.388,760

Knapp together with Nathan S. Clement (of Knapp Dovetailing-Machine Co.) improved on the machine design in 1872 (Patent No.122,390) and Clement patented a faster machine in 1888, the Clement Dovetailing Machine (US No.388,760) which when run by a single workman could produce 200 drawers in a 10-hour shift.

These joints were used for 30 years, however as the Victorian era waned, so to did the popularity of the pin-and-cove joint. Eventually machines would be developed which were able to cut traditional dovetail joints that looked hand made versus the Knapp joints which look machine made.

The rear of the drawer, held together with through dowels

Interestingly, the drawer which I photographed used through dowels to hold the back of the drawer into place. These seem quite messy, but then nobody expected to look at the structural components of the drawer. In fact the use of pinned rabbet joints is just as viable a solution as normal dovetails. This simple joint may have been the inspiration for the Knapp joint.

A 19th century Ontario workbench

In 1979 there was a booklet published by the National Museum of Man (now the Canadian Museum of Civilization), titled “The Cabinetmaker’s Art in Ontario, c. 1850-1900”, written by Lilly Koltun. It explores the life of an Ontario cabinetmaker, Francis Jones of Middlesex County – the hand tools he used, and the furniture made during the period. The work was originally used in the development of a woodworker’s shop at the museum as part of the permanent exhibit “A Few Acres of Snow”. 

Ontario workbench

The workbench is described at the beginning of the section on hand tools, and was made by Francis Jones himself. Its top was 78 by 21.5 inches, with a height of 34.5 inches, and a thickness of about 2.5″. It has both front and side single-screw wooden vises. The front vise is use in combination with a sliding deadman. Interestingly the sliding deadman has two parts, separated by a rail between the two front legs, just under the bench top. The upper sliding panel is very small, with just three holes, and the bench top seems to have only one hole for a hold-fast. 

Sometimes simplicity is key

Before I decided to go down the path of a Roubo-type bench, and bought all the hardware, I should likely have considered a much simpler design, although I may have been caught up in the world of optimal, aesthetically pleasing joinery. Sometimes, it likely is not needed. I might have had a simpler, existing workbench, versus one where the wood has been acclimatizing for 10 years (I blame home renovations and work). Why don’t we just use screws to hold things together?

Consider the following picture for the leg assembly of an English style bench (English Mechanic and World of Science, No.1589, pp.54, 1895). Both cross pieces are simply glued and screwed onto the legs (likely with a #14 screw). The joints are a simple lap, and T-halving, simple, with the screws exposed (the legs are 3″ by 3″.

As humans we tend to overcomplicate things at times. Things that were once simple have become needlessly un-simple. Of course screws and glue are not a substitute for good joints, but there is no doubt such joints would suffice for a makeshift work-bench.

The woodworking machinery at the Highland Folk Museum

Another interesting thing at the joiners shop was the woodworking machinery, most of which seems to have been belt driven, either by means of water power, steam power, or hand power (although these were driven by a Lister petrol engine)! A far cry from the modern workshop.

Belt driven table saw and bandsaw

The bandsaw is a three-wheel version, which doesn’t seem to be very common. It is marked as THE “STAR”, and made by Jonas Woodhead and Sons, of Leeds (manufacturer of ironwork, axles and springs for road vehicles). There doesn’t seem to be much information, but others have suggested these saws (hand cranked) were manufactured by Consett Iron Co., Ltd. (Consett, County Durham) in the late 19th century.

The “STAR” bandsaw

The post drill press is a hand-powered piece, the “Advance No.12”, made by Silver Manufacturing Co. of Salem Ohio. There was even a manual mortiser, which likely would have improved how quickly mortises could be made.

• 

• 

A hand-powered mortiser, and post drill

Were we more attune to what we built in earlier days, when we relied less on electrically powered machinery?