The following picture is from L’enseignement professionnel du menuisier (Education of a Professional Joiner), by Léon Jamin, and published in 1894-1896 (catalog link) – there are two volumes each with an accompanying atlas. The picture is on page 36 of of Volume 1 (atlas). There are four volumes, two of which are descriptions, and two of accompanying illustrations. This picture provides a nice perspective drawing of a French joiners bench, circa end of the 19th century. The accompanying text found in Volume 1 really only describes the art of perspective drawing rather than the intricacies of the bench itself.
Fig.1: The perspective of the French bench
The text suggests that the bench be made of beech, with a “fine and tight grain”. There are no measurements, but the drawing and scale provided allows for their calculation.
Fig.2: A close up of the bench
The bench uses a leg vise with a wooden screw. What is interesting is the parallel device. The leg has a wooden crossbeam at its base, which runs through the front leg, and inside, parallel to the lower side stretcher. Attached with screws to the crossbeam is a small cast iron rack, which receives in its notches, a small lever held by a rivet at one of its ends in a fixed part also made of cast iron. This lever assembly is attached to the left side of the bench leg. Fig.3 below shows close-ups of the various aspects of the leg vise assembly.
Fig.3: The leg vise mechanism
The work of Jamin includes four volumes containing numerous drawings of wood joints, architectural staircases, roof domes etc. These volumes are worth viewing, for the sketches alone.
Source of images: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France
From the end of the Viking period to the first half of the 18th C. Norwegians built farms that suited their own particular needs. The Norwegian homestead, or tun, was usually located on a ridge, or shelf in the hillside. The valley floor was both susceptible to frost, and prime agricultural land.
The Scandinavian countries were traditionally more agrarian than the other countries of northern Europe. The daily life of Norwegians was carried out on farmsteads, that were essentially isolated groups of log buildings. The old farms in Norway represent the relationship a Norwegian had with their environment. Norwegians did not build villages, but instead the landscape was divided into rural districts comprised of scattered farms and bordered by natural barriers. Mølster Farm, (16th C) in Voss represents the design of historic farms very aptly. It is really a series of buildings centred around a tun, or outdoor “room”. These farms resembled small villages containing “inhouses” such as the family dwelling and cookhouse, and “outhouses” which served the running of the farm. Each region of Norway had its own characteristic farm shapes, from clustered, to row, to closed-square. The Mølster Farm, as well as the nearby Nesheim Farm are examples of cluster type.
The two core buildings found on a farm were the loft and stue. The loft was a two-storey structure that functioned as a storage building, its companion, the stue was a traditional dwelling. The stue, was often composed of log walls, and the traditional storage building, while the loft, was crafted from a combination of stave and log work.
The Stue
A house unveils a lot about a culture, and the Norwegian stue reflects life on the farm – the word stue meaning “living room”. The nature of wood provided a basis for houses that were perfect for the Nordic climate, a warm environment for the cold winters, and a dark environment for protection from the summer sun. The earliest stue’s were single storey, a single room with a central hearth. This main room served as kitchen, dining room, work room, bedroom and reception room. The open hearth or åre was the focal point of the room, providing warmth, light, and a cooking space. The smoke seeped through the vent, the rooms only source of daylight. The single room later evolved into multi-room houses. Below is an example of an open-health stue.
Stue from Kjelleberg in Valle (1994).
Open hearth inside
The addition of fireplaces with chimney’s only really appeared in the 17th century, and with the fireplace moved to the corner, and the smoke vents no longer needed, windows were added to the main room. Eventually a second storey was added in many regions, the lower floor having a multi-room plan, with the upper storey was often used as storage or for guests. What stands out is that there is no one atypical stue in Norway, although there were consistencies within a particular region. The hearth was sculpted from soapstone, while the furniture was often carved and ornately painted.
A view from inside a farmhouse from Grøsli in Flesberg (1650).
The Loft
The Norwegian loft was a building form that was known throughout Northern Europe, and thought to be of Germanic origin. The loft represents some of the finest examples of Norwegian wooden architecture emanating from the Middle Ages. The loft was a term used to describe a two-storey structure whose main function was completely utilitarian – a storehouse. The term loft also describes the upper storey, with the lower room called a bur (also the name of a single-storey storehouse). The loft was used to store clothes, and in summer it was sometimes used as sleeping quarters for guests. The lower room was used for storing food.
Many lofts are built using log construction on the lower floor, and stave construction on the upper floor, a refined system which became known as reisverk. This loft construction method didn’t change much from the middle ages to the 19th century. During the Middle Ages, the lofts stood on the ground, but by 17th century they had been raised on a framework of stumps to prevent moisture and mice entering. Lofts are often the most important building on a farm, signified by the quality and ornate nature of the woodworking.
A storehouse, or loft, from Grimsgard in Nes (1700-1800)
A loft from Brottveit in Valle (1650-1700)
A storehouse, or bur, from Nedre Nisi in Notodden (1797)
One of the earliest French sources relating to workbenches is Principes de l’architecture, de la sculpture, de la peintureet des autres arts qui en dépendent, by André Félibien (1619–1695), first published in 1676. The bench can be found on Plate XXX on page 181 (1676), or page 135 in the 1699 edition. The bench shows the basic characteristics of a bench of the period – solid bench-top, square legs and stretchers, and a series of holes for holdfasts. The bench device that is missing of course is the vise – there is a planing stop, and a holdfast, but no vise. These benches had simple devices to hold wood. In the background there are some large clamps, or rather “Moxon” type vises. Considering their size, I would imagine they were used atop the bench rather than attached to the front.
working by hand 