I have been working on building my workbench for years (or literally just designing it). Now I may have the time to execute it, but there will be changes. I’ve always wanted a Roubo-type design, but the more I’ve delved into the design of historic workbenches, the more I’ve realized that the devices needed to hold work need not be complicated – indeed they need not even be integrated into the bench itself. I had plans for a leg-vise as the front vise, and even bought the hardware from Benchcrafted, but now I’m not so sure anymore. For most of history humans have used workbenches without any fancy screw-driven vises. Screw-based devices weren’t used on workbenches until the middle ages, most people relied on pegs, wedges and notches. This may have been in part because of the complexity and expense involved in producing wooden screws.
Do I really need an integrated leg-vise? The original Roubo didn’t have one, but relied instead on holdfasts, and a crochet on the front. Why not just go simple? A good amount of dog holes on the bench allows the use of any number of differing holdfasts – the Gramercy Tools holdfasts are inexpensive, and easy to use (C$56 a pair from Lee Valley), or perhaps different profile like the French-styled Crucible Holdfast. Or perhaps a couple of Veritas surface clamps, and a planing stop? In reality there are a lot of ways to hold wood on a bench, not limited to integral vises. The figure below is the top of a cabinet-worker’s bench from Paul Hasluck’s 1907 book “Woodworking: A Book of Tools, Materials, and Processes for the Handyman“. It is a relatively small bench with only a full width end-vise, but ample holes for iron bench stops and wooden pins.
At the moment I’m leaning towards a heavy Roubo-style bench made of ash. I have a vintage Record No.52 vise, which I think will go well as an end-vise. I’ll supplement the Record end vise with a Moxon vise that can be attached to the front of the bench when needed, maybe a detachable leg-vise of the form shown in Roubo’s third volume (Plate 279)? I may design the crochet using a wedge-type construct found on Norwegian “wedge-benches“. Then I’ll leave it for a bit, use the bench. If I still am in need of a front vise I may lean towards a H.N.T.Gordon bench vice, which seems to be a truly innovative piece of hardware.
A lot of historical woodworking information can be garnered from paintings, and wood prints. Below is a German wood-print titled “Zimmerleute“, Holzschnitt aus Herzog von der Pflanz, an illustration from Kunst des Messens (The Art of Measurement) in 1531. The book is an exceptional introduction to the art of perspective in drawing. The print below illustrates various carpentry tools used in the construction of a house frame. Of most interest are the two saw horses used for squaring up the log. Both have two feet attached to a curved body, ideal for rolling a log straight up to the flat top.
If you came across a Stave church on a dark and gloomy night, you would think there was something untowardly sinister about it. The roofs seem dark and foreboding, festooned with snakes and dragons peering down from the heights. But these wooden churches underpin the wood culture that was to follow. In such a thinly-populated country, few public buildings graced the landscape during the medieval period, the exception being the stave church. These churches were built between 1050 and 1350 AD and blended both pagan and Christian elements.
While the remainder of Europe was starting to use stone for its ecclesiastical buildings, the Norwegians built churches of wood. The Norwegian word for stave churches is stavkirker. The name derives from the Old Norse stafr, and the term meant a pillar or post – the vertical posts in the stave building’s framework. The post-and-lintel method of construction form the buildings load-bearing element. The staves usually rested on a foundation of stone. Forerunners of Norwegian stave buildings likely had posts which were dug into the ground, which made them susceptible to rotting. From about 1100, posts were set on beams laid on stone foundations. Even though stone was being used to build churches, in Norway Stave churches were still being built throughout the Middle Ages. Some of these churches were simple rectangles, others were similar to stone cathedrals with freestanding pillars.
The Heddal Stave Church near Notodden, Telemark – built in the 13th century (with a nave dating from 1150), the largest Stave church in Norway (picture from a vintage postcard).
The Danish poet Holger Drachmann described the Borgund stave church on a visit in 1886:
“On the way we visited the old stave church at Borgund; it was the most fantastic sight you could imagine, like the whim of some brilliant child, a cockchafer’s shell carved by a simple giant with his sheath-knife, with simple crosses and arrogant dragonhead, all twists and twirls, louver on louver. The inside is like a smokehouse dedicated to some mystic cult, where the darkness of the Saga overwhelms the flickering candles of Catholicism, whose shadows fall on the axes of mail-clad peasants and flowing beards of Viking kings – a sinister experience quite honestly.”
From a quote in Norwegian Stave Churches by Roar Hauglid (1970)
The Gol Stave Church
The Gol Stave Church (T. Prytz, 1883)
The stave churches of Norway have no real parallel in Europe, due to their intricacy – steep, shingled roofs rising one above the other, ornamented with dragon heads with flickering, outstretched tongues – almost fantastical in form. The stave churches were based on a highly refined structural system, and are examples of some of the finest wooden buildings in Europe. The architecture of stave churches was inherently influenced by medieval beliefs. Medieval people believed that evil spirits roamed the countryside bringing misfortune. The crosses and dragons found on the eaves and gables of stave churches were added to keep the church safe from harm, in the same way that the prows of Viking ships were festooned with dragon heads to protect the crews from the unknown of the deep. Staves set on ground beams of course need strong strutting. The upper portions of Stave churches therefore often use arched brackets, or St. Andrew’s crosses to improve their structure. The wall frames were built up and held together at the top by the ground beams, posts and wall plates. These frames were filled with upright planks joined by tongue and groove.
The Gol Stave Church (2018)
The chancel walls covered with paintings and inscriptions.
The most well known stave church is likely the Gol church found at the Norsk Folkemuseum in Oslo. The church is originally from Gol, in the traditional district of Hallingdal. It was built circa 1170 and was due to be replaced by a new church around 1880 when it was bought by the Society for the Preservation of Norwegian Ancient Monuments and presented to King Oscar II who paid for its reconstruction on Bygdøy. However only about one-third of the materials in the church date back to its early years. It is therefore very much a reconstructed church, with the entire exterior dating to 1884-85. The interior is considered authentically medieval.
The nave’s roof structure of Gol Church. Note the diagonal cross-braces named after St. Andrew who was crucified on a diagonal cross.
The interior of Gol Church ceiling, festooned with Geitsfuss carvings (chiseling was done with a tool called a geitsfuss, meaning “goat’s foot”).
The remaining Norwegian stave churches offer a glimpse into an oft-forgotten craft. It would be hard to find a better example of advanced framing techniques from the Middle Ages. Before the appearance of the Black Death in Norway in 1349 it is thought that there were 1000 stave churches across the country. By the time of the reformation (1537), this number had increased to as many as 2000. Today there are 28 remaining stave churches. Two of these have been reconstructed from rediscovered elements, but the others have survived in situ. Apart from Gol, other prominent stave churches include Borgund (1180, Lærdal), Heddal which is the largest (13thC, Notodden), and Urnes, the oldest (1130, Luster). For those interested, there is a whole website dedicated to Stave churches – STAVECHURCHCOM.
Further Reading:
Jerri Holan, Norwegian Wood : A Tradition of Building (1990)
Roar Houglid, Norwegian Stave Churches (1977)
Anders Bugge, Norwegian Stave Churches (1953)
David McCall Walsten, Stave Churches of the World: An Introduction (1994)
Jiri Havran, Norwegian Stave Churches: A Guide to the 29 Remaining Stave Churches (2010)
working by hand 