Ingenious Mechanicks: Early Workbenches & Workholding

Ingenious Mechanicks: Early Workbenches & Workholding was inspired by Chris Schwarz’s perennial challenge in getting his workpieces to stay still enough to permit work -- and the innovative solutions he and other woodworkers have devised to solve these problems.

As he notes, for millennia woodworkers have used simple benches that relied on pegs, wedges and the human body to grip the work. Chris has taken it upon himself to build ancient-style workbenches and using them to build all kinds of projects. Since he lacked any kind of instruction manual for these workbenches, he used historical paintings as guidelines, then replicated the devices and techniques shown in the paintings to see how (or if) they worked.

The book highlights three historical workbenches and dozens of early jigs. The early workbenches offer several advantages to contemporary woodworkers, including a relatively low cost, frugal use of materials and quick construction time; multi-tasking utility as seating; and in some cases, superior performance. But even if you don’t plan to build an early workbench, Ingenious Mechanicks offers insights and ideas that you can use in building a modern bench -- including a hard-gripping face vise with a notch and some softwood wedges and “the best planing stop ever” with a stick of oak and some rusty nails.

Hardback with pages are surrounded by heavy hardbound boards that are covered in cotton cloth. Printed in full color on coated paper and wrapped in a heavy matte-coated dust jacket. 8-1/2” x 11”, 160 pages. Produced and printed entirely in the United States.

Pages: 160
Binding: HC
Publisher: Lost Art Press