what's this old woodworking? vice? tool thing??

[Gareth J]

About a zillion years ago my late grandad bought a second hand woodworking bench and this thing has always been attached to it. I did ask him about it but the unintelligible mumbles that came out suggest he was probably as clueless as me.

This is all that's visible from the front:

Underneath;

Looks like a clamp of some kind for something.

And there's this square hole thing on the top. But I think that's unrelated

Any ideas?

 

[steviec_lj]

Its a vice for sure, but cant remember what name they go by.

Other item looks a bit like a bench dog..

 

[CRB]

It looks like there should be a slot above the mechanism to allow a short stub to be gripped.

Very strange.

 

[Gareth J]

I've always thought it must be a vice of some kind, but how would you clamp anything with it??

Unless it was, once upon a time, installed differently.

I like the shaped end knob though!

 

[Gareth J]

It looks like there should be a slot above the mechanism to allow a short stub to be gripped.

Very strange.

Indeed, that's the thing, I can't see any opening on the top. Admittedly the top is covered in crap, but I've fully cleaned it off in the past and not noticed anything

 

[ford34/2]

I`m sure I know the Vice thing but my memory is on strike.Maybe the bech has had a new well replaced sometime in its life and there was originaly a hole to clamp something round like an axle??
BENCH STOP---You raised or lowered the teeth on the dog with a screwdriver, pushed your wood up to it and then dressed it smooth with a plane.

Love old stuff like this.

Stan

 

[Pete.]

I'm going to take a complete stab in the dark and say it might be a clamp for holding cart axles so that wheels can be worked on. The distance from the edge of the bench seems to be about the right radius for a typical cart wheel and the stop might be for holding on a spoke or something.

 

[Gareth J]

That's exactly the one Stan! #tw764. Cool, shame I don't have the grippy bar.

Also like the wheelwright idea...

 

[CRB]

No767 for me. Very neat.

 

[ford34/2]

No767 for me. Very neat.

764 for me!!!!!!!

Stan

 

[zx9]

I was thinking some way of clamping a cobbler's last, looks a bit heavy duty for a bench stop the bench stops I have seen were nothing more than wooden pegs.

 

[ford34/2]

a piece of timber slightly thinner than the finished thickness of the timber, screwed/fastned down to the benchtop was a better solution than the metal stops.
Stan

 

[Parm]

The square thing is a hole for a bench dog, allows you to grip material while being worked

 

[Gareth J]

I've not pulled it out but everything visible exactly matches Stan's #764, the screw holes, even down to the little half moon cut out you can just see in the pic.

The apparently useless vice though.... Any advance on a special wheelwrights tool?

 

[octo0072000]

could the bench have been remade at some time and the top inverted
because the vice was no longer used
the bench leg looks a bit small compared to the top

 

[CRB]

The apparently useless vice though.... Any advance on a special wheelwrights tool?

?What is the distance from the bench edge to the perceived centre of the cutout? that would reveal the largest diameter of wheel.

 

[MattF]

The setup of those jaws seems unusual. The curvature of the hole is small. If that vice was meant for holding various sizes of round, (and it appears to have a fair range of adjustment, judging by the length of the screw and guide rods), you'd expect those curves to be wider and possibly shallower, going across the full width of the usable jaw faces. Those faces would dig in to any piece which went beyond its OD. I'm honestly not conviced that was ever designed for holding round pieces directly. Plus, any rounds diameter would be limited by the distance between the two guide rods. I'd be inclined to think that originally had a slotted top bench and then two inserts, which located and held into those half rounds somehow, rode above the top surface of the bench.

 

[GrahamGKD]

.... the bench stops I have seen were nothing more than wooden pegs.

Here is my bench stop - what you have seems a lot more elaborate than that.

 

[Gareth J]

I'll get my head under next week see if the jaws give over any clues.

 

[Gareth J]

Nothing obvious, the jaws feel the same on top as they look underneath. Only noteworthy thing is that they are rounded the other way too so would definitely dent a piece of wood if held with and force.