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Workbench identification

P

Planeiron

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We have a lovely family from Wisconsin staying with us for a few days and we were chatting about interests. I mentioned woodworking and the husband showed me a workbench he picked up from a charity donation event. He isn't a woodworker but obviously appreciated the piece. I nearly fell off my chair when he said he got it for $50!

There's the usual wear and tear and the handle on the tail vise is missing but aside from that I think it's a fantastic find.

Does the bench have a particular name for the style or type and might anyone hazard an educated guess as to year etc?

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Looks very like a typical old style Ulmia bench. Here's another example. I have an Ulmia just like the ones I linked to which cost me, I think, something like US$800 thirty years ago during the ten years I lived in Texas. I think that style of bench is typically a traditional German or middle European pattern, but don't take my word for it. I replaced Ulmia's built in supplied front vice with a quick release Record 52-1/2. The original vice is too slow operating for my liking. I still have the mechanism, and I've never bothered fitting it to another workbench.

I suspect your somewhat beefier US sourced example probably in hard maple is basically just of the type, but where or who made it isn't obvious, but the mechanism for the vices is usually batch or mass produced and can be used in-house for the bench making business (they do exist), purchased by individuals and sold to other batch bench makers. As to age, I'd guess less than a hundred years old, and probably post WWII. Slainte.
 
Yes similar to a Sjobergs, they are quite common over here, possibly because of the large numbers of German and Swedish etc immigrants.
That was a very good purchase at that price, a very quick look at FB Marketplace brought this up!
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Planeiron said:
We have a lovely family from Wisconsin staying with us for a few days and we were chatting about interests. I mentioned woodworking and the husband showed me a workbench he picked up from a charity donation event. He isn't a woodworker but obviously appreciated the piece. I nearly fell off my chair when he said he got it for $50!

There's the usual wear and tear and the handle on the tail vise is missing but aside from that I think it's a fantastic find.

Does the bench have a particular name for the style or type and might anyone hazard an educated guess as to year etc?

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What a deal.
 
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