workbenches i am using - nearly 100 years old

The rock in your workshop

The workbench of a goldsmith has to be a rock. Nothing you do on or with it ought displace the bench. It’s used for very precision work but also for heavy forging – if necessary.

Note: all over the world are goldsmiths, but not everyone use a bench. There are countries where the goldsmith does all the work on the floor. This jewelry is different to ours, not worse, but different. Remember this.

The look of a workbench

In this section i show you a typical workbench often used in my location. First have a look at the top of it.

workbench from above

1. the board it self, mine is very heavy, made of cross-banded lumber veneered wood (gauges cm: 112x56x12)
2. bench pin adapter plate, made of steel
   

   pin adapter

3. border made of wood, hight 40 mm
4. bench pin
5. sheepskin bench apron
6. a simple wire where the pliers find their places (left-handed people mount it on the left side)

Let’s have a look at the front of the bench. As you can see i use two drawers. The sheepskin was suspended by hooks to have more flexibility. The bigger hook is the place for my standard saw. On the left side you see a little hole. Here goes the steel mandrel when forging rings. The hight of the bench measures 100 cm without the border.

goldsmith workbench

Did you noticed the shelf on the left side of the last picture? The picture below shows the usage of it. I put it under the sheepskin to catch all the swarf e.g. when engraving under microscope.

workbench vice placement

hooked sheepskin

sideview