Frid vs. Klausz

Re: Frid vs. Klausz

Todd Stock

>Another shot.

Re: Frid vs. Klausz

Todd Stock

>And another.

Re: Frid vs. Klausz

Steven McKinley from Calgary

>Nice pictures Todd... And of course nice benches!

Benches are the same design, I guess it comes down to the functionality that Tage Frid and Frank Klausz wanted from them. Could it be that Klausz does more of his work and assembly on the bench and perhaps Frid used a separate assembly table and felt he didn't need as large a bench?

Just a little speculation on my part while I procrastinate on doing a final assessment paper for my project management course.

Steven

Re: Frid vs. Klausz

Jeff Schmidt (KY)

>Todd,

If I may ask, what caused you to build the slightly larger bench? Did you find that you needed the extra length?

Re: Frid vs. Klausz

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>He needed the bigger bench because we convinced him he should be doing tails first.

Re: Frid vs. Klausz

Todd Stock

>That's interesting - good questions. Seems like Frid was going for a bench that could be built by a student and thrown in the back of a hatchback when school ended. I wonder if his own bench was larger/longer?

Although the benches look similar, the Frid bench is really easier to build because the tail vise design is simpler.

Re: Frid vs. Klausz

Todd Stock

>Absolutely - for the way I work, a longer, slightly wider bench made sense. Adam is right when he mentions the issues with ensuring continuity when doing moldings, etc. The ideal bench for running up moldings is probably something like a planking bench running 20-30 feet (smll boat shop size), but an 8' bench makes the work tolerable, even when reclamping.

The biggest issue was weight and stability - the Frid bench was just not heavy enough for day-to-day scrub/jack work, or for surfacing of larger panels. Sir William's tree-turned-bench (just kidding, but close enough) is probably the logical extreme - the base along is likely to be 200 lbs or so.

Re: Frid vs. Klausz

Todd Stock

>Absolutely right! I've seen the light - and it's shining through the gaps in my joinery...

How did the uber bench turn out? I missed the last Springfield breakfast, so not updates.

Re: Frid vs. Klausz

Tom Wolf

>Hi All,

Those are great benches. If I remember correctly Frid was very small in stature (I think 5'5") and that might have something to do with the dimensional differences.

Tom

Re: Frid vs. Klausz

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>The uber bench is someone else's, not mine. I don't remember whose.

My latest construction is a quick-and-dirty bench made from a glue-lam beam of Norway Spruce. It started out as about 30' of 5" x 15" glued up stack of 2x6's. About all the good I can say about it is it was quick and easy to assemble, and one could build it with a pair of saw horses, and then use it to build a real bench.

This week, I'm going to try again, this time starting with an old, derelict, abused and neglected, all-oak bench, with wooden screws, leg and tail vise. It is missing pieces of the top, warped, and all the leg joinery is either loose or worse. Also, lots of rot in the bottoms of the legs. Maybe I can get it working again.

I am taking photos of both of these in-progress projects, and will eventually post them here, when I think I've gotten to some sort of end point on both of them.

Re: Frid vs. Klausz

Jeff Schmidt (KY)

>The pictures that I have seen of Frid in his own shop show him using the archetypal "Frid" bench (ie not large).

I realize that both of these benches are really the same basic Continental design, but I wonder how many Frid versions have been made since his article first appeared in FWW many years ago.

Re: Frid vs. Klausz

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>The pins vs. tails was a joke, of course, but now I have a serious question.

In your photos, it appears the new, larger Klaus bench is missing its tool tray and the back board behind the tray. Why? The reason I ask is because the board that should go behind the tray is missing on the old bench I'm fixing up this week. There isn't any indication of how the original was attached to the end caps. The plans in Landis' "The Workbench Book" are not clear either, but one of the drawings seems to give a clue that it is joined to the end caps with dovetails. There are no dovetail pins in the end caps of the bench I'm working on, so I'm having difficulties figuring out how to build and join the replacement back board.

Re: Frid vs. Klausz

Jeff Schmidt (KY)

>William,

In his original post Todd says,

"Still have to dovetail in the back of the tool tray...."

Re: Frid vs. Klausz

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>Doh! That pretty well explains everything. Maybe if I take this to its logical conclusion, I might be able to deduce why the back board on this old one we're rebuilding went missing.

Disassembly is complete and leg trestle tenons have been beefed up and trimmed to fit. I cut new trestle feet from some 6x6 black locust we had laying around. Tomorrow, we'll reassemble the old trestles and join them to the new feet. Might even get the base reassembled.

Re: Frid vs. Klausz

Jeff Schmidt (KY)

>William,

Be sure to share some pictures of your recycling project!

Re: Frid vs. Klausz

Todd Stock

>My nephew was rushing me, so the backboard and tray did not get mounted until yesterday. The backboard dovetails into the end caps - Klausz uses two 1-1/2 inch long tails - nothing fancy. The stock is 5/4 curly maple, so plenty of gluing area. The Frid bench was just screwed in place - very simple, but easily replaced.

Re: Frid vs. Klausz

Joe Rogers, Northern Virginia

>Klausz would be upset with your use of "premium figured"wood for the base Todd:-)

BTW does anyone know if Klausz and Frid ever met?

It seems to me that they would have been very kindred in their training and experience.JR

Re: Frid vs. Klausz

Todd Stock

>See my other response for the dovetail details; and post a shot of the restoration. Had I been able to find a larger, older bench, I'd have gone that route.

Re: Frid vs. Klausz

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>I'm taking the pictures, but that's the easy part, almost as easy as refurbishing the bench. I still have to upload them to the PC, crop and compress and otherwise edit them, find some server space and ftp them to the web, write captions that y'all might be able to understand and be entertained by, write the html that your browsers might be able to understand, http to WoodCentral's HandTool forum, wade through all the recent messages and maybe respond to a couple of them, post the new message, and then start answering questions. And if I get really lucky, I might even eventually have to arbitrate between David Yoho and Garrett over whether it should be republished in Shop Shots or Articles. It's a long way from my bench top to your desk top :^)

Re: Frid vs. Klausz

Joe Rogers, Northern Virginia

>You da man!

Re: Frid vs. Klausz

Todd Stock

>When I went to Northland for the trestle stock, the straightest stuff I could find was some 8/4 yellow birch. In the rough, I thought it might have a bit of interest, but no way did I think it would be this large wave figure.

When I get a chance to pull the top and chamfer/scrap/oil the trestle, it will be pretty indeed. Even in the white, it stands out.

If I get some time this week, I may drop back by Northlands and see if there is another stick from the same tree. Northland does not consider curly yellow birch to be a premium wood, so it's pretty cheap.