What is it I have?

[WoodCzech]

A friend of the family was going to cart this out to the curb so I decided to save it.  It looks like a woodworking workbench but there is a lot of metal on it.  There are other strange things.  For example there are bench dog holes and dogs but no way to use them with the end vise.  I also looks like there may have been another vise on the front left side at some point.  The front half of it is made of dark and light hardwood strips, the back half is just some kind of soft wood - pine or fir, I am not sure.  The slab is abour 2 1/4" thick.  It came with a simple trestle base.

Does anyone have any clue what this may have been designed for and suggestion on how it could be used for wood working or if it's even worth trying?

      

[CLETUS]

  For example there are bench dog holes and dogs but no way to use them with the end vise.  

I don't think that end vice is the original.

[mike4244]

Save the bench and add another face to the end vice . Dado the center for a 3/8" x 3/4" x 4" piece of steel. Make the slot a friction fit so the dog will stay at the height wanted.You can attach the new face with thru holes  from the outside of the face. Bore and counter bore for T-nuts . Bolt from the outside of the vice face and make sure the T-nuts and bolts are clear from the new face.
mike

[Stwood_]

That vise looks to be one piece casting....

[WoodCzech]

It's actually two vises welded together. I was thinking about cutting them apart and moving the front one to the left side.

[stav]

Must have been some special woodworking that required two vises coming together at 90 degrees.

I’m curious about that trough looking area that is behind that clamp. Any idea what that would have been for? Doesn’t really look like tool storage.

[WoodCzech]

Must have been some special woodworking that required two vises coming together at 90 degrees.

I’m curious about that trough looking area that is behind that clamp. Any idea what that would have been for? Doesn’t really look like tool storage.

I don't know either.  Unfortunately, I have no history on this bench.  I was hoping someone here may have an idea.

[stav]

It's still a cool looking bench that is probably quite usable as is.  Seems like there is a lot of metal parts in the top for a full on traditional woodworking bench.  Can you get some close up shots of the "odd" parts?  Like the corner vise, that trough, the metal ends, etc?

[WoodCzech]

Yeah, lots of metal.  It's very heavy.  Two of us struggled getting it loaded into my minivan.  I'll get more pics when I get home.

[Bill_Houghton]

You see ship's hatch covers and similar things with that kind of metal "breadboard end."  I wonder if someone salvaged such a thing and rebuilt it into a workbench.  If that hypothesis is correct, the odd little well at the back of the right (vise) end could just be an accident of history - something that had made sense in the top's previous life.

The vise placements are pretty strange, but may have made sense to the previous owner.  Maybe the bench was crammed against a wall to its left.