The questioner said: Wooden bench with a hole in the middle. The bolts go all the way through the legs and it is very heavy. Found in the basement of an old farm house
And send this images:
Some of the people answers were:
1. The rounded corners on the ‘legs’ make me think this was/is an improvised agricultural tool. Trammell? Furrower? Thought was put into this fabrication, I doubt it was just knocked together.
2. That’s a lot of bolt going on. This suggests that this device had to be reliable under some considerable strain. I notice that the four bolts near the hold are countersunk while the bolts at the outside edges are not. I wonder if whatever went into the hole also needed a flat surface around it.
3. I think an attachment for a diy wooden vise. Looks like it might slip onto a 4×4 with some sort of cotter pin. Check how easily 2x4s etc slip into those up rights could have been a jig for holding lumber to cut with a handsaw. I vaguely remember my grandpa having something like that for cutting lumber with a handsaw.
4. Whatever it was for it was meant to be under a lot of strain, and looks like it was maybe meant to rotate. The horizontal countersunk bolts on the end only go through the top board, indicating they’re meant to prevent it from splitting. The square hole in the middle has a horizontal hole bored through, indicating that a tight fitting square shaft fitted into it and was locked in position as well as the horizontal board being reinforced there too. The center bolts being countersunk but not the outer ones suggests a concern for them catching on something with a low clearance, but not a large diameter. The rounded corners suggest that force was hitting the upright mainly on the ends rather than the faces, which would also fit with how the top board is reinforced. My guess would be something beating, separating, or pulping something, in essence a large slow moving blender/beater. The lack of stain suggests that wine and such was not the use. Possibly some sort of grain separator, perhaps for removing grain from the chaff, or for knocking kennels loose from cobs or the rachis?
5. Looks like a carpentry jig. Heavily braced, with a square slot for placement on a larger work bench.
6. Looks like the bench of a wood shaving horse
7. I dont know what it is, but maybe this info helps someone figure it out. The wear around the suggest in isnt a bench but maybe a jig or loom device. The hole with the through holes to it could have bee for a rod and plate like a way to restrict flow. The bolts were only countersunk in the middle suggesting it only needed to sit flush with something narrow. There is a lot of wear, could it have been from water flow?
8. I think it’s a big mixer, maybe for stirring milk? The modern ones are made of metal. – Mmm that’s a really good guess.. I was thinking maybe some kind of tractor attachment? Maybe for marking out grassy fields or something? But your suggestion makes more sense. The pattern of wear and the engeneering suggests that its not a bench. Its also made of bolts which would suggest its not pre 1920s and so wouldn’t be for some traditional practice better done by machines.
9. My title describes the thing. As I mentioned it’s very heavy and sturdy. The hole in the middle is roughly 6X6 inches. We are stumped on what it could have been used for. Any help would be appreciated
10. I think potentially used in a mill of sorts. The square used as a drive off a large shaft. The worn rounded edges on the legs potentially from mixing or grinding in a circular motion.
11. There was a similar bench in the barn of an old farm that I once owned and I was told it was a Farrier’s bench, but I don’t have a clue as to what it was used for.
12. The type of wood and the bolts and how they’re sunk into the wood look an awful lot like they’re from beach groynes or from a pier? Either they’ve been very well sanded or they’ve been exposed to the sea in the past imo
13. Any water or wind mills in the area? Definately has part of greater apparatus feel.
14. would you have another pic, from below? whatever this is it was attached to an axle and did see quite some wear and tear on the four ‘paddles’. from below we could see if the wear was asymmetrical in some shape or form, or symmetrical. also there might be some traces not bleached by sun and weather.
15. Might help to know more information about the farm. What was the farm for? This device could have been wooden machinery parts for a mill, cheese press, grain mixer, trailer hitch, plow part, wheelburrow, etc etc. Of it was a dairy farm might narrow it down.
16. Seems like the square hole served to fit a second part. A beam comes to mind. If you look closely, there’s a hole that could be used to stick in a screw to fix the second part in.
17. What kind of farm was this? Dairy, chickens, cabbage, etc.?
18. It looks like it could be a grain agitator. The “legs” are the tines and that hole would be were it slips onto an auger.
19. So odd. Thick wood and lots of long bolts. Most of the bolts aren’t countersunk except for the four in the center “top.” The “legs” are rounded, but have bolts sticking out of them. The only way the wood has direct contact with a surface, is when it’s on its side. I agree that it looks like it would take a 4×4 with the holes used to pin it in place, but it would be resting on bolts, not solid wood feet.
20. I don’t know what that is, but it’s not a bench, it’s a conveniently bench shaped thing. Nothing would be built with hardware like that just got sitting unless it was really aesthetic which also doesn’t seem likely
21. When I was a kid at chicken farms, they had something shaped like this near each door, but it would be ‘bench’ side down, with the warn ‘legs’ facing up. In the space between there would be these rubber bristle attached that you’d sort of kick your boots through, and it would knock the gunk off them from all sides at once. Can’t tell if the space between these is right for that or not, but it sure makes me think of those when I look at these.
22. Perhaps the object under the wedges for the “tintering rod” in this grist mill image. The counter sunk bolts would leave room for the wedges (19) If they didnt have a 12×12 beam this might work. However the little transverse hole doesn’t make a lot of sense. The object next to the circled A and the object on the top left with 19 and 20 seem to be the same. Maybe the hole is good for keeping the tintering rod from falling while the wedges are being adjusted.
23. I’m going with a large stirring device driven by a square post. The post may have been powered by a “farm engine” or a water wheel.
24. My first instinct says a bench and holder for a heavy duty stitching pony, which is a type of handmade work holding vice. The square hole in the center would hold the stitching pony, the area on either side of it would be for sitting and working the part, and the recessed bolts would clear the legs.
25. Im not sure but first I see, I thought of a plow or some kind for a mule. The square place also looks like a support for rising it up so it kinda makes sense I think. Also strong bolts might support it to run through the dirt.
26. A jig for mortise and tenon joints maybe? The work piece have been placed on the top with the shoulders covering the rebated bolts so it sits on the jig and then drilled through the hole to get a perfect tenon every time? Not my area of specialty but could be?
27. The first thing I thought of without thinking too much was some type of cripple with the opening in the middle for a Jack or Jack like tool of some kind to raise a section of a home and attach to a foundation footing or just be strong enough to support raising while foundation bolting is prepared.
28. My dad uses/built a low bench for being at the right height for doing finish carpentry. Could the hole be a nail gun slot to rest it in? Bolts are excessive for some random reason like the size of the guy, or from some other project?
29. I can’t help but think that square is the perfect spot to place an anvil.