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The Setting Bench

Notes from the setting bench: what a tool is asked to do, and where it stops

The bench and its holding

Bench pegs and pins, clamps, vises, shellac and pitch: how small work is held still so the hands can do their part.

Every entry on this bench

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A jewellery bench in a teaching studio, saw frame hanging from the bench pin, a row of files laid parallel on the wood, a half-cut sheet of brass under a raking desk lamp, shot from slightly above at the working distance of the hand.

BN-001The bench and its holding

Reading a Course Listing Like a Bench Spec

What a metals programme teaches in year one, what a weekend workshop can deliver, and how to check a course listing before you enrol.

A worn manufacturer's tool catalogue open flat on a workbench, its fold-out plate showing a sectioned lathe headstock, beside a steel rule and a pair of dividers, lit by a single window from the left.

BN-002The bench and its holding

Where Trade Manuals Go After the Workshop Closes

Printed trade manuals, tool catalogues and school handbooks outlive the bench. How to find them, read a catalogue plate, and judge a secondhand copy.