The workbench from 1906
It began with the workbench of Jan Frensen Jr, a master carpenter and wagon maker born in Meppen in 1889. In 1905 he opened a carpentry workshop in his parents’ home; in 1916 he built a workshop on De Kockstraat. He made wagons, coffins, wheelbarrows, ladders, harrows and other farm equipment. In 1968 the family took over the Holman family’s sawmill in Zweeloo.
Machines that still run
The woodworking machines are intact, and when they run their drive belts can be heard clattering. Volunteers demonstrate the machines and sawmill on open afternoons. Two volunteers drove to Kassel in Germany to collect an edging saw and an old long-hole boring machine that a company there would otherwise have scrapped.
Tours for groups
Groups can arrange tours with demonstrations on other days for a small fee. Het Frensenhoes is a foundation with Dutch public-benefit status (ANBI), run by an unpaid board.