Thread: More On Workbenches

Originally Posted by Wayne Johnson

Gday all,
Is it the norm to check-in the rear (Fixed) jaw into the front apron of the bench (as I suspect) or should it be proud.

It's no big deal to go for either.
Flush is useful for situations like planing long thin pieces because you can slightly angle the plane to push the piece against the side of the bench.
Proud enables you to hold pieces firmly in the vice but stand away from the side of bench.
Initially mine was flush but now it is proud by about the 3mm thickness of the leather faces that line the vice jaws. I was a bit concerned about this but after working with it for a year I don't think it matters that much. What I found was I was continually adding some form of padding to the back jaw to protect pieces from touching on the bench side. Now that its proud I seem to be needing to pad the gap to make pieces flush with bench.

If you do go for flush consider building in an easily removable jaw piece on the bench itself so that if you damage the jaw you don't have to replace the whole side of the vice.

Yes thanks Bob,
I was in Carbatec yesterday and they have a 4 sided student bench in there and they have checked the vices in deeper than the thickness of the f ixed jaw and then inserted a small plywood plate to fill the gap and indeed produce a face which is about 2 mil proud of the front apron, so that plate would be replaceable if damaged.Much like you suggested I like the idea of the leather lining as well.

So there you are Bob, you've answered my question well.
I have an add in Quokka today wanting to find a woodwork vice - may as well try fishing!
If unsuccessfull I think I will get one of the Carbatec vices, there is a few to choose from, any reports on them?

Thanks for the help Bob

Cheers
Wayne

Wayne,

I just bought the basic screw and made my own vice from some Jarrah floorboards.
Here is a picture of my front vice (before I added the leather).

You can see the front apron of the bench near the vice is a separate board that can be replaced if required.

Since then I have also replaced the handle so that it looks like this.

That vice size and strength is very good for what I do, but the degree of sloppiness is less than desireable. I do have a small end vice as well but that end of the bench is often cluttered with junk so sometimes I can't get near it.

The standard Carbatec vices should be OK.

Cheers





Cheers
Wayne[/QUOTE]

I definitley favour mounting the vice with the inside jaw flush with the bench front. Shown in the photo, the inside vice jaw is also the benchfront, I find it very usefull.

Mine's the same as Graham's, with the apron longer than the bench to allow clamping as in his pic. The apron can also be replaced as BobL has said. In fact after 5 years, replacing the apron is on my list to do soonish.

Works for me anyway.

Tex

Thanks boys, Always good to get others ideas on things, I did'nt get any replys from Quokka so I went out today and bought a Groz 175mm from Carbatec. It's not a quick release but it seems to be reasonably well made. and I think I will mount it flush with the front but with the removable plate on the front of the fixed jaw.


I remember when I was about 18 (Longer ago than I care to remember ) when my grand father died we were cleaning out his shed and I still remember us leaving a fine old woodwork vice screwed to the bench $#^&%%#!. Anyway as they say "Ya get that"!

Thanks once again

Wayne