Workbench Vises - all the different ones in the same thread - contributions please

[FenceFurniture]

Brett

It's is a great thread. Not sure if it breaks the rules or not, but perhaps you could list a few members who have each vice. That way, if anyone is considering a vice or has a specific question, it would be a simple matter to pm someone and ask.

Trav

I probably could Trav - the info is on here anyway - which is how I know what they have.

[artme]

Was doing some free reading in a news agency today and saw an add for Lee alley
( I think ) tail vise made with pipe clamp parts. Had to scarper as time was up!!

Haven't found it on the net>

Also checked my Dawn No.6 and yes the problem is with the QR mechanism AND
I can pull the vise off without much trouble!!

[FenceFurniture]

Do you mean this one Art? It is a bit hard to see....Vises....Pipe Vise

[derekcohen]

Here are a few of my thoughts on benches and vises.

The most important one is that benches and vises are about holding pieces while you work them. The work we may do can differ from person to person, and the relevance of one individual's set up for another may be fraught with complications. From all the information that will appear here, we have to determine what is relevant to our needs and what is not.

There are many different bench designs. And there are many different vise designs. There is not a "best". There is only one that works well (or not) to meet one's needs. For 20 years I did not have a tail vise (or, at least, one that worked as a tail vise. The Record 52 1/2 was attached to the end of the bench, but the bench was not flat enough to use it to hold work along its length). Some do not even have a face vise, preferring to plane into a bench stop. And who says that this topic is for the hand tool user - what about the power tool user? Benches would be different heights, and vises have a different importance.

I think that it is important to view the bench and vise(s) as a system. Ideally, you have a method of work in mind, and the bench/vise combination facilitates this. For example, as a predominantly hand tool user building furniture, my need is to joint, plane faces, plane across a board, and plane edges of boards. If I were a carver, or someone working with irregular shaped material, I would look at a different set up - different vises.

In my workshop I have a roubo bench with a leg vise and a wagon tail vise. There is a sliding deadman to support the leg vise, and there are a number of both square and round dog holes to hold work with hold downs and the tail vise.



Why did I choose the Benchcraft tail vise?

The choice of tail vise was made on a number of factors, one of which was the space available for the bench. The length of the bench is limited by a cabinet, to the left, and a door, to the right. It comes down to the longer the bench, the shorter the tail vise ... or, the longer the tail vise, the shorter the bench.

The Benchcraft tail vise is notable in that the handle remains in one position, that is, does not "screw out" or "screw in" in length. This translates into a short vise, which means I can build a longer bench. The bench size increases from a little under 5' to a 6'6". This may not sound a lot, but it was a massive change for me.

The BC has been a revelation for me. I just do not know how I managed without it all those years. Actually I do - one can do work with the minimum of equipment and lots of work-arounds. However this vise has changed the way I now hold short boards, thin boards, and how I work the edges of boards.

Add in a sticking board and you can plane mouldings, rebates, etc with ease. Here is my adjustable version held by the tail vise and a dog ..



http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMad...kingBoard.html

Brett wanted to know the difference between the BC and the Gordon wagon vises. Simply, the BC is designed for a 4" thick bench and the Gordon for 2". The thread on the BC will allow rapid movement back-and-forth, while the finer pitch of the Gordon, along with the tiny wheel, means that it will be much slower. The BC is built like a brick $hit house. The Gordon is enclosed and loses some of the interior work holding that the BC has. (Of course, the Gordon only came out long after I built my bench, so was not a consideration. Never would have been. However, for a quick assembly, the Gordon rules over the BC, which really needs to be added at the time of construction).

If you want a end vise with a quick release, the Veritas works very well. I have seen it and used it. It is also an easy later installation. However it did not meet my needs at the time since it slides back behind the bench, which would have resulted in less space available for me, and a shorter bench.

Why the leg vise?

Early on the Veritas twin screw was high on my list. However, after building a Moxon dovetail vise, the twin screw face vise became irrelevant. What I needed was a vise to hold long stretchers along the side of the bench, which the leg vise does (together with the sliding deadman), and does better than a twin screw. The twin screw has a limited depth, and the leg vise can hold wider and deeper boards.

I added a chain drive to the parallel guide (in fact I was the tester for the AYS Leg Vise Chain Adjuster: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolRev...nAdjuster.html ), and this lifted the leg vise to another level. It works quickly, easily and securely.



Hope this helps.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Ball Peen]

The only commercial vise I haven't seen here is, the swivel vise, very useful for any irregular shape.
I made one using 16mm booker rod.


STEWMAC.COM : Guitar Repair Vise
Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum • View topic - swivel vice

[FenceFurniture]

Goodo Bill, may as well have a chapter on specialist vises - not necessarily for those who use them (luthiers, because they'll find them anyway), but because someone else could easily see an alternative application.

Do you have any comments on the vises on your traditional bench?

[FenceFurniture]

Great stuff Derek thank you - excellent detail and reasoning. I'd forgotten that you had a wooden screw for the Leg Spinner - remembered it as another BC for some reason. Did you make or purchase it?

One other thing that I'd very interested in is your thoughts on the Hovarters (I'm kinda keen on them).

[Ball Peen]

I've probably bored everyone to tears about the trad end vise. My leg vises don't go all the way to the floor, only to the strechers, much easier to shift to pin and just as much hold advantage.

[FenceFurniture]

I've probably bored everyone to tears about the trad end vise. My leg vises don't go all the way to the floor, only to the strechers, much easier to shift to pin and just as much hold advantage.

Yep, no worries. So if I trawl your benchbuild thread I'll get the lowdown on it I suppose - or is it more talked about in other build threads? Mind if I cut & paste a few tidbits?

[Pac man]

BENCHCRAFTED WAGON VISE
US$369 (March '13), and has to be freighted to Oz (not cheap).
As I look around the benchbuilds, this seems to be a very popular vise. It is far more complex to fit, requires an endcap for the bench to be dovetailed on.

Dovetail is your interpretation FF. See instructions:
This large dovetail is beautiful in the finished bench, but its not a requirement.
An easier method is to use massive lag screws to fasten the end cap to the front laminate.

DC describes that the dovetail on his bench is \decoration somewhere in the thread but from the blog:
So what about the end cap? How did this turn out?
In the end the design was determined by the wagon tail vise. This requires an end cap with strength as the tail screw will create pressure at that end of the bench. This means that the end cap does need to be bolted to the bench

[artme]

That's the one FF!!

[FenceFurniture]

Good point Paul - I guess the real point I was making was a more complex construction, and whether or not dovetails are added to that is not particulaly relevant, unless you want them. And, as Derek's acknowledged, the HNT is very simple construction.

I probably have a slight (and knowingly irrational) fear block of dovetails, which leads to such statements. When I bought my first router a couple of years ago, it actually sat in the box for at least three months, whilst I psyched myself up to confront it. Mind you, one would be far more justified of having router fear than dovetail fear.

Pretty much like I wouldn't swim out of my depth until I was 12, only to learn that deep water was just as easy to swim in as shallow....

[Berlin]

Yeah well I never met anybody with three fingers who lost them hand cutting dovetails, but i did meet a guy who fed them to his router.

Don't fear the dovetail, it's not the enemy.

[IanW]

Cheers DSEL. I think shop made would be the subject of a different specific thread - I'd prefer to keep the focus on commercially available. I think by the time some of the 30 people I invited have some input then there'll already be plenty to digest in one thread.

Very good idea though - I hadn't considered it.

That's probably a sensible approach, Brett. A few home-made and extensive modifications of commerciaal vises have appeared in various threads, but it would certainly help those contemplating rolling their own if they had a selection all in one place, for comparison & ideas. If you like, I can kick off a thread on home-spun vises, and with nearly 30 years of use behind mine, I should be able to comment on their weaknesses and strengths....

I hadn't weighed in to this thread before because all of the vices I use are home-made, & all but one use home-made wooden screws. The only part bought specially for the job is the metal screw for one front vise, because I wasn't set up for making very large wooden screws at the time. However, you don't have to make your own screws, they are available in wood & metal, and you've listed some (I think the cheapies from Carbatec & a few other outlets have been overlooked, but I may have missed them), so building your own vises is within anyone's reach. There are pros & cons, but I'll leave that to the appropriate time & place.....
Cheers,

[FenceFurniture]

If you like, I can kick off a thread on home-spun vises, and with nearly 30 years of use behind mine....

That's the go. Still, I'd be interested in any observations you may have of some of the commercial vises mentioned in here.