Dovetail sub-bench and vise

[Gary Benson]

Guys,
I am planning to make a dovetail sub-bench with shoulder vise similar to Duncan Robertson's pictured below.

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Rockler is having a 3.00 per board foot sale on Jatoba this saturday for both quarter sawn and flat sawn. What do the rest of you think about using Jatoba as either accent pieces or even the whole bench? The rest of my bench is Beech, my local hardwood dealer has some 5/4 for about $5 a bf. Does anyone have ready access to a plan with rough dimensions for the shoulder vise? I am excited about this project so that I can loose the racking front vise, and get the work up to a better height for comfort of the old back. Who makes the best vise hardware? LN does not seem to list this style screw on their site, may have to give them a call.

Thanks in advance,
Gary

[Jim Koepke]

Not too sure about Jatoba, it might be a little hard on tools for cutting and fitting.

The idea of raising the work it understandable. My back is getting too old to be stooped over all the time.

What I do not understand is why this vise design is preferred by some. To me it seems it would put the work further away. Sometimes my front vise is used to hold a piece beyond the end of the bench for sawing. This design does not allow for that. Also, sometimes it is convenient to be able to take the front vise off the bench for some operations.

My suggestion would be to make the "portable" sub-bench with a system to anchor it to the regular bench top through the dog holes.

jim

[Gary Benson]

Jim,
The shoulder vise holds the piece very firmly without racking since the board is in line with the screw. It is also nice since there are no bars or screws that interfere with the board being vertically positioned. Yes, you work at a distance, but you are never more than a forearm's distance, making sawing very comfortable. You almost lean against the vise as you saw.
I was planning on making it easily removable, likely just two large bolts from the underside. This would allow me full access to the entire top and the front row of dogs to use with the tail vise when working on longer pieces.
I'll probably skip the jatoba, total cost shouldn't be a big issue since the size is relatively small.
Gary

[harry strasil]

I set on a stool to cut dovetails, back is shot and its easier on my legs too. standing is a problem for me too.

[Jim Barrett]

I used Duncan's bench to do some test cuts and as soon as I took one swipe with my saw...I was sold....very comfortable vs bending over the typical bench vise...and of course no racking...will be looking forward to you end product...I am sure it will be great!

Jim


Guys,
I am planning to make a dovetail sub-bench with shoulder vise similar to Duncan Robertson's pictured below.

123000

Rockler is having a 3.00 per board foot sale on Jatoba this saturday for both quarter sawn and flat sawn. What do the rest of you think about using Jatoba as either accent pieces or even the whole bench? The rest of my bench is Beech, my local hardwood dealer has some 5/4 for about $5 a bf. Does anyone have ready access to a plan with rough dimensions for the shoulder vise? I am excited about this project so that I can loose the racking front vise, and get the work up to a better height for comfort of the old back. Who makes the best vise hardware? LN does not seem to list this style screw on their site, may have to give them a call.

Thanks in advance,
Gary

[harry strasil]

Lee Valley carries that vise screw, I got one to use on my wagon vise for my Nubench, except I put a garter on it so it doesn't stick out and get in the way.

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=31134&cat=1,41659

[gary Zimmel]

Gary

Here are some measurements and a couple of pics from mine.

If one was to build a portable bench it would be approx. 24" X 24"

The face block on mine is 11 3/4" X 5 1/4" and is 1 5/8" thick.

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The distance from the front of the face to the front of the bench is 9 1/2"
but this will change I would guess depending on the screw.

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On the underside the face block runs in a track.

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The only thing I will change on mine is to add an extra block where the
face block runs in the track. The vise will sometimes rack up and down and
this extra block will stop that.

Hope this helps out a bit..


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