Workbench Vise Question

[Kurt Cady]

I am planning on starting a split top roubo build soon, and the question I have been wrestling with is what to do about and end vise. Lee Valley free shipping has forced my hand for a decision to be made. Last time they had free shipping I got the screw for the leg vise, and I am still planning on using it. Face vise on the end, or wonder dog?

I am going to be using the bench as an outfeed support for the TS as well. Each split top will be about 13" wide. The bench will be about 60" long. (That's all the space I got)

The decision comes down to whether or not to put a face vise on the left end of the split top farthest from the TS. (It has to be on the left side, although I am right handed, there is no way to put it on the right side. This would also put it close to the leg vise - not sure if that is bad or not). The benefit I see in putting a face vise on the end is the ability to clamp to the bench with clearance for something like a saw. Although I don't have a collection of hand saws, I anticipate having a few soon.

I would also like to use the face vise on the end to secure pieces between dogs for routing operations, etc. But, I can use the wonder dog for this.

I anticipate using a planing stop and not planing toward the end vise with a dog - I hear that can quickly rack a vise.

Advice, opinions, etc? Thanks in advance!

[Zahid Naqvi]

I'd say if you have limitations like you described stick with wonderdogs. I am assuming you will have your table saw on the right side which limits the use of an end vise. You can possibly put your end vise on the left side but the opposite corner from the leg vise (I would not put the leg vise and an end vise on the same corner of the bench). Watch this video (http://woodtreks.com/design-build-traditional-woodworking-workbench-tail-shoulder-leg-vises/1651/) where Patrick Edwards shows how he configured his bench for various types of tasks he does. This is what want to incorporate into my bench. Planing into a vise will over a period create more and more racking, but if you use the Edwardian approach you can have both vises on the left but on different corners/legs and have separate areas of work at the same time. I have a leg vise as well as a QR end vise, but I have found during normal use I rarely use the end vise. If I had a wonderdog type setup I'd probably never use the end vise.

[Jim Koepke]

Will your bench always be up against the table saw?

Having a vise mounted on the end shouldn't prevent using the bench as an out feed table.

I use my end vise for a lot of functions. One is to hold my shooting board and other bench hooks. I also use it for sawing and planing.

My face vise and tail (end) vise are almost identical, that is just the way the bench was built.

If you are right handed you may find a vise mounted on the left side of the end will be in the way when suing the leg vise to hold work being sawn. My vise jaws are easy to remove, so it is possible to clear the end for this kind of work. I do it all the time for some tasks.

One of my out of the box ideas is to have a regular vise and a wagon vise on the same end of my next bench. I haven't looked into this enough to actually determine the possibility.

jtk

[Maurice Ungaro]

I echo Jim's comment about using the bench as an out feed. The bench does not have to butt up against the table saw, and at the size you are talking about, it is not problem to pick up one end, and move the thing if you have to. I'd go with a quick release vise for the end position on the right hand end of the bench.

[Kurt Cady]

Zahid - that's a great video. Thanks!

Jim - I dont understand how the end vise will be in the way of sawing if using the leg vise. I'm obviously missing the picture in my mind.

For clarification, the front of the bench wil have the leg vise. The TS will butt against the back. The right side is unusable because the DC is tucked in that corner. I was thinking of adding a vise at the end of the front left side.

Thanks again for any advice!

[Jim Ritter]

I built my bench with the plan of using wonder dogs as the main dog clamping system and was disappointed. The wonder dogs do work as advertised and I'm not disappointed in them in particular. It was just too time consuming to be readjusting them all the time and they are slow. Plus the further you extend them in use the post with the screw rises and in my case it was higher than the workpiece and made the work more difficult. I have since added an end vise. I do like the wonder dogs for clamping like this however.

http://i1135.photobucket.com/albums/m628/boatman53/th_11832104.jpg (http://s1135.photobucket.com/albums/m628/boatman53/?action=view&current=11832104.jpg)

[Jim Neeley]

Kurt,

Maybe one option would be to add a wagon vise on the right end? Like one of these?

http://benchcrafted.com/TailVise.html

http://www.hntgordon.com.au/prodtailvice.htm

HNT's in Australia but will ship to the U.S.

Jim in Alaska

[Jim Ritter]

Had not seen that Gordon vise. It looks interesting and well thought out.

[Maurice Ungaro]

The Gordon vise is indeed interesting, but you get killed with shipping from Oz ($32!). Of course, that's Oz money, so the vise plus shipping comes out to $200.69 US.

[Jim Koepke]

Jim - I dont understand how the end vise will be in the way of sawing if using the leg vise. I'm obviously missing the picture in my mind.

When using the face vise to hold a piece for sawing, at least for me, the cut line is hanging over the end of the bench. If there was a vise there it could interfere.

jtk

[Kurt Cady]

When using the face vise to hold a piece for sawing, at least for me, the cut line is hanging over the end of the bench. If there was a vise there it could interfere.

jtk

Got it! I'm thinking the leg vise will be ~18" from the end of the bench (The left side will cantilever over the left pair of legs ~ 18")

Thanks for all the previous suggestions. I'm still on the fence. haha!

[Jim Koepke]

Got it! I'm thinking the leg vise will be ~18" from the end of the bench (The left side will cantilever over the left pair of legs ~ 18")

Thanks for all the previous suggestions. I'm still on the fence. haha!

I do not use my bench vises for holding pieces to be sawn as much now that I have been using saw benches.

My bench is 5' so when a long piece is edge planed a bit hangs out from each end.

When it comes time to do some face planing a large beam will be secured to the top for planing. I have even though of doing the best that can be done with the first longer pieces and then use them as the planing beam.

As always, more will be known after it comes to be.

jtk

[Christian Thompson]

I built my bench with the plan of using wonder dogs as the main dog clamping system and was disappointed. The wonder dogs do work as advertised and I'm not disappointed in them in particular. It was just too time consuming to be readjusting them all the time and they are slow. Plus the further you extend them in use the post with the screw rises and in my case it was higher than the workpiece and made the work more difficult.


I agree with all this and will add that wonder dogs don't work well with thin stock. You can't go much below 3/4 inch without having a problem (or at least without having to find something to put under the workpiece to lift it up a bit). I think they are a nice product and are useful, but I don't think they are a good long term replacement for an end vise.

Christian

[Jim Matthews]

The Bench blades get around that problem with a lower profile.

I do most of my planing of thin stock on a shooting board with sacrificial stop.