ian maybury
05-21-2012, 6:16 AM
As earlier I've been drawing up the long delayed 96 x 24 1/2in Roubo bench with a 4 3/8in top in beech during the past week - very close to the Schwarz and Benchcrafted models except the top is not split, there are high stretchers to mount the top. There's a DIY wagon vise at the RH end.
I've had a twin screw Veritas for a couple of years for it, the plan was to mount it as a face vise to the LH end.
As usual though the devil turned out to be in the detail. It's do-able, but the jaws and handles take up a lot of top and side space, and are hard to get a balanced look with. Especially if trying for a decent jaw depth above the screws. (which because it causes tilting of the jaws probably is best kept to a minimum) Mounting the back jaw is awkward too on a Roubo, a one piece item involves a deep 1 3/4in min rebate in the side of the top (which gets too close to a row of dog holes for comfort) and in the upper part of the relevant leg.
Pondering the issue in the bath the other evening the thought surfaced - why not mount the Veritas vertically as a leg vise? It's drawn up now with a thick jaw similar to that on the Benchcrafted leg vise, fitted in very nicely at the stock 16 7/8in screw spacing (just clears stretchers etc), looks well, and seems like it should be very effective in that it basically delivers a similar function to the St. Peter's cross mechanism used on some leg vises (to avoid the need to relocate the pivot pin). The ability to disengage one screw (the lower in this case) and adjust the screws independently seems like a bonus.
The loss is that the horizontal jaw was originally intended to carry a row of three dog holes for clamping up assemblies on the bench top, but I figure I can cover this by other means. Ditto on the full length clamping of long pieces.
Is this daft, has it been done before, or am I missing something?
ian
I've had a twin screw Veritas for a couple of years for it, the plan was to mount it as a face vise to the LH end.
As usual though the devil turned out to be in the detail. It's do-able, but the jaws and handles take up a lot of top and side space, and are hard to get a balanced look with. Especially if trying for a decent jaw depth above the screws. (which because it causes tilting of the jaws probably is best kept to a minimum) Mounting the back jaw is awkward too on a Roubo, a one piece item involves a deep 1 3/4in min rebate in the side of the top (which gets too close to a row of dog holes for comfort) and in the upper part of the relevant leg.
Pondering the issue in the bath the other evening the thought surfaced - why not mount the Veritas vertically as a leg vise? It's drawn up now with a thick jaw similar to that on the Benchcrafted leg vise, fitted in very nicely at the stock 16 7/8in screw spacing (just clears stretchers etc), looks well, and seems like it should be very effective in that it basically delivers a similar function to the St. Peter's cross mechanism used on some leg vises (to avoid the need to relocate the pivot pin). The ability to disengage one screw (the lower in this case) and adjust the screws independently seems like a bonus.
The loss is that the horizontal jaw was originally intended to carry a row of three dog holes for clamping up assemblies on the bench top, but I figure I can cover this by other means. Ditto on the full length clamping of long pieces.
Is this daft, has it been done before, or am I missing something?
ian