Vise Location - Joinery Bench

[Bill Fleming]

From what I have found (online, books, other woodworkers) the conventional wisdom is that for a right handed person the face vise should be on the left end and a tail or wagon vise on the right end of a bench. And the opposite for a left handed person.

As I am planning a joinery bench and I found Jim Tolpin's comment (New Traditional Woodworker) about placing the face vise the opposite of conventional wisdom to improve "sight of the cut line" when sawing off the end of a board held in the face vise.

Since I am planning a bench primarily for joinery work I was wondering what others have done. I can see that if one were to follow conventional wisdom it would also be more convenient for the limited planing that might be done on this bench that will generally be too high for extensive planing.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Thx Bill

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I like my vises the way they are (the "traditional" way for right-handers.) and have no experience with the other way. But if materials and design allowed it, I'd be tempted to make the bench so the vises could mount on the front and back of the bench, left handed on side, right on the other. Try both sides for a while and see what works for you. Just a thought.

[Bill Fleming]

Yeah, for many years I have worked on a Right Handed bench and longed for one that was setup Left Handed... and Tolpin's comment has just given me pause...

[Andrae Covington]

Yeah, for many years I have worked on a Right Handed bench and longed for one that was setup Left Handed... and Tolpin's comment has just given me pause...

I had to go look at the book again to understand the context. I guess it makes sense if, like Tolpin, you have more than one workbench. He shows a "planing bench" which is a fairly standard roubo with a leg vise on the left, and then a separate "joinery bench" which is taller and has a twin-screw vise on the right, so that boards can be held vertically for ripping on the right corner of the bench.

I think if I were to build a dedicated "joinery bench" I would only make it about as wide as the twin-screw vise. Basically a moxon "bench on bench" with legs. For that matter, a moxon vise temporarily clamped to the right end of my only workbench would accomplish the same thing.

[ryan carlino]

Along these lines, I can't seem to find any examples of how to crosscut with traditional vises. I understand the coarse crosscut on a low saw bench (using a 26" hand saw). But how do I shorten a 1"-wide, 24"-long board by one inch, making it 23" long (without using my chop saw)? Where do you secure it?

The left-side leg vise is facing the wrong way. Over at the end vise, things seem backwards for a right-handed person. That leaves clamping the piece flat to the benchtop (maybe with a holdfast) with some hanging off the bench. This could be done on whatever side of the bench feels the best.

How do you crosscut a narrow board to length?

[Jim Ritter]

For something that size a bench hook would be the thing to use. Or a flip stop on the right side of the bench.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I often clamp it in my end vise (a quick-release vise mounted on the end of the bench - you can see the vise arrangment in an older bench progress picture below) with the inch or so hanging past the bench. Line marked and all, saw it off. Bigger pieces get sawn on the saw benches, smaller pieces get sawn on a bench hook. If I'm using the vise like this to saw, sometimes I need to pull the bench away from the wall if it's a longer piece.

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[ryan carlino]

Bench hook! It came to me as I was in bed last night and you guys confirmed it. Thanks for shedding the light :) I think I remember seeing some bench hooks designed for cross-cutting shorter boards.

Learn something every day.

[Jim Matthews]

+1 on the flip stop bench hook.

I left the front most board a little long, to create a "Vee" at the right corner for using a fret saw.
It never gets in the way of crosscutting.

If you have clearance in your shop, consider my recent experiment in vise placement;
the tail vise is moved from the far right end to the "top" right corner.

It works with the dog holes as a panel vise.
Since I mainly work from the front, it's never in the way.

Good place to keep my hat, too.

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