David Wadstrup
06-01-2013, 6:31 PM
About 2 years ago I began a thread to document the building of my Benchcrafted Roubo. If you're at all curious, you can find it here (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?168304-A-Hand-Built-Roubo-and-the-Education-of-a-Woodworker). I very much enjoyed the process of documenting this project, especially all of the positive feedback, inspiration, and help I received from the members of Sawmillcreek. Eventually, however, I became so absorbed and overwhelmed with the actual building, that I dropped the ball on the documenting, leaving the thread totally unfinished. The bench, I'm pleased to say, has long been finished, and it's been a dream to use. I'm bringing this all up, by the way, because I recently made an upgrade to it that has literally blew my mind. Up until now I really thought of this as being the perfect bench -- by definition, not one that could be improved upon. I was wrong.
Late last year I started reading about a device that was able to convert the traditional leg vise with a pin and parallel guide to an un-pinned one. It's a chain vise kit made by Jim Ritter of Ancora Yacht Service. It sounded like it might be kind of nice to not have to bend and fiddle with the pin every time I clamped a board, so I purchased one of his kits, and recently installed it. What a difference! I totally underestimated how much more fun, how much easier using a leg vise is without have to worry about the setting of that pin each time. I can honestly say that it frees my mind up a bit when clamping -- one less thing to think about -- and that I love my bench even more than before. I can now clamp anything of any width without having to adjust the pin, without racking of any kind, and with extreme strength. And the one thing I was worried about -- that it might effect the smoothness of the vise -- turned out to be totally unfounded. The vise actually runs SMOOTHER than before, and has a fair amount more glide to it.
Anyways, I thought some of you might appreciate hearing about this. It's such a simple, easy upgrade that will totally surprise you, and make you wonder how you managed so long without it. And in case you're wondering, I have no affiliation with AYS. I am simply an incredibly satisfied customer.
And to finally tie up the loose end of my unfinished bench building thread of 2 years ago, here are a few photos. Finished bench and some other bench-like shop accessories that I made with the left over lumber. I use and love each one of them.
The finished bench:
263519
A "bench on a bench"/Moxon vise set up that I made for up close, joinery work. It lives on the shelf below the bench:
263520
A vise chop with attached saw vises. All I have to do is trade out my regular Moxon vise chop for this, and I'm good to sharpen:
263521
A saw bench I built. This is incredibly useful, and so much better than saw horses. I owe credit to a couple of members of this forum for much of the design of this bench:
263522 263523
And my leg vise with the AYS Chain Vise. You'll notice that I have kept the pin in place. I don't actually use it, only keep it there for nostalgia :).
263529 263530 263531
Thanks for looking!
Late last year I started reading about a device that was able to convert the traditional leg vise with a pin and parallel guide to an un-pinned one. It's a chain vise kit made by Jim Ritter of Ancora Yacht Service. It sounded like it might be kind of nice to not have to bend and fiddle with the pin every time I clamped a board, so I purchased one of his kits, and recently installed it. What a difference! I totally underestimated how much more fun, how much easier using a leg vise is without have to worry about the setting of that pin each time. I can honestly say that it frees my mind up a bit when clamping -- one less thing to think about -- and that I love my bench even more than before. I can now clamp anything of any width without having to adjust the pin, without racking of any kind, and with extreme strength. And the one thing I was worried about -- that it might effect the smoothness of the vise -- turned out to be totally unfounded. The vise actually runs SMOOTHER than before, and has a fair amount more glide to it.
Anyways, I thought some of you might appreciate hearing about this. It's such a simple, easy upgrade that will totally surprise you, and make you wonder how you managed so long without it. And in case you're wondering, I have no affiliation with AYS. I am simply an incredibly satisfied customer.
And to finally tie up the loose end of my unfinished bench building thread of 2 years ago, here are a few photos. Finished bench and some other bench-like shop accessories that I made with the left over lumber. I use and love each one of them.
The finished bench:
263519
A "bench on a bench"/Moxon vise set up that I made for up close, joinery work. It lives on the shelf below the bench:
263520
A vise chop with attached saw vises. All I have to do is trade out my regular Moxon vise chop for this, and I'm good to sharpen:
263521
A saw bench I built. This is incredibly useful, and so much better than saw horses. I owe credit to a couple of members of this forum for much of the design of this bench:
263522 263523
And my leg vise with the AYS Chain Vise. You'll notice that I have kept the pin in place. I don't actually use it, only keep it there for nostalgia :).
263529 263530 263531
Thanks for looking!