Leg vise question

[Bob Cooper]

first post in this section of SMC...so i'm strongly considering building a bench with a leg vise on the front (left). One thing though that seems odd to me is that unlike other vises that one might put in this location there's no concept of dog hole in the top of the vice so that one could brace something on the bench front to back. Why is that?

I am planning on end vise on the far right -- twin screw or simpler traditional vise -- and that will have a dog hole in line w/ones running along the front of the bench.

[Matt Evans]

I can't find pictures, but I did build a leg vise with a dog in it.

It worked fine. Because it is not held in line with guides the same way as other vises it was a little more of a pain to get tightened up/lined up properly than other vises, but once it was, it did the job ok.

[Hasin Haroon]

Hi Bob. You could put a dog there. I wouldn't, as typically the top edge of the leg vise would be relieved (curved/beveled) to allow you to saw clamped items without cutting into the chop. You could still do it, depending on the thickness of your chop. Another issue is that the chop will cant inwards, so the usefulness of a dog there could be questionable depending on how much you're willing to fiddle around with it. You would also have to set it up as a pop up dog.

[Peter Christensen]

If the leg vice is made in it's simplest form, without a chain or X brace mechanism, you have two options instead of a dog hole. First is a second jaw being and inch+/- taller than the flush to the top regular one, that you switch as needed. Second option is to not taper the leg to the foot but keep it the same width all the way down but have the bench screw offset a little so you can spin it so the bottom becomes the top and sticks over the top by an inch+/-. The downside is having to bend over more to reach the bench screw. For both versions the top of the jaw serves as a dog would.

[Bob Cooper]

thanks all...thinking about this more i kind of hate "adding something atypical" to something that i've little experience w/. The more i think about it i think i just just have a second piece of wood in the vise to act as a dog...pushing the horizontal wood.

i have almost no experience w/hand tools so once i get this project started i'll be back for lots of advise. Can't wait

[Prashun Patel]

This came up a few years ago. A leg vise Butts against the leg, which may imply that any holes would run in line with the upper rail. So it can be a pain to make holes all the way through the top as well as through the leg and the chop.

But if you can deal with that then I can’t think of a good argument against.

[Derek Cohen]

I have one of the brass pop-up Veritas dogs ("pup"?) in the centre of the chop of my legvise. The chop adjusts with the AYS chain. It works very well, and is useful when planing across the bench. I cannot find a photo, sorry.

Regards from Perth

Derek