Shoulder Vise Dovetail

[Brian Kent]

I'm making a workbench with a shoulder vise. The body of the bench is maple, with purpleheart trim, apron and vises. The base is ash. It is the Frank Klaus style modified by making it 1' shorter (small shop), using a metal vise instead of a wooden tail vise (I am not experienced enough to be connfident making a tailvise. I just started the fine woodworking stuff in January), and using round instead of square dog holes.

Today is the day I've been waiting for - doing the big dovetail joint for the shoulder vise. I made the cuts with a ryoba Japanese saw because they are just so darned accurate. I love them.

Now I need advice on how to remove the excess material in the dovetail slot in the arm. That is a lot of purple heart.

Should I get most with angled saw cuts (japanese saw or jigsaw) and chisel the rest?

Should I just use a chisel?

Should I remove what I can with a drill press?

I do not have a bandsaw and my tablesaw comes next week. I don't want this as my first cut. I have a tolerate / hate relationship with my router, so I am not risking that.

There are several ways to do this, but I would love to benefit from your wisdom and experience.

I have some pictures but I do not know how to insert them in this post.

[Brian Kent]

Okay, I did figure out how to post one picture, but then when I tried two more it didn't work .

[Steve Wargo]

coping saw works well for removing waste in large DT's

[harry strasil]

I usually work from both sides alternately with a sharp thin chisel next to the inside, but leaving enough to pare off later, and use the chisel to split off some of the outer waste when I get so deep.

[Deirdre Saoirse Moen]

Wow, that's some purple shoulder vise!

I'd love to see more bench pics.

Pretty purple.

[Brian Kent]

Thank you, guys.

I used the ryobi to do an x-cut inside of the material to be removed. Got the bulk out with the coping saw, and did the rest with chisels. Used a 1" chisel to score the bottom line and then the (sharp) 1/4" chisel to get to the line. It fits just fine. I'm guessing Frank Klausz could have gotten the tolerances a wee bit closer, but I'm a happy galoot-in-training. I'll try to post a pictuer again when it is all glued up.

[Jim Hinze]

First, beautiful bench..

Second, I'd use a coping saw and just take my time... I think doing it at the drill press w/ a forstner bit would be far more difficult.

You might also consider trying it on a bandsaw with a 3/16" bade and some angled cuts....