Bench Vise Placement?

[Jacob Reverb]

I have a Record 52-1/2 (http://www.amazon.com/Record-52-1-2ED-Release-Woodworkers/dp/B0000223R5) woodworking vise I bought years ago that I'm finally getting around to mounting on a workbench, but I'm not sure where on the bench to mount it.

My workbench is 34" x 80" and made from an old yellow pine farmhouse door. On top of the door I added a piece of 3/4" Advantech flooring stuff, and I stiffened the whole thing up by gluing, clamping and gunning 1" strips all around and in a sort of honeycomb between the door and the Advantech to make it into a kind of torsion box.

What I plan to do is make some cabinets with shelves underneath the bench top to store hand tools like drills, circ saws, sanders, etc., etc., and then attach the bench top to the cabinets.

I want to have a work area (other than the top of my contractor's saw) where I can do assembly and clamp down tabletops for hand-planing, etc., so I'm thinking the bench needs to be heavy so I'm not pushing it all over the place when I do hand planing, so having the cabinets and tools underneath will help to give it mass.

The bench will be centrally located in my shop (basically in back of my table saw where it will do double-duty as an outfeed table), and accessible from all 4 sides, with its long axis parallel to the table saw blade.

I'm thinking I should mount the vise with its screw parallel to the long axis of the workbench to allow for clamping large objects (with bench dogs), but I'm unsure whether to mount it on the end of the bench near the saw or the other end, and whether it should be on the right, on the left, or centered when I face it (I'm right-handed).

I would love to hear any thoughts you all have on this subject.

Thank you.

Jacob.

[Greg Hines, MD]

Jacob,

Your options include mounting it to one end or the other, or the front on either end. My bench has the vise mounted on the left-hand end, because I am right handed, and that seems most natural to me. I do not have a tail vise or end vise at this time, but I can always add it later (probably a Veritas twin screw if I have my way), or you can use the Veritas Wonder Dogs and your bench dog holes and hold any large panels or other workpieces.

Doc

[Samuel A. Livingstone]

For vise placement, I have always put it so that it is easy to hand plane. Consider what operations you do and go for the most comfort.

Sam L.

[glenn bradley]

Mine are "front" on the left and "end" on the right.

[Bob Levy]

I've always sort of bucked the trend of putting a vise on the left side (for right handers). Every bench I've ever had I always put the vise on the right side because I use it frequently for cutting off things like dowels, pipes, etc.

Being a "righty", it made sense to me to put it where I can naturally saw things. I rarely use my bench for hand planning which is why I think most people mount their vise on the left side.

I think the best side for anyone is to place a vise should be based on the type of use it will get.

[Jacob Reverb]

Thanks, guys. These are just the kind of insights I hadn't thought of, and was hoping to get.
Jacob.

[Greg Hines, MD]

As Bob said, I use it for all kinds of things, like cut-offs in wood, metal, plastic, etc. But I still prefer it on the left hand side of the bench, specifically because I am right handed. That allows me to clamp a workpiece, hold the saw, and use my left hand to catch the offcut if I need to.

Depending on your benchtop, consider whether you want dog holes for a front vise. Your composite benchtop should be ok, but for traditional laminated tops, with long strips glued together to make a benchtop, you do not want to use a front vise and dog holes across the glue joints. While I have no experience with that (my benchtop is four layers of 3/4" plywood) I have heard of people causing the glue joints to fail like that.

Doc