Your bench vise setup...cutting dovetails.

[Rick Cicciarelli]

I figured this would fit in this subforum best...though I could be wrong.
I am curious how most of you folks who are hand cutting dovetails manage to hold onto you boards. What setups are you typically using to be able to work on the end of a wide board. I would think something like the Veritas twin screw vise (or some hand made equivalent) would be best for holding wide boards/panels while one works on the end. But I am curious if perhaps I might be missing another approach....

[Carlos Cabrera]

hope this works..

[Sean Hughto]

Rick, I just use my front vise and this little sled that mounts in a T-track recessed in my benches front edge. This is an idea that came from Rob Pocarro (and published in an issue of PWW). With really large cabinet sides like this, I sometimes add some support from a saw bench, stool or just some stacked up boards to fill the space from the floor to the workpiece.

[John Keeton]

Sean, that is slick! Thanks for posting the pic. Any possibility of a closeup pic without the dovetailed boards to see a little more detail?

[Sean Hughto]

Sure thing, John.

Let's see if this works as attachments:

[Hank Knight]

I've posted this before, but it has been a while.

I imbedded four stainless steel machinist's "T" nuts in my dog hole strip when I built my bench:





Using 1/2" X 13 threaded studs and aluminum speed handles, I can clamp 8/4 hardwood jaws or "chops" of varying lengths to the face of my bench top. With these I can clamp panels up to 30" wide vertically to my bench top for dovetails or any other work that needs to be done on the end of a panel.





Lee Valley has a relatively new product called "Bench Anchors" that makes this approach available for existing benches. All you need is a couple of 3/4" holes in the face of your bench. These bench anchors can be used in any 3/4" hole and they accept 1/2" X 13 threads. Easy. I wish they'd been available when I built my bench.

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...54&cat=1,41637



Hank

[Dave Lehnert]

I've posted this before, but it has been a while.

I imbedded four stainless steel machinist's "T" nuts in my dog hole strip when I built my bench:





Using 1/2" X 13 threaded studs and aluminum speed handles, I can clamp 8/4 hardwood jaws or "chops" of varying lengths to the face of my bench top. With these I can clamp panels up to 30" wide vertically to my bench top for dovetails or any other work that needs to be done on the end of a panel.





Lee Valley has a relatively new product called "Bench Anchors" that makes this approach available for existing benches. All you need is a couple of 3/4" holes in the face of your bench. These bench anchors can be used in any 3/4" hole and they accept 1/2" X 13 threads. Easy. I wish they'd been available when I built my bench.

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...54&cat=1,41637



Hank

Thanks for taking the time to post. Great idea.

[John Petsche]

Great tips, I like the t-track idea.

[Steven Mikes]

A pair of holdfasts in horizontal holes on the side if the bench should work well too.

[James Pallas]

I built this as a prototype in 2015. Always intended to make a fancier one but this one works just fine. It raises the work to a stand up height. One way slanted it works great for half blinds. Flipped over it puts the work at about 90* for tails or thru pins. Turned around it works as a bench hook. For wider panels I clamp it to the bench and use the vise on the opposite end. It sits right under the bench where I can grab it and put it in the vise.
Jim

[Prashun Patel]

Interesting thread.

Comedian: This thread is so old
Audience: How old is it?
Comedian: This thread is so old, John Keeton was still doing flat work then.

[Jim Koepke]

Comedian: This thread is so old

Well, an old thread can use an old image:

Leverage.jpg

This is from a cabinet build back in 2010. This is one of my reasons for preferring the fixed vise chop flush with the front of the bench and having enough apron to use clamps or holdfasts on the front.

On the end of the bench a block was made to match the over hang at the end vise. Some holes were drilled in the legs and dowels to match in the block. This allows pieces to be clamped against the end with the tail vise removed.

A Moxon vise is another way to fill this often needed ability.

jtk

[ken hatch]

With most thing wood simple is better and of course with most things wood YMMV.

One of my shop benches is a French/English hybrid, a Roubo style base with an English style apron. In some ways it is the best of all worlds, the French simplicity of build with English workholding. Here is a photo of holding a seat blank but it could just as easy be a large panel needing dovetails.

seatBlank.jpg

The same could be done on what I think is the best workbench for the home shop the Moravian bench with a "F" clamp across the top.

holdingWidePanel.jpg

Another option is a Moxon.

moxonVise.jpg

All work, all simple to use.

ken

[Mike Brady]

I use a twin screw chain drive vise with 18" of space between the screws. This arrangement is ideal and makes the placing of the work piece very easy and quick. What isn't ideal is that the vise is at 34" from the floor, which is a bit low for dovetailing if the stock being sawn is less than 3/4". If I am dovetailing 1/2" stock, then I may put a supporting piece of thicker stock behind the work piece to dampen vibration during sawing. A Moxon vise does raise the working height for sawing, but it is a large and costly add-on that I just can't justify having lying around.

[chris carter]

My sole bench vise is a twin screw end vise so that's what I use. If I have something too wide to fit, then I hold it on the side of the bench with a holdfast through the leg on one side and a pipe clap vise (going across the top of the bench) for the other side of the board.