Vise Question

[Joe O'Leary]

I'm preparing to build Chris Swartz' Holtzapfel workbench. For an end vise I have an old Abernathy cast iron quick-release vise which works with a cam and follower.

The bench will be 3 1/4" thick, but from the bottom of the mounting plate to the top of the inside jaw is only 2 1/4. Do I compromise anything by having the face 1" below the benchtop. Of course it will be mortised in.

Joe

[harry strasil]

Well, if you don't like it that way, you can always cut out some more to make it flush.

[Johnny Kleso]

I had the same issue and morticed the bottom of the bench..
Now if I want to change vises its and issue..
I would just add some wood jaws if its only and inchh and remmember if you have something in the vise less than an inch deep not to go crazy clamping..

[george wilson]

I just added wooden jaws to make the vise flush with my bench top. behind the jaw next to the bench top I added a spacer to fill in the gap between the jaw and the bench. I didn't want to hack up my bench top to install a vise.

[Joe O'Leary]

George, do you have a picture? I searched the "Show us your bench" thread, but couldn't find a picture of oyurs.

Thanks, Joe

[george wilson]

I don't have a picture of my cluttered bench. When I put the vise on(a Record knock off),it was about 1/2" short of reaching the top of my bench. I added wooden jaws,which stuck up above the cast iron jaws 1/2". the jaw nearest the bench was about 1/2" thick,and 1/2" too low to reach the top. This left a 1/2" square area to fill,so I just added a 1/2" square piece of wood. I have rounded the figures to simplify. I didn't even glue the piece in. It was a snug fit,so I just pressed it in.

[Joe O'Leary]

Got it, George. Thanks.

[Steven Herbin]

I built my "Holtz" bench at Kelly Mehler's school in 2009. We just mortised the vise into the end of the bench so it was mounted flush to the bottom of the top (doesn't sound right does it?). There are some pictures on Kelly's website which show the mortises. The chop was made level to the top of the bench. So the top 1" of the vise is wood to wood contact. I put some suede on both faces to ensure better holding.

The bench is the best tool I own.

[Joe O'Leary]

Thanks, Steve. That was also part of my question. Now another.

Swartz talks about his wish to have the dog holes closer (~ 2 1/2") to the front edge of the bench to make using molding planes and the like easier.
How do you do that and still have them centered on the end vise's dog?

[george wilson]

If the end vise's dog is more than 2 1/2" from the bench's edge,you need to make the other dog holes in line with it. If you don't,when you go to clamp wood between the dogs,the off center vise dog will apply a skewed clamping action to your wood,which could be problematic.

[Pam Niedermayer]

If the end vise's dog is more than 2 1/2" from the bench's edge,you need to make the other dog holes in line with it. If you don't,when you go to clamp wood between the dogs,the off center vise dog will apply a skewed clamping action to your wood,which could be problematic.

Let's say the vise dog is 1" from the bench end. You seem to be saying it will line up fine regardless (within reason) of the other dog hole placement. Why is this?

Pam

[Joe O'Leary]

Pam, I think George is saying that the dog on the end vise's chop needs to be in line with those on the bench. My question is, how do you do that and have the dog holes only 2 1/2" from the bench front without moving the end vise far into the right front corner of the bench.

Joe

[Chris Vandiver]

What George is saying is that the centerline of the dog holes need to line up with the centerline of the vise dog, no matter what.

[Chris Vandiver]

Pam, I think George is saying that the dog on the end vise's chop needs to be in line with those on the bench. My question is, how do you do that and have the dog holes only 2 1/2" from the bench front without moving the end vise far into the right front corner of the bench.

Joe

You could install a thick wood chop to the movable face of the vise and locate a dog hole closer to the edge of the bench, if need be. I don't think you'd want to move the vise so that it overhung the bench edge!

[george wilson]

Chris and Joe are correct. I'd want the dog holes and the vise's dog to be in line.