Sorry if this question was answered before but a couple hours of searched yielded no answer for me.

I am finally working on finishing my bench the top of which consists of 16 hard maple boards already glued together. The original stock was 8/4 that I cut and jointed/planed to 16 pieces that each are 1 3/4 by 2 3/4 giving me a top that is 28 inches wide and 2 3/4 inches thick.

I will be putting the Veritas twin screw vise on the right side end and need to attach another hard maple board to be the fixed jaw. Since the 16 boards have the grain oriented vertically I don't know how much or if I need to account for expansion and contraction on the end. So my question is what is the best way to attach a horizontal end board to the end of my bench top. If it matters, the end board, which will be the fixed vise jaw, will be 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick and 7 inches in height (width) and the full 28 inches long.