Plane face vise cheeks flush with bench top?

[Radu Tenenbaum]

I’m doing a flush install of a face vice to my workbench and I’ve made the wood jaw liners a bit proud of the bench top. My thinking was that I would use a bench plane to trim them flush with the bench top, but how do I do that without marring the bench top itself?

[Rafael Herrera]

Score it with a knife, take it out and plane it. Alternatively, plane it in place (provided there's no risk of hitting the metal). Take thin shavings in the end. It does no matter if you shave a bit of the bench top.

[Reed Gray]

Open the vice enough so you can plane at an angle and have just the heel of your plane on your bench top. Maybe crank it closed a time or two to make sure it is getting close or is perfect...

robo hippy

[Rob Luter]

I used a little different approach. I mounted my vise in a lowered location with the fixed chop behind the apron so the metal was out of the way of the bench surface. The workpiece clamps between the chop and the apron of the benchtop. After installation I just planed everything flush. It works very well.

[Tony Shea]

I wouldn't worry about marring your bench top too much, that is the idea of a bench top. Having said this you should be able to easily plane this basically flush with the vice closed and tight. Having the vise closed and tightened will prevent it from sagging as you put pressure on it while planing. Skew the plane so the tail of the plane sole is riding along your bench top and the blade is cutting the vise chop. This should be a simple operation and will get you basically flush without touching your bench top with the plane blade. As you get close to flush you can adjust your blade for a finer and finer cut until you're flush, or within a couple thousandths of an inch. Then you can open your jaws and take one pass at a time, checking between passes, until you're perfectly flush. I personally just keep the vise closed and plane it flush. If I mark the bench top then it means it's flush.

[Ben Ellenberger]

A custom high-end bicycle maker used to offer a pre-scratched option. For $10 extra they would put a scratch in your brand new $3,000 frame before shipping it to you. That way you could just ride your bike without worrying about the first scratch you would inevitably put in it.

[glenn bradley]

I'm with Rafael if you want a pristine starting point. All the answers are good, choose your favorite. The areas around a chop tend to take some abuse so eventually the area will catch up to any boo-boos during your trimming operation.

[Cameron Wood]

I used a little different approach. I mounted my vise in a lowered location with the fixed chop behind the apron so the metal was out of the way of the bench surface. The workpiece clamps between the chop and the apron of the benchtop. After installation I just planed everything flush. It works very well.

Same here. This is after I tuned it up a year or so ago, but the vice jaw pieces have been in use about 45 years- they were salvaged then...

IMG_3481.jpeg

[Richard Verwoest]

Radu, what is your plan for flattening your bench top in the future? Seems like the vice is going to cause problems in the future. You may want to consider lowering it, similar to Rob's installation.

[andy bessette]

Clamp a piece of scrap in the vice. Set the scrap a little low.

Otherwise don't worry so much about the finish or having to touchup the finish.