Vise Advice
Dear Rec,
I have attached three pictures to illustrate my questions. I think I have
made them small enough for easy download, but I can't be sure until after I
post them, so..sorry if they come out big.
I have a 10" wide, quick acting woodworking vise that I got from my dad. I
currently have it mounted on my workbench, but I am planning a bench upgrade
(better, flatter top) and I want to remount the vise to give me the maximum
benefit of its features.
As you can see in the pictures, I have attached maple the jaw faces. If you
will note, the moving jaw has a lip on the top that extends full width and
stands proud of the top by about 5/16". The thickness of the lip is about
half the jaw thickness.
Currently, I have the vise mounted so the lip extends above the plane of my
workbench top. I have also drilled a set of dog holes opposite the vise
with the thinking that I can use the vise in combination with dogs to clamp
larger pieces to the bench top. This works OK although the 5/16" lip doesn't
have all that much of a grab face. The down side of this set-up is that if
I'm moving pieces around on my bench and they stick out over the sides, they
invariably hit the vise lip and I mar the piece.
I would like, therefore, to solicit from the collected wisdom of this group
with the following questions:
1. Have you ever seen a vise like this before? How was it mounted
relative to the workbench top?
2. Would you recommend I mount this vise to continue to use the lip with
the dogs or do you feel I should mount it lower to get the lip out of the
way?
3. If I mount the vise lower, should I retain the current maple jaw liners
or should I make a set that would extend up to the bench top, perhaps
routing away part of the wood so it tucks up against the lip?
4. Are there any other mounting/use options I have overlooked?
As I said, I got this vise from my dad. I imagine I could probably find a
better one, but I want to keep this vise (and al the tools I inherited) as
working tools that are part of what I create in my shop.
Thanks for your input,
Bill Leonhardt
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