It depends upon what you plan to use the vise for. A "leg" or post vise
has jaws that are not parallel, so they are not good at holding things
that need parallel support. The reason for the "leg" is so that
blacksmiths can pound as hard as they want on the hot parts that are
held in the vise.
The machinist's vise does have parallel jaws and, although you can
probably pound on them, I don't think I'd do it on a regular basis.

Heck, why not have both? Your bench must have more than one leg.

Recently I wrote a product review for a propane-powered leg vise It was
quite a machine, but very expensive. I don't even have one myself.

Pete Stanaitis
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mongke wrote:

Hi all

I want to make/buy a vise for my workbench. I was thinking about a leg vise
but then I started thinking wouldn't it be structurally equivalent to fix a
common vise over one of the legs of the bench?. I cut the legs of mine from
a 4x5" beam of some heavy wood scavenged from a neighbours' house renovation,
so the bench should be heavy enough.
Any suggestions?