Twin screw front vise - Why?

Re: Twin screw front vise - Why?

Jamey Amrine

>My plan is for my next bench to have a twin screw vise on the front (likely with wooden screws), and the reasons I have are to hold chair seats and to dovetail carcass pieces. So, um, I can't think if any other specific reasons beyond what you covered, but depending on the type of stuff you make, those are big reasons.

Close the book and think about what you want to do at your bench and try to come up with the best way of holding that work. I currently have a twin screw (Veritas) tail vise and a standard single screw, wood-jaw front vise. The front vise is nearly useless for anything but edge planing or cutting tenons. I do my dovetailing at the twin screw, but that leaves me standing right in front of the door. Now that I have a better sense of what goes on at my bench, I have a much better idea of how things need to be secured for working.

Re: Twin screw front vise - Why?

ThomD

>These days, not sure about the historical uses, a vise like that on a short bench is often called a chairmaker's bench. On a longer bench it is often seen on a cabinetmaker's benches. It seems like a fairly sendible design, and if sized properly would provide excellent support for carcass joints as well as edge planing, cutting mortises, and so forth. I used to think it looked like an awkward rig compared to the L vise, but I'm not so sure about that any more. I'd like to try one. On a cabinet bench, I would want a really long bench so there was plenty of vise free room to work on also. The overall bench would need to be as much longer as the vise is wider, maybe an extra foot or so.

Re: Twin screw front vise - Why?

Verne in Northeast NJ

>If you do a lot of dovetailing or edgeplaning I could understand why. I have a twin screw vise as my tail vise and I love cutting dovetails on it even though the space around me is a little cramped. I've edgeplaned some small pieces of wood on in too - but the width of the vise puts your body position a little further away when planing than with a traditional wood or metal face vise. I considered getting another twin screw as a front vise, but I ultimately decided to go with a patternmaker's vise.

I'm glad I did because I need the versatility of a patternmaker's vise on my main bench.

That's a great picture on the front

Jim in Burlington On

>Of Landis's book. We discussed it once and I foget exactly who's bench that was but it wasn't Garret Hacks. I'm not sure it's the best setup for doing furniture work. A good steel vice maybe more practical but the look of the twin screw is very attractive. I'd like to have that setup with a nice window.

I use one - advantages and disadvantages *LINK*

Andrew F in Australia

>Hi Denis,

Link below is to a picture of the bench I work at.

**I used a plank of structural hardwood 1.5" thick and it flexed by 1/2" under pressure. I've had to pop a stiffening brace down the centreline of the vice jaw to stop the flex.

**Note that if the board is 8" wide, you need 8" diameter heads on the vice screws to stop the vice from racking. You also learn to work around the size of the vice screw head - they're in the way a bit at the start, compared to the screw on a cast iron vice.

**The screw head vice isn't as quick as a Record quick release vice.

Now, the positives. (I'm a cabinetmaker and do the custom work on this bench)

**I can hold a board edgwise in the vice for edge jointing without worrying about propping up the other end.

**For tapered work, the jaws hold the work well

**I clamp a stop in the end of the vice and can support a leg on top of the vice jaws - useful if I'm turning a square leg into an octagonal leg or similar - you have a ready-made jig

**There's a large clearance between the screws for larger items.

Have to run - picture below in link.

Cheers,

Andrew


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