Record Vise Question

Re: Record Vise Question

Martin Shupe


>dang, should have proofed it first.

wooden jaws...

How thick would you make the jaws?

Sorry about the typos...

Re: Record Vise Question

Jim in Burlington On


>How high well I made mine level with the top of the table. 3 1/2" is a little on the wide side your going to get a fair bit of wracking. The thicker you makes the jaw's the less the vise opening will be anything over 1 1/2" is a tad overkill IMO.

Re: Record Vise Question

Martin Shupe


>It is too late to be level with the table top, as the metal is already above it. I know this is a poor installation, but it will have to do for the time being.

I was thinking if I left the wood as close to 1.5" thick as possible, that would make the 3.5" beyond the ends of the metal ok. I know I will lose vise space, but I am ok with that.

I am thinking about putting the wood an inch higher than the metal, but maybe there is really no reason to do that, is there?

Why?

Bill Houghton, finally Spring!! in Sebastopol, CA


>The jaws on my vises are level with the metal. I've seen them built so the wood is lapped over top of the metal jaw, but you shouldn't be putting wood in the vise with the surface being worked too close to the jaws anyway, so why raise them?

Re: Why?

Martin Shupe


>I don't know, that is why I asked. ;-)

I can only remember what I have seen, and it seemed like the wood was above the metal, or the metal was inlet into the wood, and didn't show at all. Perhaps to get more clamping area?

I think I will leave the wood a half inch taller than the metal, but I still don't know why.

The issue...

Dan Donaldson


>The problem with making the wooden jaws stick out 3 or so inches on each side is less related to the strength of the wood and more to do with racking of the vice. If you clamp something at the end of these wooden jaws and clamp too hard, it might even be possible to get enough racking to damage the vise body. I am not sure why wou want to go out past the ends like that, but if you do, you might want to make up spacers for the other end to equalize the forces when you clamp.

Re: The issue...

Martin Shupe


>Good suggestion, Dan, and thanks...

The reason I wanted them longer is so that I can clamp a leg in them lengthwise, while I use a router to make mortises in the top of the leg for aprons. I will copy the technique Kelly Mehler uses in his "Build a Shaker Table" video. An excellent video, I might add.

More on the hand tool side, I also use this vise to hold boards on end while hand cutting dovetails and pins. I'll be sure to build a spacer to prevent racking when I use it in that manner.

Someday (big sigh), I'll have my very own shop, where I can have room for a real, Shaker style bench like Jim Shaver's.

Extra wood helps to protect tools

Angus Barclay, in New Zealand


>Hello Martin,

I have a record 52 1/2 vice with wooden jaws fitted.

The front jaw is about 1 1/2 inches thick and the metal jaw is let into the wood about 1/2 an inch. The wood extends about three inches past the metal on each side, which really is too far. I have to be careful to avoid wracking the vice. One day I'll get round to trimming it down a bit - probably to no more than 3/4 inch.

The front jaw extends about 1/2 an inch above the metal. This is well worth doing. Just today I was plowing grooves for a frame and panel cabinet back and found that I had put the workpiece too low in the vice. The fence of the plow plane hit the vice - but it simply slid along the wood of the vice's front jaw and left a small dent. If the wooden jaw didn't extend beyond the metal, I probably would have damaged the plane.

The rear jaw is the front apron of the bench, i.e. the vice is morticed into the bench top. This means the rear jaw is effectively the entire length of the bench. Not something you can do with your bench set up as you've described - but worth remembering for a future bench.

regards

Angus Barclay

Good explanation, thanks Angus!

Martin Shupe

Re: Record Vise Question

charles


>Properly installed wooden facings have a 'height strip' which is planed perfectly level with the bench when first installed and each year as you re-dress the benchtop for flatness. In other words, the facings are kept level with the benchtop.

Cry once

Jim in Burlington On


>I'd pull it off and cry once about it rather than having the faces above the bench height.

For Charles and Jim...

Martin Shupe


>Charles, that makes perfect sense. Jim, you are correct also. I promise both of you, that when I make my real bench, the wooden vise jaws will be exactly even with the top.

For the time being, however, the vise is attached to the bottom of a piece of plywood, which is screwed down to an old kitchen cabinet. There are no dog holes to use, nor is there any chance that I am going to use my small, but growing, collection of planes on the plywood. This setup is "make do" until I can get a new shop (hopefully someday soon) that will be large enough for a real bench, that I can really use for hand tool stuff. In the meantime, I will have to work with what I have got.

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions, and I'll keep them in mind when I build my real bench!