Opinions and suggestions needed.

[Toni Ciuraneta]

Alrright guys.
Some years ago I got this tail vise hardware almost for free, and at that time I had other priorities than making a new bench or installing it in my existing one.
Today while I was tidying my shop it came to my hands again and I want to make use of it rather than letting it rust.


The problem is that my bench is quite short 52" ony and this guy is 18,5" so almost half of the length of the bench. On top of that my bench is only 2" thick and this guy is 3-1/8 which means that the bench top should be at least 4" thick. I would benefit of having a longer and wider bench but not very much as my shop is small.

So here are my options not in order of preference.
Try to retrofit my bench with it.
Make a new bench
Start making the wooden part around it to eventually either fit it in my bench or on a new bench to make.

So what would you do? any of the solutions are time consuming, and some more expensive than others.

 

[Darren Wright]

I had to look up how that type installs, found an example here. I'd think that would work fine on your size bench, but would be a bit of work to install.

 

[Toni Ciuraneta]

I had to look up how that type installs, found an example here. I'd think that would work fine on your size bench, but would be a bit of work to install.

Yes, Darren, basically it is a matter of how much work do I want to do. Installing it in my existing bench takes some work, and then there is always that thought " Well, for the same token and a bit more time/money I could make a new bench top, and... well... for the same token if I go for a new bench top I can just make a new bench.
Installing it in my existing bench would be the least work, and I would have a bit wider top, so...

 

[Darren Wright]

Do you have a picture of your existing bench?

I think it's probably an individual choice of what would work best for you. If the current bench is at the right height/width for you now, is the vise going to add a benefit you don't have today? Will it take away any benefits your current bench has? Will building a new bench give you more flexibility and fix some ergonomic issue that can't be fixed on the old one?

 

[Toni Ciuraneta]

Here you have some Darren,



it measures 52" x 25"x 36,5". I had to add about 7" in height as I copied it from my master's one and later on I realised I had back ache when carving because he was shorter than me. Up to I have managed quite well with it, apart from having to clamp pieces on it either for holding to carve or gluing. One of the things I always thought it would useful is a row of bench dog holes that would spare me a lot of clamping against the bench.

Also I would like to have more working surface to leave my gouges when I am carving as I can have on top of it up to 30 of them, and depending on the size of the carving I have to leave them on top of the piece or onto and adjacent table. One thing that is preventing me to make many things for the shop is that I prefer to make furniture pieces and carving than tool cabinets or auxiliary tables. Obviously some of those things would help me to work better and more comfy but...

 

[glenn bradley]

You asked for opinions so I will say I wonder how useful a vise that large will be on a bench that size. It seems scaled for large work than I might do on a more compact bench. The purpose is to hold the work and that seems like a lot of vise to move a dog 3 or 4 inches unless it is holding some fairly large stock.

My latest bench is actually smaller than the previous one. Still at about 30" x 80" it is a fair size larger than yours. I found the previous larger bench nice when I was standing in front of it but, it proved awkward to get around when moving about the shop or working a piece from all sides. The current bench hits a good "sweet spot" for the things I do. I only mention this as a caution to not go too large but, I can see that a little larger bench could benefit you.

 

[Toni Ciuraneta]

The vise is a posterior addition. Previously it had a traditional leg vise on the other side. As you know a leg vise needs that the leg where it is fixed to be flush with the edge of the bench top. So I took advantage of that by mounting the metal vise on the other side. In this case I applied the expression "ande o no ande, caballo grande"

 

[Bill Satko]

The vise is a posterior addition. Previously it had a traditional leg vise on the other side. As you know a leg vise needs that the leg where it is fixed to be flush with the edge of the bench top. So I took advantage of that by mounting the metal vise on the other side. In this case I applied the expression "ande o no ande, caballo grande"

Well you could get a big horse, but I would go with a bigger bench. We also have a saying: "Go big or go home".

 

[Ryan Mooney]

One of the things I always thought it would useful is a row of bench dog holes that would spare me a lot of clamping against the bench

Dog holes are astoundingly useful, this is one thing I'm super happy having done with my bench. I use the Gramercy Holdfasts a lot and recently added a Sjobergs which is quite nice for some things but not nearly as quick to set/unset (I do think it's a bit more "solid" but for 99% it doesn't matter and I'll take the speed). I also use a selection of house made "dogs" and stops and wedges for clamping/stops/etc.. a lot. I'd have a hard time working without dog holes at this point having had them.

I don't think I'd put that vise on your current bench, nor on a bench that size. IMHO that vise is just to big for it, it would take up about half your width.. especially not unless you have some specific use in mind for that vise...

For carving work, I'm consider a tilting top. I've been looking really hard at building one that I could set on top of my current bench as, like yours, I made mine a smidge to short for comfortable carving. So adding another 4-6" plus being able to tilt the top would be quite nice. I've been inspired by the veritas version but it's a bit outside my spend range (

) even something simple like this (

) as maybe either a clamp-on-top or part of a split bench design (yeah there's a bit of analysis paralysis here haha)..

 

[Toni Ciuraneta]

Dog holes are astoundingly useful, this is one thing I'm super happy having done with my bench. I use the Gramercy Holdfasts a lot and recently added a Sjobergs which is quite nice for some things but not nearly as quick to set/unset (I do think it's a bit more "solid" but for 99% it doesn't matter and I'll take the speed). I also use a selection of house made "dogs" and stops and wedges for clamping/stops/etc.. a lot. I'd have a hard time working without dog holes at this point having had them.

I don't think I'd put that vise on your current bench, nor on a bench that size. IMHO that vise is just to big for it, it would take up about half your width.. especially not unless you have some specific use in mind for that vise...

For carving work, I'm consider a tilting top. I've been looking really hard at building one that I could set on top of my current bench as, like yours, I made mine a smidge to short for comfortable carving. So adding another 4-6" plus being able to tilt the top would be quite nice. I've been inspired by the veritas version but it's a bit outside my spend range (

) even something simple like this (

) as maybe either a clamp-on-top or part of a split bench design (yeah there's a bit of analysis paralysis here haha)..

I've done quite large carvings and I seldom tilt the piece, what I usually do is carve from the other side of the bench. This helps me to see proportions better as it detaches me from the shape itself. In a way it is like carving (drawing) with the other side of your brain.
Basically it consists on drawing what you see but mirrored, this forces your braing to focus on proportions and details rather than on what you actually see.

I only tilt or put the carving vertical when I want to see how the lighting and shadows affect the whole appearance. Carving exerting force upwards is bad for the elbows, you can get tennis elbow in just 10-20 minutes. If I have to do it I make very shallow cuts and only to finish the piece.
Apart from the fact that one thing is relief carving (high or low) than carving in the round. The veritas carving bench is good because it allows you to work both, specially when carving on the round, that you can move the piece to your best carving angle, although sometime that maybe misleading.

The size of your carvings also determines how you hold them or work around them.