Cynthia i tend to agree with Bill.
And Peter has made a very good point. I got the book from the library and it was very useful. Not a book i felt i needed to own.
But here is the things to think.
Revelation to me was recognising that a workbench was for holding things while you work on them. I refer to clamping securing aid.
Then the vise plays a role in this feature.
In my view it cannot be separated from the bench and your intended purpose.
A pure hand tool guy/girl thats gonna cut and mil their wood all by hand is going to be very interested in how quick, easy, secure and non marking the vise is going to be. This is where i personally think the leg vise as shown and produced by benchcraft is a wonderful option. I tried copying it but its not quiet possible with a bar type handle.
This same woodworker would probably want a tailvise on the end of their bench specifically for holding wood in a different manner for cutting joints with the wood held tight and low in the vise.
I was lucky and given an old Canadian made quick release vise. Like the one shown in the posts earlier these are the general go to vise for woodworkers. They are generally recessed into the face of the bench and allow for wood bothsides so as no to have metal on wood anywhere. I even went ahead and added leather to my extended width wooden jaws. My jury is still out on this. Also to the idea of a leg vise. Remember for a leg vise you have to set a pin on the bottom runner before you tighten it. That could get stale when one gets a lot older. And i think this is an element to be onsidered seriously. A vise is not generally something we all think of in terms of upgrading. So we end up living with less than comfy clamping.
In my case i am also a diyer around the home and lately mechanic
At least my son thinks so.
For this purpose i need an engineers type vice with cross hatched curved towards each other jaws. But did not want this mounted permanently on my work bench. The answer was to mount it on a thick made up wooden base with an added piece to clamp it in my woodworking quick release bench vise. You probably can get tjis feature through glassman so you can eliminate that config if vise.
My suggestion is get a decent bench vise but one that has a smooth functioning quick release. Plan a workbench at the same time and mount it on the long end.
Then look carefully at a Benchcraft legvise for the long side and consider adding eithee a dead man or holes in he leg other end where the vise is mounted.
This will cater for most common needs.
But dont forget hold downs and bench dogs are equally important as a part of securing your workpiece and i would argue more important than a vise if you use many power tools as opposed to hand tools.
Hope this helps.
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