Workbench Vise

Bill Satko

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Methow Valley
There is story behind this vise build and installation, but today just some pictures of the results. Tomorrow I will give details of the installation & the problems (!) with pictures. The vise works great!

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well the truck will never see the inside of that garage again:) and you have bench will need to build again, projects in the future???? good thing you bought that vice many years before the vice was born:)
 
Bill strange thing for me i only just realized seeing these pictures that its a one handle vice. That my friend is cool. The full width double screw that lv has requires two handles that always put me off.

Now the million dollar question for me outside of the issues of precision required to make it work is does it work like one would expect. Ie turn handle and it opens equally with no racking?

Then how does it do on the tightening side?


There is another question i have for you related to your bench which is was there any particular reasoning behind the holes in the side of the bench.

This is a subject i am sure could do with some research. Loads of info abounds about building benches as they were back in the day and when it comes to both bench dog holes and deadman holes although we get to make em where we want em, i remain convinced that the true artisan of yesteryear would have developed a specific precise logic related to both bench dog holes and deadman holes and the dimensions they are apart together with their positioning around the bench. So just wondering if you came across any in your research?
 
Now the million dollar question for me outside of the issues of precision required to make it work is does it work like one would expect. Ie turn handle and it opens equally with no racking?
Then how does it do on the tightening side?

It works just like it I hoped it would. There is no racking and it opens and closes equally. The timing is only off a hair where one side closes first, but only a hair. If I clamp a piece of paper at each end of the vise and tighten down until one of them will not come out, the other will just pull out of the vise. It is part of the installation process were you establish the timing of the twin screws. I over compensated in my adjustment, but it is hardly noticeable now and will be even less when I install leather on the jaw faces. With the twin screws and the massive steel garters, this vise can really apply the pressure.

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There is another question i have for you related to your bench which is was there any particular reasoning behind the holes in the side of the bench.

This is a subject i am sure could do with some research. Loads of info abounds about building benches as they were back in the day and when it comes to both bench dog holes and deadman holes although we get to make em where we want em, i remain convinced that the true artisan of yesteryear would have developed a specific precise logic related to both bench dog holes and deadman holes and the dimensions they are apart together with their positioning around the bench. So just wondering if you came across any in your research?

I followed the Anthony Hays Shop's bench design at Colonial Williamsburg for the most part. It gives the general arrangement of the holes in the side, but no dimensions. I can not remember the logic I used to calculate my holes. I worked it up in Google sketchup. I will have to look at it to remember. I also studied the picture of the benches at the Shop and determined things like the holes spacing and chop size based on what it looked like in the picture and how it then looked on my sketch. I tried to maintain the same proportions.

benchnicholson.jpeg Williamsburg.jpg
 
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Cool looking bench and vise Bill, I'm sure they will lead to making great and beatigul projects. You are reviving my willingness of making another bench for myself.
 
Bill at the Lie Nielsen hand tool event locally this last weekend, they had a bench there that had this vice on it.

I made sure to try it out and it knocks ones socks off with just how cool it works. This hands down beats having to have two handles to turn. Its smooth operation is really cool.
In my view it beats the traditional type vice i have which has the reverse loosen quick release. I say again when one gets to try out devices like this and experience their action they sell themselves.
But from just a picture its cool operation is not apparent.

Bill just my view after having done it myself, i am not convinced leather lining of jaws is the way to go.
I have been considering removing mine. Before i do give up on leather i will try reverse the face and put the "suede" on the open faces as opposed to how i have the tanned side on the opening faces. I find it slips and then i end up over tightening causing stress to my vice mechanism.
When i tried your vice i put several pieces of different wood in to cut dovetails and it clamped effortlessly.
Great pics by the way.:thumbup:

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Bill, great bench. I bet that sucker is heavy.

Rob, thanks for the info in the leather. Saves me a trip to the leather store about 50 miles away.
 
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