Hello:
I have enjoyed all of the information I have been getting in answer to
my questions, so first off thanks.
I have almost completed my Veritas workbench (just putting the last
coats of tung oil on). I am going to fit it with three vises: The
Veritas twin-screw vise on the right end, the Record 51.5 on the front
left about 1/3 of the way from the edge.
I will also install a miter vise, as I plan to do a lot of picture
framing. My question is, where is the optimum place to put it? I was
thinking of the back left corner. It is the kind that juts up off the
bench and can rotate in all directions. Should I keep the knobs (which
protrude out from the vise) over the bench, since the back of the
bench will be against a wall? What about the side knob? If I do this
it will take up a lot of room on the bench, but I may have to...
Any framers out there who have had experience with this? I don't want
it to interfere with any other wwing that I do.
Thanks!
Bob
> I would say put the front vise a lot further over to the left (say 4-6" from
> the left edge).
Unfortunatly, in order to center the popup dog on the vise over a row
of holes and to clear the leg of the bench, it has to go that far
over-- unless I forget about lining up the dog. What do you think?
>
> As for the miter vise, I wouldn't install it permanently anywhere.
Hmmm... good point. Any others concede that it is true it will always
be in the way?
Also, I am a little worried that I should have flattened the bench
more- there is a large area on the bench that has a .013" deviance
from flat. Do you think this is acceptable? I tried to get it truly
flat all over, but after hours and hours of planing- I just seemed to
be taking off shavings in vain. I lack a sufficiently long
straightedge, and was just using my 12" starrett in all directions and
a large framing square that is not perfectly flat. I hope that is good
enough as I am almost done with the finish I JUST COULDNT TAKE IT
ANYMORE (sorry)
Bob
> Unfortunatly, in order to center the popup dog on the vise over a row
> of holes and to clear the leg of the bench, it has to go that far
> over-- unless I forget about lining up the dog. What do you think?
> >
Well, having the pop-up dog line up with a row of dog holes is pretty
important to the utility of the front vise. If the leg is in the way, that
does pose a pretty big problem. Here's a pic of the bench I made:
http://pages.cthome.net/logmanworld/bench1.jpg. I had enough overhang on
the left end to accomade my set up. If you can't avoid the leg on the left
end, I'm not sure what you can do about it. Putting it where you originally
planned is probably the best bet. You might be able to just drill a row of
holes especially for the vise, though.
> > As for the miter vise, I wouldn't install it permanently anywhere.
>
> Hmmm... good point. Any others concede that it is true it will always
> be in the way?
>
> Also, I am a little worried that I should have flattened the bench
> more- there is a large area on the bench that has a .013" deviance
> from flat. Do you think this is acceptable?
I suppose that depends on how large an area that represents. If you want to
use the bench to do assembly, than having it as close to perfectly flat as
possible is important. The bench I built above didn't come out as flat as I
expected (despite using MDF as a core and masonite as the top layer). There
is basically a crown almost right in the middle of the top. I just avoid
this if possible, but often use my Unisaw cast iron top as a flat reference.
Not real happy about it, but that's how it turned out.
With a wood top, I'd have thought you could do better than 0.013" with hand
planes. You might want to make winding sticks and use those, instead of
relying on a straight edge ruler, especially if it isn't very long. Mark
the high spots with a marker or something, and use a #8 or #7 jointer plane
to do the job. I'm not real experienced with hand planes, though, so
hopefully another expert will chime in.
Mike
I would say put the front vise a lot further over to the left (say 4-6" from
the left edge). I'm assuming you'll make it able to clamp against the front
edge of the bench, and this position will maximize the length of boards you
can clamp by using board jacks, etc. on the far right end of the board.
As for the miter vise, I wouldn't install it permanently anywhere. Perhaps
install it on a board that you can clamp to the bench surface. As you
pointed out, I don't see how it WON'T interfere with other uses of the bench
if you put it on the surface in a permanent location.
Mike