Bench - nearly there ...

I've now finished the two ends with a cross-piece each. The metal vice is installed and the leg vice at the other end is now fully functional.



I haven't yet added the piece of thick wooden dowelling which will operate my version of a wagon vice set into the surface on the right. The clamping will be done by closing the metal end vice on the dowel, which will push the slider along. I don't yet know how effective it will be.

The picture below shows the leg vice, at the other end of the bench, in operation:



The piece of wood at the bottom, the one with all the holes in it, is used to make sure that the vice jaw (I believe this is called the "chop") stays parallel with the leg. It's usually best to set the chop so that it tapers in slightly towards the top, as this gives a firmer grip.

The main advantage of a vice like this over a conventional metal one are that the clamping area is potentially much larger, and the workpiece as a result is held very firmly indeed. With a metal vice, the added wooden jaws to protect the work are usually slightly tapered from top to bottom: but as they wear, they have to be replaced with newly made ones. With the leg vice, the angle of tilt can be chosen for each piece of work.

Bench - the beginning of the end ....

The bench is now assembled in its most basic form, and I have started working on the leg vice.


Even without any vices fitted, the dog-holes make it possible to clamp up work-pieces in quite a variety of positions, using either dogs or the cheap hold-fasts.



The piece being held is the main part of the leg-vice. At the nearer end of the bench, the tenon for the end cap has been cut. I haven't yet got around to cutting a suitable piece of wood and making the corresponding mortice.

These two pictures show the leg vice in place (with a dummy bolt substituting for the vice screw):






Annoyingly, I cut the leg vice about 2mm short, so I am adjusting the screw position and the wooden piece that supports it at the bottom. The bit of rough board clamped on top was to show Fergus (age 4) what all the holes were for.