Finished my workbench

[David Keller NC]

"Thanks for the feedback. I've been eyeing the Grizzly vise for my upcoming bench."

Matthew - I don't have the Grizzly, but I do have a Shop Fox quick-release, and they're identical. I would avoid this like the plague. Mine worked well enough for about 6 months, but quickly developed enough slop that the lever quick-release will now release on its own - usually at the worst possible time.

My new bench that I completed last fall has a Jorgensen cam-acting quick-release front vise in the face vise position. I cannot recommend this vise more highly - the machining and castings were far superior to the Shop Fox (and an Anant before that), and the cam-action quick release mechanism is bullet-proof. It's a huge step up, and costs about $70 more than the Grizzly/Shop Fox tawainese version. Woodcraft has them, and most stores stock them, so you can go compare.

Considering that even a modest bench costs about $200 in lumber (and that's the cheap stuff - maple/ash/white oak's a fair bit more), takes about 40 hours to build, longer if you've got custom features, and you'll be using it for the next few years to more than 20, spending the extra dough to get a good vise is well worth it, in my opinion.

[Dave Cav]

I'm just fitting the vises on my bench. My front vise is placed similarly to yours, under an extension of the top, to the left of the front leg, using the edge of the top as the fixed jaw. It'd be easy for me to extend the moving jaw to the right, to cover the width of the leg, as you have. And that would make it easier to clamp boards vertically along the leg, when working on the ends. I'd never considered it.

How well is that working for you? With a spacer on the left side of the vise to match the thickness of the workpiece, is it holding adequately when clamping at the extreme right?

So far no problems. That's why I made the legs and bench jack flush with the top. So far I have had to put a spacer in the far side of the vise to prevent racking once or twice and it seemed to hold my work just fine, but of course the main clamping strength is right above the screw. I plan to make several spacers in common sizes with a cross bar on top so they hang on the vise jaws when the jaws are loose, and keep them in the peanut can on the window sill with the extra bench dogs.

[Jeff Dege]

So far no problems. That's why I made the legs and bench jack flush with the top. So far I have had to put a spacer in the far side of the vise to prevent racking once or twice and it seemed to hold my work just fine, but of course the main clamping strength is right above the screw. I plan to make several spacers in common sizes with a cross bar on top so they hang on the vise jaws when the jaws are loose, and keep them in the peanut can on the window sill with the extra bench dogs.

Good to know. Thanks.

Looks like my bench is going to have yet another in-progress redesign .

Does it ever stop?

[Dave Cav]

[QUOTE=David Keller NC;1125711]Matthew - I don't have the Grizzly, but I do have a Shop Fox quick-release, and they're identical. I would avoid this like the plague. Mine worked well enough for about 6 months, but quickly developed enough slop that the lever quick-release will now release on its own - usually at the worst possible time.

The Grizzly vise hardware I used is not the quick release. It's the old fashioned kind you have to crank open. I didn't want to use a quick release vise for exactly the reason you mention. I don't have one and don't trust them. As far as I can tell the Grizzly vise hardware is very similar or identical to the same vise sold by Lee Valley, and there isn't much that can go wrong with it.

[Matthew Dunne]

Thanks Dave and David for your thoughts.

[george wilson]

A very nice,solid looking bench. Congratulations.