Can't seem to decide on a tail vise.....

[Andrew Joiner]

Here's more low cost option's. A tail vise from a veneer press screw.

http://carlswoodworking.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/tail06.jpg


http://www.workbenchdesign.net/bench1.html shows Tom Casper's handscrew tail vise.


Google search for "clamp as an end vise" to see one by Dan at another woodworking forum.

[Thom Porterfield]

This topic is highly interesting to me. I inherited to very sturdy bench screws, but they're both RH thread--making a wagon vice using one of them would mean that to tighten the vice I'd have to turn the handle the "wrong way". I will likely use them for the front vice on my new bench.

Are veneer press screws LH thread? And aren't they, as a rule, less than beefy? (i.e. smaller than 1" diameter)

I like the idea of the wagon vice because, other than its handle, it doesn't protrude from the end of the bench.

[Jeff Wittrock]

I have a wagon vise that I retrofitted to my bench using a cheap screw I already had on hand. Even with it's deficiencies, (deficiencies that I built in, not with wagon vises in general), I use it so much, I wouldn't dream of making another bench without one now. Granted, I have never had a tail vise, so cannot make a comparison.

The one thing I don't like about the one I have now is along the lines of what Thom said. The screw is right hand, so I end up turning the wrong way when I'm not thinking.

-Jeff