Why a Leg Vise?

[Gary Curtis]

It's clear that they have advantages over a Record Vise or Shoulder Vise. But what is different from, say, a Moxon vise or other Twin Screw Types?

It would help if I knew exactly what kind of work I'd be doing, but that level of experience will come with time. I simply don't know, other than understanding the explanations from Chris Schwarz about working on board Ends, Surfaces, Edges. The front vise being for Ends.

[Simon Frez-Albrecht]

One of the big reasons I chose a leg vise for my bench is its simplicity. It was easy to build with a $30 vise screw from Lee Valley and a big hunk of Maple I got for cheap, works great, and if anything goes wrong with it (unlikely because of its incredible simplicity), it's easy to fix. It has a huge amount of clamping power, with a Maple parallel guide and a cheap screwdriver for the stop pin, I can grip just about anything. I've even snapped a screwdriver used as a parallel guide pin from clamping something so hard.

Seems to me (without having ever used one) the Moxon or twin screw vise is primarily for raising the work a bit and allowing easier joint cutting. I think that vise type would have some difficulty in clamping a board for, say, edge jointing (as I frequently use my leg vise for).

[harry strasil]

Each vise has its own advantage, I do a lot of weird stuff so I have em all except for a tail vise. But you gots to start with something and a leg vise is easiest to add or remove if need be and no need to do a lot of chopping or recessing under the bench edge.

[Jim Matthews]

I would take Harry's recommendations VERY seriously.

His body of work is daunting to us hacks trying to learn the stuff we should have in shop class, had we paid attention.
I'm not convinced that even the leg vise is necessary. I use a crochet (left side, as I'm right handed) with Veritas surface clamps in place of the leg vise.
Not as potent, nor so fast to adjust but shop time was only for the fitting of a plywood "leg" and a row of 3/4" holes.

Works a champ, that.P1030662.jpgElapsed time to build crochet, fixed sliding leg and moxxon? 2 hours 30 minutes.

[george wilson]

If you put a peg rack at the bottom of the leg vise,you can get it to close very close to parallel,and get a good,hard grip too.

[Ron Brese]

One reason among many, You can't believe how easy this was and how stable it was. The board was of the type one hardly sees anymore. This one came from a mill back in 1961.

comcup4.jpg

[Michael Peet]

I use mine whenever I plane edges. I also use it for dovetailing, but it is a little low.

Mike

[Floyd Mah]

Consider using a slanted leg vise on your workbench, as Chris Schwarz does on one of his workbenches. It combines the simplicity of the usual leg vise with the ability to hold a piece of wood as tall as your workbench vertically without racking.

[Peter Pedisich]

One reason among many, You can't believe how easy this was and how stable it was. The board was of the type one hardly sees anymore. This one came from a mill back in 1961.

comcup4.jpg

Wow, that's a nice piece of plywood, how does it plane?

[harry strasil]

Thanks for the Compliment Jim, and Gary Check out my Bench Album

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/album.php?albumid=551

and look at the 11 different vises I have on my New Basement Shop Bench. It may give you some ideas on what type of vise you want. As you will see when you visit the Album, I think outside the box sometimes.

Hold your cursor on each picture and it will give a description of the vises, or click on the pictures and the description will show up under the picture.

[Gary Curtis]

Thanks to all. Great photos, Harry. Some of these points are new to me. I just picked up a library copy of Scott Landis: Workbench book. I hadn't factored in how easy it is to make a Leg Vise.

[Jim Matthews]

Is the crochet dovetailed in permanently or can it be removed?

If you can take it off, that's genuinely clever.
I like the retention of Granpa's coachmaker's vise - there's some romance to legacy tools staying in the family.

[Gary Curtis]

Frank, I've only used a shoulder vise on benches in other workshops. The L shaped always got in the way of approaching the front edge. Maybe it's just a psychological thing?

[Mike Holbrook]

Jim thanks for the heads up on the LV inset vise. Maybe a Wonder Dog is a better option. I just " wonder" if the toggle used to tighten these devises is slow compared to the Surface Vise which I understand has a quick adjustment design?

I have read that the angled leg vice is an even better leg vise design? I have seen these but have not seen plans for one. Maybe building one is straight forward though? I am a little foggy on the design of the bottom end of the leg devise. I do see that Benchcrafted offers a Glide Leg Vise but at $340 it seems very expensive vs a simple leg screw & arm. Benchcrafted also offers their ROLLER BRACKET HARDWARE, about $40, which seems a more reasonable price if it significantly improves the function of the lower end of the vise? I would like to hear thoughts regarding the best overall design shape and lower end mechanics of these vises. I am giving serious consideration to the Benchcrafted hardware for a Moxon vise. At $149 this hardware is pricey but I think those wheels would dramatically improve the ease of use of a Moxon vise.

[Chris Griggs]

Jim thanks for the heads up on the LV inset vise. I have read that the angled leg vice is an even better leg vise design? I have seen these but have not seen plans for one. Maybe building one is straight forward though? I am a little foggy on the design of the bottom end of the leg devise. I do see that Benchcrafted offers a Glide Leg Vise but at $340 it seems very expensive vs a simple leg screw & arm. Benchcrafted also offers their ROLLER BRACKET HARDWARE, about $40, which seems a more reasonable price if it significantly improves the function of the lower end of the vise? I would like to hear thoughts regarding the best overall design shape and lower end mechanics of these vises.

The angled leg vise essentially gives you wider clamping capacity to the right of the screw, and reduces racking. Mine is angled and I quite like it. Really wasn't hard to build - its just a matter of aligning a couple mortises, tenons and holes. Building it really isn't any different then building a non angled one - I remember being intimidated about building it at first, but once i got started it was really quite simple. Although, the legs on my bench are also angled, so my vise was just mounted in line with the leg. I guess if you are adding one to a bench with vertical legs, you might need to make some adjustments.

Also, mine just has a regular parallel guide at the bottom, with some wax on it - there are no special guides or wheel and I've never had an issue with it. The mortise that the guide travels in is in line with the vise chop, so it is angled in relationship to the bench top.

I can post some pics later showing how its put together when I get home tonight if you want.