Tail/Wagon vise utility

[Reinis Kanders]

Tail vise does come in handy for me when boards start to get longer than about 4/5 of my benches size. I do most of my thicknessing by hand and doe's foot or batten do not work well when one end of the board is near the benches edge. If board is long and narrow then face vise and apron dogs work well, but for wider boards (I was planing some 12 inch wide one tonight) i am not sure what works besides the tail vise.

[Derek Cohen]

Hi David

Both Lee Valley and HNT Gordon make drop-in wagon visas that work well. I've used the HNT Gordon and it is well made, easy to install, and reliable ..




http://www.hntgordon.com.au/bench-vi...-high-dog.html

(note that the exchange rate in in your favour ++ at this time)

Regards from Perth

Derek

[David Ragan]

Hi David

Both Lee Valley and HNT Gordon make drop-in wagon visas that work well. I've used the HNT Gordon and it is well made, easy to install, and reliable ..




http://www.hntgordon.com.au/bench-vi...-high-dog.html

(note that the exchange rate in in your favour ++ at this time)

Regards from Perth

Derek

Looks like a great bday gift for me!

Then if i do this and dont like/use it-I have to eat crow for you all

[Tony Shea]

As much as I don't want to agree with Winton I think he is exactly right in the fact that a proper tail vise setup is irreplaceable. But I don't agree in that a well made wagon vise will not supply the same amount of force, especially something with a screw like the Brenchcrafted version.

But his post is not about building a workbench but about retrofitting a bench with a tail vise setup. Lee Valley has a great tail vise that bolts to the underside of the bench and you add a wooden chop to this. Problem is that you would need to add another strip of wood to the front edge of the entire bench in order for this to work. The other options are what Derek has posted, and I would probably go the HNT Gordon version as I'm not really sold on the LV design.

As for using a does foot....I am not a huge fan of this either. When doing to serious thicknessing in hardwoods I have not had good luck with the holding power of these. It works great when planing softwood but the extra force of the hardwood tends to make this device give up, in my experience.

[Winton Applegate]

I like Bob Lang but that was just a commercial for the prefab stick on goo gahs for sale.
Glad somebody finally put some leather pads on the hold fasts; that was useful.
There are better bench hooks with a lower layer to protect the bench surface.
And
See simple flip up stop on the Klausz bench for an alternative cross cut sawing stop.
I saw the ad for Frank Klausz down there on the same page.
What would have been FUN would be to have had Frank critique the 21st century bench.
Ooooo that would have been delicious.
PS: Dominos is awful . . . around here we order a delivered double sauce and double beef and it is as if they tossed it onto the crust from clear across the room. I will never order a Dominos pizza again; we are tired of arguing with them.

[Winton Applegate]

As much as I don't want to agree with Winton . . .

YES !
You made my morning with just that simple start.
Ha, ha,
now I will go back and read the rest of your post.

[Winton Applegate]

Lang vid

to be fair Jeff was giving an example of how the dog in the rails in the way vise on the end could be used with dogs put near the side of the vise and is the whole point.
I couldn't help giving the vid a zingger though.

[Winton Applegate]

Too many hog the thread posts
sorry
David R.
the set into the surface wagon vise looks much more shear force resistant than many of the other wagons I have seen.
It may serve your needs well.
One thing that imediately came to mind though is the lack of lenth of the dog :
Imagine a good rough eight quarter plank with some bow in it or angular cut end or a nearly finished component with a half lap or tenon on it . . . you will want to extend the dog up to get a proper purchase on the whole or upper thickness of the work and it could be weak or useless.

[David Ragan]

Too many hog the thread posts
sorry
David R.s.

Im glad you (w caveat) like the vise
I dont understand about hogging the thread. Did i do something wrong?

[Winton Applegate]

hogging the thread
Oh no, no David
I meant ME
I was answering / responding to a few posts and without wanting to take up all the room I HAD HOGGED THE THREAD
not you.
Looking back I should have read further first and then put all my reactions in one post.

Write all you want
As Frasier says : I'm listening.

[Jim Matthews]

Looks like a great bday gift for me!

Then if i do this and dont like/use it-I have to eat crow for you all

The Gordon is gorgeous, and beautifully made.
It's also a great deal more expensive than the LV inset vise.

In my opinion, you're over thinking clamping.
It would be better (in my opinion) to have a series
of stops such as the Veritas aluminum planing stops
that you could position where you like.

If you're like most of us, you'll have a preferred size stock.
Where that rest on the bench is the place to put a couple of
dog holes.

In the latest iteration of my bench, I split the top and dropped
in a large batten. It can be raised to act as a stop.

Fixtures should be for things that you do all the time.

Have a look at Bob Rozaieski's excellent Logan Cabinet Shoppe podcast.
He rarely has things fixed down - the force of planing is sufficient
to keep the boards in place.

[Michael Peet]

The thing a very stout tail vise will do for you is allow you to scrub/jack plane cross grain with great alacrity and vigorous vigor. A quick poke at the dog and a turn on the vise handle and bada boom bada bing you be scrubbing'.

Wagon vises always look so . . . not up to the job of powerfully gripping a serious plank.ise like that on the corner of the bench.

I scrub with my wagon vise all the time. It works great!

PS: Going to miss you Leonard !

Roger that! \V/

[David Ragan]

The Gordon is gorgeous, and beautifully made.
It's also a great deal more expensive than the LV inset vise.

In my opinion, you're over thinking clamping.
It would be better (in my opinion) to have a series
of stops such as the Veritas aluminum planing stops
that you could position where you like.

If you're like most of us, you'll have a preferred size stock.
Where that rest on the bench is the place to put a couple of
dog holes.

In the latest iteration of my bench, I split the top and dropped
in a large batten. It can be raised to act as a stop.

Fixtures should be for things that you do all the time.

Have a look at Bob Rozaieski's excellent Logan Cabinet Shoppe podcast.
He rarely has things fixed down - the force of planing is sufficient
to keep the boards in place.

Yes, it is gorgeous.

But I wonder if the knob would be hard to turn, as I have lost a bit of my grip strength.

Aren't pretty tools just the best?

[Bob Snyder - Austin]

Can you put a dog in your tail vise's chop and a line of dog holes in the bench? That's what I have any it works great.

[Jim Koepke]

Can you put a dog in your tail vise's chop and a line of dog holes in the bench? That's what I have any it works great.

My bench came with two rows of dog holes in line with the two dog holes on the tail vise. One problem was vise racking. Making a stack of spacers to remedy the racking also remedied the tendency of thin stock to bow. The Anti Racking Spacer Stack prevents the jaw from pinching the stock enough to cause bowing.

jtk