Emmert vise woes

[Kim Hillard]

Re-Assembly happened yesterday. I am sure glad it is back together again. The operation is silky smooth and now it is on to building a suitable bench for it. Any advice on mounting the Vise. i.e. Rear Jaw flush with the front edge of the bench or hinge flush with front edge of bench? Seems like the latter would be quite a bit easier, howeverDSC21100_MOD.jpg I do see the benefit of keeping the face of the rear jaw flush to the face of the bench.

[george wilson]

Rear jaw is always mounted sunk into the bench for its peripheral thickness (only the thickness of the rear jaw). It is also always mounted with the top edge of the rear jaw mounted flush.

Maybe someone with a Taiwan copy would post some pictures of mounting their vise. The Taiwan vises are smaller,but I think they mount the same way.

Many years ago I found one of those vises for $75.00 from an individual. It was rusty,but not as badly as yours. I ended up taking it back,and wish I hadn't ! Should have at least sand blasted it. But,at that time I didn't have access to a sand blasting cabinet. I could have cleaned it up and sold it for a lot more than I paid,at least! I don't know if I ever could have gotten it mounted to my 4" thick bench top. And,I just don't use that type of vise for guitar making anyway. I don't make much furniture.

Your effort has really paid off. You now have the king of vises! It is amazing how well metal things can clean up!

[Dave Anderson NH]

My vise is mounted with the rear jaw flush with the face of the bench. This requires a good bit of carving and fitting and will take quite some time on a thick bench top (mine is 3"). If you go this way I suggest disassembling the vise to make lighter work. A K-1 is about 75-80 pounds and gets tiring hefting it back and forth during the fitting. You will also need to do the carving and fitting BEFORE attaching the top to the base assembly since you will need to flip the top upside down several times during the fitting. Figure that a flush mount adds 3-5 hours to a vise installation. For me it was worth it and it is something you only have to do once.

The advantage of the recessed mounting is that you have a full length unobstructed face of the bench which aids in clamping long boards. The downside is both the extra work and the fact that to rotate the jaws to the vertical you must flip the vise up so that the jaws are parallel to the benchtop. and then do the rotation. It's a small PIA but it only take a minute.

Overall, you will absolutely treasure the Emmert no matter how you install it and will continuously discover new ways to use it.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Kim,

Here are a few pix of the install on my bench. The raised jaw cover is a cork rubber compound bonded to a flexible magnetEmmert 1.jpgEmmert2.jpgEmmert3.jpgEmmert4.jpgEmmert5.jpg material.

[Kim Hillard]

George, I have a dilemma going on here. I'm currently diving headfirst into making my first acoustic steel string guitar. This Emmert vise project has eaten into the "get the guitar project started" time and this is where the conflict comes in. I don't want to carve away on my current bench to mount this vice which will subsequently lead me to create yet another bench just for the Emmert OR sell the restored vise and move onto the guitar work. I really have become attached to the vise now but like you mentioned, I may not need that kind for guitar work. AH what to do , what to do.

All that aside, thank you for the feedback and for the comments.

Kim

[Kim Hillard]

Dave, I was hoping to see your cork rubber magnet things. I really like that feature. I also can see where folks have to spend an enormous amount of time and effort to hog out the proper cavity for the vice. If I end up creating a dedicated new bench just for the Emmert, I will note your advise and not attach the top until the vise is fit-up properly.
Thanks for the pictures too. Yours looks well mounted and well cared for.
Best Regards,
Kim

[george wilson]

Kim,When I was in the Musical Instrument Maker's Shop,my workbench was oriented with the tail vise nearest to the front of the shop. So,for 16 years I used the tail vise for everything. For planing thin wood,I had the vise with the row of dogs. For small work,I used the tail vise,and then took 2 pieces of 4" x 4"x 8" wood. I drilled a hole through each of them on their 4" x 8" sides,and with long lag screws,bolted them down over the chops of my tail vise. Then,I could turn them at angles to hold tapers such as instrument necks,and tighten the lag screws.

At home,I mostly use the type of vise that Stewart MacDonald sells. It mounts on top of the bench,and has replaceable wooden jaws that can be swiveled to hold tapered work. When needed,I unbolt it to use my tail vise and dogs for planing thin tops and backs.

The type of vise i refer to is called a "Universal vise". Ulmia started making them as "Gun stocker's vises". The vise jaws swivel,as I mentioned. They got very expensive,then started to be made in Taiwan. The Taiwan made ones seem just as good as the German oner. I have both. I bought my German one back in the 60's for $40.00. They jumped to over $200.00 in the 80's(To heck with THAT!!!!). The Taiwan made ones are sold by Woodcraft. By now they are over $100.00,but we make more money by now.