Vise Placement

[Bill Dufour]

Left or right handed makes a difference?
Bill D

[Holmes Anderson]

Left or right handed makes a difference?
Bill D

Yes. Front vise of the left and end vise on the right is for right-handed woodworker. Front vise on the right and end vise on the left for left-handed woodworker. At least according to the lefties I know.

[Justin Rapp]

Typical German style. Face vise on the front left side and tail vise on the right end.

Same for my bench.

[mike stenson]

Front left on both benches, as I am right hand dominant. I prefer the leg vise, and I don't miss the end vise one bit.




I mount my machinists vise on the left front as well, for what that's worth.

[James Pallas]

On the woodworking bench I have a tail vise on the right a leg vise on the left and a gun makers vise usually in one of the dog holes somewhere along the bench. On my Noden bench I have a face vise at each corner. Two are on one end and two are opposing on the face at the same end. So I have a left handed bench on one side a a right handed on the other. I have a machine vise on a base that I can clamp in any of the vises when needed. I find this works very well for me. Since I work on a large diversity of projects from wood, carving, machining, and electrical I need versatility.
Jim

[Edward Weber]

Thanks for all the replies, I'm happy many of you included "why" your vises were positioned where they are, very helpful.

[Jim Becker]

Thanks for all the replies, I'm happy many of you included "why" your vises were positioned where they are, very helpful.

The nice thing about making one's own bench setup is that things like vices can be positioned and designed to best support how "you" work. I think this might also be one of the reasons that folks who start off with a "typical" commercial bench or basic work surface will take the time to design and build "their" ultimate bench. And that's a good thing.

[andrew whicker]

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This is mine. It's a complete workhorse. Obviously I've been using it as a paint table as well. That should be ending in a few months.

I use the double handled end vice all the time for clamping. My holes are only mildly close to ideal cnc like accuracy. Very mildly in a lot of cases. I decided instead to use the dog clamps that slide so my hole accuracy wasn't important.

I hardly ever use the side mounted vice.

I wouldn't get rid of it, but if it was gone tomorrow I'm not sure I would invest in a new one.

[Mel Fulks]

Jim , ‘tis a beautiful thing ! If you ever keep kid’s during the day they will really enjoy it ! Great Primary Bench that would be coveted
beyond the primary grades and into college frat house. I’ve worked in a couple of shops that looked like coal mines.

[Joe Calhoon]

I built a European style bench back in the 80s. It was a pleasure to build and has been a joy to use all these years! The side vise with the sliding jack board gets used a lot for edge work on doors. I made my bench a little taller than the norm. A few years ago I added fittings for Mac’s clamps.
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People are taller nowadays. This last photo is from a German woodworking school. You can see where most benches have been added on to raise the height.
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[Ron Selzer]

I built a European style bench back in the 80s. It was a pleasure to build and has been a joy to use all these years! The side vise with the sliding jack board gets used a lot for edge work on doors. I made my bench a little taller than the norm. A few years ago I added fittings for Mac’s clamps.


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That is a long radius
Ron

[Warren Lake]

German shop look like Ulmia benches. They have some issues if they are older ones think the company was bought out at one point. I remember emailing them showing them some issues and they said no way they were theirs.

Yeah on the too low thing. Even with old age shrinkflation they were too low so have them raised. There was a time you would find them in European shops in Toronto. not all but some of the ones mostly Italian or mostly German seemed to have them. Sometimes some stuff was out before the auction photos and auction. The good old days when auctions were live and you could read the audience.

[Phil Gaudio]

Left, right, middle: 'a la Lie Nielsen:
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[Tom Bender]

Well without doubt Derek has the prettiest bench but Maurice may have the hardest working one

Love the birdhouse Robert

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Well without doubt Derek has the prettiest bench but Maurice may have the hardest working one

Love the birdhouse Robert

Thanks Tom My old motto was "I will do your job ASAP".
My new motto is "I will do your job AASP" "(at a snails pace)