After searching everywhere I knew to look and not finding anything that totally pleased me, I've decided to make my own workbench. Now comes the really fun part.
Been thumbing through Landis' Workbench Book and making mental notes on what I like/don't like, and am now upon some questions that I would appreciate hearing your thoughts about.
For the vise at the end, I like the "face" design better than the "L" shaped tail vise. My favorite design is the Acorn bench which is no longer in production but you can still get plans. Here is the picture:
I like the idea of two rows of dog holes, as it opens up some possibilities for clamping that the L vise won't do. I'm concerned, though, that if I use the end vise and only one row of holes (i.e., working on only one side of the bench) I will skew the vise hardware, eventually causing damage if I do it repeatedly. So, my idea on how to prevent such damage from happening is to clamp a scrap board on the opposite side of the bench from where I'm working, so as to equalize the pressure that is applied across the vise hardware. This is going to be my first experience with installing vises, and I want to be sure I'm thinking correctly.
My other question at this point is this: Is there a standard ratio for distance between guide bars to maximum possible width (end to end as you face the vise) of the wooden "face" piece?
TIA,
Mark