why I am not a fan of a leg vise

[tablesawtom]

As a kid I was always building something. At a real young age I would use a hoe to build roads in the dirt. I used a garden hose to dig caves in my area until my dad found out what I was doing and put a stop to it. A piece of 2 x4 with the front cut in a vee and a block on top with some nails pounded in made a great battle ship. I would walk 6 blocks to the local lumber yard and ask for the cut offs at the saw. They ripped and cross cut for people in them days. I would carry as much as I could home and build something even if it was only a spear.

My grandfather, who was a retired carpenter, and lived in California most of the time, would come and stay the summer with us. My mother always had a project for him. He would work in the morning but the afternoon he got with his friends and or went fishing. Anyway he got a bench that looked something like what is now known as a Mickelson bench. It had a leg vise on it. It was kind of rickety and at 7 or 8 I couldn't get it to work very well. The whole bench left something to be desired. I guess I didn't understand the part at the bottom and that the pin needed to be moved to get it to work. I mean even at 8 years old I could drive nails with the best of them. But that vise escaped me.

Anyway I gave up on ever using the vise and the bench was really to high for me at that age

Pleas don't misunderstand me. Todays cris- cross by Bench Crafted us awesome. I made mine out of wood and it works great to. My bench screw is like the one on that old bench and works almost as smooth as Bench Crafted's does. It is the cris cross that actually allows Bench Crafted's leg vise to wok as smoothly as it does.

I think it was the early experiences I had with not being able to get the leg vise to work at all or not very well at other times. That experience with that leg vise even though it was seventy years ago stops me from liking the leg vise. I mean a 2-4 clamped between my knee and the cement stoop worked better for me that that old leg vise.

I know for a fact I sawed a lot of cement on the stoop and every year when he got there the first thing he did was to sharpen the saw. And every year I got a freshly sharpened saw. And I still have that saw.

And to my surprise I think I have been woodworking longer than I thought. Here is a picture of his saws that he used to make a living with. My dads saw is not with them. It is on the wall in my shop and it is

 sharp. They are displayed in our living room.

   

Tom

[C. in Indy]

It's a good story, Tom!

We really do make the best of a bad situation many times.

My vise went on 15 years ago, not an especially great one, but I still use it all the time.   With wood jaws it really can do a lot.  I've even been able to get loose stuck watch-backs that eluded other folks... (a.) with the strong wood grip on the watch body,  and (b.) using impact-torques instead of steady torques on the back.

I know guys that use nothing but the portable Black & Decker workmates.  Two workmates working in tandem takes it from something decent to something pretty amazing.


Chris

[bandit571]

I use my leg vise, whenever I need to joint long edges....one end in the leg vise, the other clamped to the apron of the bench....it is also a 3rd hand during glue-ups of larger panels.   And, when a door needs planed on it's edges...The shelf under the bench sticks out about 1"...I can set the bottom edge of the panels onto that "ledge" and clamp in place with the leg vise..


Hmmmm, no mention of another old school way ( Roubo?) of work holding...the Crochet?

The leg vise allows me to plane a board, while pushing against the long axis of my bench. 

80% of the woodworking I do, centers around the end vise....mainly joinery tasks.   Besides, I can also just sit down on the Shop Stool, and saw and chop...all day long.

It all depends on what work a person does, and what fits the style of woodworking they do.  Doesn't mean there is a one bench fits all.    That would border on "Bench Snobbery"...most un-becoming....

Is the Bench for work....or to serve Dinner on....or Worship at?

Mine is for work, YMMV.

   
This one fits into what little space I have in MY shop....

[Arlin Eastman]

Glad you have brought this up.  Since I do not have a leg vise I do not know how they work maybe a half leg vise.  To me when they go to the floor they would trip me and also hinder me from cleaning up the floor as well.

I think they are for and correct me if I am wrong but used for holding the sides of wood that are pretty wide and I do not have any wood like that.  Like I said I do not have one nor used one but seen the one you have in your shop.

[brianwelch]

TST,
Looking at the remaining blade material on the saws, I can only imagine how many times they were sharpened...
Good stuff
Thanks

[CStan]

Any vise with a screw that impedes clamping all the way to the floor is somewhat of a compromise.  The only ones that don't are shoulder and tail vises on a traditional Scandinavian style bench, or very wide twin-screw (chain, or whatever you want to call them) vises where the space between the screws will accommodate any workpiece you'd ever need to clamp.

[wmickley]

Any vise with a screw that impedes clamping all the way to the floor is somewhat of a compromise.  The only ones that don't are shoulder and tail vises on a traditional Scandinavian style bench, or very wide twin-screw (chain, or whatever you want to call them) vises where the space between the screws will accommodate any workpiece you'd ever need to clamp.

I have used a slanted leg vise for 42 years. It is a traditional Pennsylvania Dutch design. There is no trouble holding a vertical board.

[tablesawtom]

Judging from a lot of the replies, I need to reply. What I wrote about (it was kind of rickety and at 7 or 8 I couldn't get it to work very well. The whole bench left something to be desired. I guess I didn't understand the bottom part and that the pin needed to be moved to get it to work.)  I guess some people didn't read the content, with in the context, and went off on a tangent which had nothing to do with the original post. 

The  the responses I got,  Mostly  defense's of a leg vise, But this one really got me . Is the bench for work... or to serve dinner on or worship at? Mine is for work. My question is, what does that have to do with boy  at 7 or 8 not being able to get a particular leg vise to work. Are you implying that because my bench looks nice and doesn't look to be one that was pulled out of a barn that was covered with barn stuff and i am sure it was made a lot longer that 50 years ago. So please do not insult my intelligence with that sanctimonious crap.

If you take time to actually read the post for content in according to context,  you will find that I never said one bad word about the leg vise. I think I even commented on how well bench Crafted's hardware actually makes vise work as smoothly a s it does.  

And again I read,  I have used a slanted leg vise for 42 years. So my questions are !. How old were you when you started wood working. I started to take up the hobby in earnest in in 1973  at the age of 23, and that means I have been at it for, I believe, 49 years. But there is a lot of difference between a young boy of 8 or 9  and a man at 23 in being able to figure out how something works.  Because your bench is of traditional  Pennsylvania  Dutch design, are you implying that your bench is better than the Roubo bench design or what I prefer which is the  European design. (  And again I quote, here is no trouble holding a vertical board. ) I never claimed anything about holding a board vertical. Read the text I said I couldn't get it to work at the age of 8 or 9.

So my last question is are you implying that because I prefer a shoulder vise that I can't clamp a vertical board? And that only a leg vise of Dutch design can. I am sorry but I can also clamp a vertical board in my tail vise.

I never said that leg vises are bad or don't work. All I said was because a poor experience with a leg vise  as a young boy it stops me from really liking one. I do have one on my bench though.

Tom

[CStan]

Shoulder vises and tail vises don't have screws in the way. Everything else, does. It's that simple. Just because "XYZ" uses one, or you saw one in "ABC" book doesn't mean jack $hit.