Today when I finally got ready to start chopping my dovetails, I felt cramped way over on the left side of the bench where my handyman vise is precariously mounted in 1/8″ plywood. So I dismantled the sweet sharpening station setup I just blogged about and jimmied this little rig. It was solid, and apart from the worry that my saw would graze the clamp (it didn’t really come that close), it will do nicely until my bench is made. Once my bench is made, I’ll hopefully have my choice between a leg vise and wagon vise.
Oh, and since I feel so cramped on the left side of the bench, I’m thinking of angling my leg vise to buy me a few more inches. Landis talks about this in his book, and I think it’s a great idea. It’ll also allow me to clamp wider boards without worrying about the screw being in the way.
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February 10, 2008 at 11:38 pm
Dave
Hi Eric,
Great idea! You put me to shame… I’ve been putting off practicing my hand-cut dovetails since I haven’t finished building my new bench yet. After seeing your workaround, I now have no excuse for not getting in some practice time. LOL.
You might want to try gluing (or screwing) a plywood skirt to the front of your setup. That will give you a larger and more secure clamping surface, and you’ll be able to use a small quick clamp to secure a board to the skirt.
Dave
February 10, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Eric
Nice idea, Dave. I did think of trying to enlarge the clamping area somewhat for stability, but hadn’t thought that it would also make for quicker clamping as well.