Front Vice Position

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Mike B

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Hi

Possibly a question with a very obvious answer but, is there any particular reason why the front vice on most commercially available workbenches is positioned at the left hand end??

Or is it simply a case of tradition and/or the most popular users prefence??

thanks
Mike
 
If you think of a face vice as just an evolution of a planing stop, which is really all it is (albeit quite an extreme form of evolution), it soon makes sense as to why it has to be where it is for a right-hander.

Cheers, Alf
 
I can still just remember my schooldays and the woodwork teacher telling boys who were right handed to pick a bench that had the vice situated at the left hand end of bench.

So I have always fitted up my benches accordingly.(3 benches)
 
I have homemade bench with two vices, one left and one right.

I am right handed and never use the left hand vice, always the right as the saw is then running just to the side of the bench with my body in front of the bench and near the vice
 
Tony":1t07d6ap said:
I have homemade bench with two vices, one left and one right.

I am right handed and never use the left hand vice, always the right as the saw is then running just to the side of the bench with my body in front of the bench and near the vice

So Tony; Do you bang your thighs on the pippers to both legs when working at the bench?

And I suppose you did woodwork and cooking classes :lol:

PS Hope the yanks are not worried about the foul language on this thread.
 
But if you place the work you're sawing in the left hand vice then your free left hand can support the other end. Anyway, what's wrong with a bench hook? :p And what d'you do when you're jointing the edge of a board? And where d'you put your tail vice? :-k

Cheers, Alf
 
Welll....

I place the wood in right vice as the saw is easily held very close to the vice jaws and is well supported near the cut. I cut across and slightly towards my body which feels far more natural than in the left vice.

When I started out in my engineering career, I had a year in the machine shop at Marconi Radar 'for experience' and we were taught to saw steel with material hanging out right side and I guess this has stayed with me

Tail vice is at left end of bench to allow me to plane right-handed along the bench towards the tail vice

Alf, I have the wood supported in right vice and the support I made a while back - no problems at all. I would never dream of trying to hold the wood with my knee whilst sawing - off balance :shock:

Here is the support and you can see the left vice too

HPIM0023.JPG


DW never banged anything against the vice. I stand at 90 degrees (or so) to the bench when sawing and my hip is about a foot away from the vice

I recently fitted new jaws to the right hand vice as shown in HT tutorial here (I wanted the jaws to be flush with bench end):

12_4_dots.jpg
 
Ach! You plane into your tail vice?! :shock: But then you're putting all the stresses onto the screw threads instead of a nice solid stop on the bench. #-o Heaven preserve me from engineers. :roll: It's all back to front. You were made to write with your right hand when you were a kid, weren't you? That's it, isn't it...? You're a closet leftie. :-k :wink:

Cheers, Alf
 
Alf

The tail vice is my own design - I could drive a tank into it without damaging the thread or vice (not sure about the tank though) :D
 
Oy :x ! Enough 'leftie' bashing. We've got enough to cope with as things are.

Gill (who's fed up with turning screws the illogical way)
 
My bench also has two (Record 51-1/2 I think) face vices, each to the left or right. Planing is to the left but sawing is to the right (I am right handed). But best of all, hang a hardwood board between them and you have a great face vice for dovetailing!

Regards from Perth

Derek
 
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