Tail vice - silk purse from a sows ear.

[Phil Pascoe]

I've never had a tail vice so have always been reluctant to pay the money for one, but this cheapy came up at the market for £7.50. Nothing special, but it'll do.

Finger jointed bits of hevea - beggars can't be choosers.
First I tidied it up a bit, and added a bit of depth so I could get it in the centre of the bench top depth ways and turned it over as the dog holes weren't 19mm which I wanted. Then bored some scrap to make a guide for the holes - no way could I bore them to that depth accurately.

Clamp it down and away.

New dog holes drilled and nearly fitted - my auger wasn't quite long enough so another auger comes tomorrow.

Quite pleased, for what it cost.

 

[MikeG.]

Nice! Cheap is good, so long as it is good.

Do your dog holes line up?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

No, I was a bit limited as to where I could put them because of the bars. It's no big deal as the holes in the bench are in pairs at 90 degrees to the front so I can span them with a batten. The two holes closest to the end are redundant anyway - the frame of the bench is different to the one that that top was originally on.

 

[banjerbill]

If the screw is halfway decent it's got to be worth what you paid for the vice.

You've made a nice job fettling it. =D>

I'm looking for a cheapy myself just to mount my carving chops in. I take them to my carving club so don't want them fixed to the bench.