Hi everyone, and welcome to Bob's Wood Stuff. Today I'm going through the process of installing
a woodworking vise on my workbench. Let's go to the shop. This is my workbench. It has two vises already, but they are racked
and they are not very strong, so I wanted to add a stronger metal woodworking vise. I did some research and found an affordable
4"x7" vise on Amazon that had decent reviews and a large clamping capacity. There is a link to it in the description. I want to add it to this front side of my
bench, so I can use the same dog holes that I drilled for my other vise. I want the top of the vise to be flush with
the top of the bench, for best usability with the bench dogs. Since the edge of my bench is thick, I need
to cut out a recess to line up the vise and bench. I placed the vise in the spot it will go,
traced it with a pencil, and measured how far it was from the top of the bench. I used that marking to set my marking gauge,
and transferred that measurement to the bottom of the bench. I also marked this line on the inside of the
bench lip. And I chiseled the vertical markings to make
a small notch in the wood that will guide my saw. Using the crosscut side of my Japanese hand
saw, I cut upward on my lines until I reached the mark I scribed,
cutting several kerfs about an inch apart. Then I used a 1" chisel to chop out the area
between the kerfs. I started with a shallow cut, only removing
about 1/8" at a time, and worked my way towards the line. It's important that while you do this you
keep the chisel parallel with the bench top. Then I came in with a 2" chisel and pared
the surface, making it flat and smooth. I used a combination square to test the angle
of the surface, making pencil marks on all the high spots, and paring them down,
then repeating this process until the surface is square. I test fit the vise, and my opening was not
wide enough, so I sawed out a little more area. Once the vise fit inside the mortise, I could
tell that it was slightly above the surface of the bench. To even it out, I cut a spacer block that
matched the offset. Then I glued and clamped it into place. If your bench has a thin top, you will need
to add a spacer block like this or thicker, to make the vise level with the bench top,
instead of cutting a recess into it. While the glue dried on the spacer block,
I measured the jaws of the vise. Then I cut two blocks of plywood to 4"x7"
to use as wooden jaws. I used a stop block to make sure they were
identical. To attach the vise to the bench, I used some
2" lag screws with washers. Those will hold it up from the bottom, inside
these tabs. (gestures to tabs on vise) I clamped the vise in place, and used an awl
to poke holes where the screws will go. Then I drilled some pilot holes with a brad
point drill bit, using masking tap to indicate my target depth. I clamped the vise back in place,
and used an impact driver with a socket to drive the lag screws in. The vise also gets secured on the front face,
through the jaw. I was not able to fit my drill inside the
vise clearance, so I chose to use self-tapping screws. These cabinet screws are self-tapping, and
also have a washer built in, so they seemed like a good choice. Normally, the wooden jaws are attached with
screws, through these threaded holes on the back jaw, and through the front of the front
jaw. However, I saw one woodworker who used magnets
in his vise jaws, so he could swap them out easily, so I decided to do that. The benefit is that if I need softer jaws
or ones with rubber on them, or a different shape, I can quickly remove and replace them. I bought some cheap rare earth magnets, measured
the diameter of them, and drilled holes with a brad point bit just a bit larger than that. I used a depth stop on the drill press to
make sure the holes are just deep enough to recess the whole magnet. Then I mized some 2-part 5-minute epoxy, and
epoxied the magnets in place on both wood pieces. I put the jaws onto the vise, and then tested
them out. At first I was concered that they wouldn't
stay in place, but with even a little bit of clamping pressure, the wooden jaw is very
secure. I can use the vise to hold workpieces on its
own, or I can use the dog holes on my bench to secure pieces flat to the benchtop. This can be used with store-bought bench dogs,
or shop-made bench dogs, which are easy to make. If your vise is not designed to work with
bench dogs, you can still use it that way, by adding a thick outer jaw with a hole in
it to hold a dowel. Although with this usage, you will need to
screw the outer jaw to the vise. So this installation was pretty easy, and I was able to get the top of my woodworking
vise completely flush with the top of the bench. Which is exactly how you want it. Thank you for watching,
and please like and subscribe.
You’ll get a ton more utility out of it if you recess the vise so that the inner jaw (with pad) is flush with the bench face. It gets even better if you set the pads so that they are flush with the bench top. And finally, for the trifecta, have a pop-up dog on the outer jaw/pad that lines up with dog holes in the bench top.