Work bench smack down

I'll get some measurements tonight on the deadman, Mauricio!

Egads, what a leg vise. Seen the dad's Leg Lamp in A Christmas Story? I'd like to put that leg (vise) in my window for all to admire…

Scott, like I said on your blog post, Damn that is Sexy!

Smitty, thanks, I will have to do the trial and error thing to get it right but your measurments will be helpful as a starting point!

AH Ha!! Now I know how that works. Thanks Scott. Where did you get the chain drive hardware?

Hi RGtools, he got the parts from me. I sent him a preproduction model to install because he was just building and using BenchCrafted hardware. I wanted his reaction with the glide screw. I'm going to pick a manufacturer next Monday, and if I go with the shop I spoke with today they might be available before September. But I'm not really sure yet.

I wondered. I hope you are successful and I hope some of that money comes from me.

Maur - slightly less than a 7/8" dado, w/ 7/8" tenon on top 'the deadman…

Thanks Smitty, I've been thinking about it all wrong. Yourse looks about 1" thick, does that work well for you? I lot of the plans I've seen call for one that is about 2".

I have a sweet piece of Jatoba that brandon gave me that may work out great but its going net out at about 1"

The deadman ended up being 1" thick to work with the #203 clamps in the picture above; they only hook fully if the material is the right depth. You can see I removed material to get it where it is today, and it was low tech: many passes over the tablesaw. I mean many.

Does 1" hurt in any way? I'd say not. I even use the Veritas hold down with great effect in the deadman (that accessory, while pricey, is highly recommended).

You can use that jatoba in a three-piece assy mode (top and bottom with ogee-type deco, jatoba in between), that 'd be very sweet indeed.

Boatman, I'm still in on the chain. That's a slick setup and I totally get it now, thanks to Scott. You might owe him a few Magic Hats for installing it on one of the finest benches here Have you estimated a retail price yet? If so, ballpark it via a PM if you don't want to commit. I understand that it'll be very ballpark.

Mauricio, I used one of those jatoba pieces for my deadman and I think it works just fine, it even holds holdfasts. But if you need a thicker piece for the deadman, let me know and I can give you another piece of jatoba which you can use to laminate the two.

Thanks Smitty. Yeah I saw how the back of yours was hollowed out, I was puzzled but now it makes sense. I could do the same with my piece of Jatoba except I could cut off pieces (tenons) and glue them on the back of the main part of the dead man.

Do they usually make them 2" thick so they work with holdfasts? However the #203's are intriguing and they seem to go for reasonable prices on ebay.

I hand planed the jatoba last night, it's so nice I almost feel bad drilling holes in it.

The 'whack-a-mole' holdfasts aren't what I'd count on in a 2" deadman anymore, but I guess they'd work. Maybe not so much on an assembled deadman… something to think about.

You'll be competing with Don Yoda for #203s; he's been in that market for months.

There's a 203 about to pop on Ebay in 4 hours or less. 2 bids at $15 or so.
Edit: Smit you know I'm not a Veritas, SawStop, or Grizzly fan, lol; but those Veritas Wonderdogs and holdfasts are just impossible to beat.

Brandon, thanks, much appreciated but I think I can make this on one work. Thanks again for the Jatoba, it is some beautiful wood.

Scott and Boatman that is an awesome set up. I am really looking forward to seeing the end cost on the set up. Hopefully Benchcrafted will get their hardware on sale in the next day or two.

NOW I have a QUESTION (lol): I am going to be building my leg vise chop soon. I am trying to decide a good method to build it. I like the layout used on Scotts bench and the wood whisper style. However using 1 solid piece of lumber… Not too sure. I was thinking about doing like I have done on the rest of my build. Laminate up allot of Maple and then cut it to size. The question is would I be taking a chance if I made the laminations perpendicular to the leg. Meaning if I only clamp down say half a project would the glue possible give out and cause separation? OR should I make my laminations parallel to the leg and it would be strong.

I like the idea of a multi colored chop with laminations of the Maple I have and some walnut that I have. This being the perpendicular method I spoke about above.

Ken I would guess it would be plenty strong. I think PurpLev did something like that, you may want to check out is build blog.

*there you go - Mauricio posted before I could get to it.

Ken, my chop is a lamination but it is a face/face lam of 9" boards not edge/edge if I am understanding you right. I try to keep in mind that the glue joint is supposed to be stronger than the wood.

If I do understand correctly, you could use three joints with the screw going through a solid central piece and then two contrasting edge/edge laminations on each side.

I think it'd be strong enough ken and would look better, too. Plus, all we use leg vises for is to crush cans, right?

I need to post my can crushing video. I am a computer literate fellow but Ive never worked with video files except ripping big _VTS DVD fles.