Viceless workholding

[gold_bantam]

I made wooden hold fasts out of scrap, they work perfectly well, so don't feel you need to buy the metal ones.

That's interesting. In what sort of way are they made? I've seen the wooden ones made from the branch fork of a small tree, but not made from scrap.

 

[ColinDeVelen]

A bit of dowel to match the dog holes you have / will have, and a bar piece. Drill a hole in the bar piece, less than ninety degrees to the bar end (The video shows this a lot better than I can explain it.). You can shape the bar like shown in the video, or just glue a block and some cork or leather to the end. Depends if you just want to try one and see how it works, or if you want to make a nice looking set. Functionally, exactly the same. (Tip for cheap leather, buy a cheap welders glove and remove and use the cuff.) If you do try one for an experiment, bear in mind that they perform better if the dog hole is deeper. (They don't work on a workmate type bench for example.) I'm not sure if this is a general rule, it's just what I have found with the ones that I use. Also, I made mine from soft wood, not hard wood, and again, they work OK.

 

[gold_bantam]

A bit of dowel to match the dog holes you have / will have, and a bar piece. Drill a hole in the bar piece, less than ninety degrees to the bar end (The video shows this a lot better than I can explain it.). You can shape the bar like shown in the video, or just glue a block and some cork or leather to the end. Depends if you just want to try one and see how it works, or if you want to make a nice looking set. Functionally, exactly the same. (Tip for cheap leather, buy a cheap welders glove and remove and use the cuff.) If you do try one for an experiment, bear in mind that they perform better if the dog hole is deeper. (They don't work on a workmate type bench for example.) I'm not sure if this is a general rule, it's just what I have found with the ones that I use. Also, I made mine from soft wood, not hard wood, and again, they work OK.

Thanks, that's brilliant.

 

[Spectric]

What about a much older method

 

[Jacob]

If you've got holes in a bench then there's any number of holding devices you can rig up with the aid of a long bolt through. Preferably one with a fast thread for speed of operating. I did a post here about my "beam" clamp, just one of many possibilities.
Sad story of my uneven bench top
If the hole isn't in the right place just drill another one.

 

[Spectric]

If the hole isn't in the right place just drill another one.

Did @Jacob conceive the original idea for the MFT !

 

[Jacob]

Did @Jacob conceive the original idea for the MFT !

er - they always were multi function!
MFT is a bit of a misnomer - should be called "MGT" i.e. Multi Gadget Table.

 

[gmgmgm]

I thought so too until I discovered head torches, which you don't have to move, as, amazingly, they always point exactly in the same direction as you eyes! Must be AI!
Seriously though they really help especially with poor eyesight and bad lighting. Anglepoise too narrow and too stationary beam

One of the best improvements to my workshop was putting in a lot of LED lights on the ceiling, so it's really well lit from lots of angles.
I also have several Makita LED lights (DML801, £25, take the drill batteries, other marques will have similar) and I find I use them all the time in the workshop and elsewhere. Or during power cuts.

I also don't use a vice on my woodwork bench. I have plenty of clamps including some strong Bessey metalworking clamps which hold everything securely. And a Superjaws thing.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Sewing machine light. £7 on the bay.

 

[Tim Britton]

Hi all,

I've reached a crucial stage in my workbench build. I was originally planning to put on a QR Record 52 1/2 (which I already have). However, I recently watched Mike Siemsen's viceless workholding video and was really amazed at how versatile a bench can be without a vice. I know from my previous benches how annoying some dimensions of wood can be when you only have a vice but no other methods of workholding like holdfasts and dog holes etc. And Mike's demo made me think why not get rid of the vice altogether. I want to know if anyone here uses viceless benches or if I'd be a fool to not fit the vice. One other option would be to fit the vice on the other side and end of the bench in case I need it, but I won't necessarily have a workspace with walk-around access to the bench in the future. Cheers

just read your workbench vice or viceless post and would chuck my tuppence worth in... I'd say a vice is well worth having and all the benches in workshops I've worked in since serving my apprenticeship had vices on them but I'd say they're not as vital as often thought, what is vital is a method of work-holding of which a vice is just one of many options. attached are two pics of work benches in my workshop, the one which looks like an old desk is an old desk and served well for a few months until I was given a bench frame and added two sheets of 19mm ply to form the top and four pieces of OSB to each leg to raise it up... previous owner was short... I fully intend to add a vice and have spent three years thinking about it while getting on using clamps, holdfasts and stops to keep whatever I was working on in place.

 

[ColinDeVelen]

Found a picture of mine in action. As I said. not pretty, but pretty functional.

 

[gold_bantam]

Found a picture of mine in action. As I said. not pretty, but pretty functional.

Thanks. I'm all for functionality over looks when it comes to tools and hardware. It's nice to see I won't have to make the gorgeous hardwood ones in the videos to have a decent set of holdfasts. Especially because I don't have any machinery to help and I'm still on the novice side of woodworking.

 

[Jacob]

I keep thinking that working with a viceless bench is a bit like mono-cycling; quite possible and has novelty value, but not practical.

 

[aet1]

I'm just thinking how fiddly it must be to work on very small items without a vice, working out and seeing up the gadgets. Often I don't use a vice but if you don't have one I'm sure you are missing out.

 

[Orraloon]

I think to be fair to Mike Siemsen his video is to show what can be done without a vice and is not saying you don't need a vice. Earlier on I said I use a lot of his methods for holding but I still like to have a vice as well. I should have said a front vice, a tail vice, a moxon, 2 metal vices and 2 drill press vices. There are workarounds if you dont have a vice but lets face it a vice makes woodworking that bit easier.
Regards
John

 

[gold_bantam]

I'm planning on fitting the

I'm just thinking how fiddly it must be to work on very small items without a vice, working out and seeing up the gadgets. Often I don't use a vice but if you don't have one I'm sure you are missing out.

Yes that's very true. Things like carving spoons etc. where you need to change the position of the piece all the time.

 

[gold_bantam]

I'm planning on fitting the face vice, and then having a planing stop, and that central beam that lifts out of the workbench top when needed (as in Mike's video). And then holes drilled as and when needed as Jacob suggested for screws/holdfasts etc.

I need to dig the Record vice out now. I think it's in pretty good shape but do they need much in the way of oiling and maintenance through use?