What tool to add to the collection next?

[Eric The Viking]

The ply thus takes all the metal filings, oilstains, spilled paint, ferret droppings and other undesirables that tend to accumulate on benches. When you need to do some 'clean' woodworking, unbolt said vice, stow on shelf, and lift off ply. The holes through the benchtop are very unlikely to be any bother. Once 'clean' jobs are done, re-instate ply and metalwork vice.

Oh how true!

I used to cover my bench with hardboard for metalwork. I didn't appreciate what a good idea this really was, until the day I was lazy and skipped fitting the hardboard.

Once you've got filings in the grain of the bench, your tools get wrecked, wood surfaces get spoiled, you get swarf in your fingers, and the bench is hard to clean. Woodwork needs cleanliness (not a pristine bench, just no metal filings), otherwise you'll be caught out when you're trying to get a really good finish on something.

Cheers,

E.

 

[bugbear]

The other way to do this is to get hold of a lump of 18mm ply around say 600x600mm or a suitable size for your bench. Then cover this with a bit of galvanised steel, screwed into the ply in appropriate places, bolt your vice to the ply/galsteel from the underside (using coach bolts) in a position close to the front, so it's easy to use. Then, and hears the clever bit :wink: screw a piece of wood to the underside as well at the front, so that it'll clamp into your woodwork vice ...sort of like a bench hook.

Here's a small cousin of Rob's idea, used to reversibly fix a metalwork vise to a workmate.

http://web.archive.org/web/200901140249 ... #vise_mate

BugBear