making holdfasts, wonderdogs, ww and leg vises w/ scraps

[bent]

One of these months i'll be finishing a complete basement reno, and I have a nook big enough to store a bench, with hand and m/c tools, and all my fasteners and maybe even all cans/bottles/sprays etc., ... I am gonna need to make it look like new, as absolutely everything else will be.

I have a solid wood table to build a bench around w/ a 1-1/2"+ thick top, and four solid wood (tapered) legs. I have a mechanics vice currently lag-bolted to the corner.

i have been readinfg books and searching online for ideas. Here are some:

use a scrap 3/4" plywood with a cleat for mech vise. removable, and clampable to bench top/ww vise.

make a shooting board &/or bench hook- use a scrap plywood with a cleat for mech vise. removable, and clampable to bench top/ww vise.

buy a ww vise - additionally make a tiling vise mount for it. Place it somewhere permanently flush mounted somewhere along front edge make wooden grooved jaw faces, and swivelling/pivotting jaw face insert for alignment

drill dog holes spaced everywhere

make 3/4" round wooden bench dogs (w/ an angle only on the flat sticking up, not 3/4" holes), maybe w/ bullet catches

make adjustable stop mounts/ right angle stops with grroves and dowels to aslign in dog holes at any any placement

THESE ARE MY 2 QUESTIONS

1)can I make a strong enough (w/o major purchase): i)holdfast (iron L that you bang down/open up with hammer)

ii)screw clamp bench dog (like a wonder dog @ LV)

2)I was playing with the idea of using the legs along the front and creating leg vises w/ ACME thread bench screws, and slots. I garbage picked, the other day, (3) 9" long usable 1" dia NC thread bolts w/ 5/8" ID 1-1/4" long metal pipe welded to the ends, perpendicular to the thread axis O-----[]-, w/ 1-1/2" nuts.

The desk to be bench: The tapered legs need to be built up (only a couple inches a ground), and it needs a front apron at clamp waist level. What can I do with this bench and (3) O-----[]- to do away with the purchase of a ww vise, and still have one, and make my leg vises. Where do I put these, where do I attach them, and how do I orient the ends? What do I need to make? Then it all needs painting.

[alexy]

I've done it. While I don't delude myself into thinking it is as strong as a wrought iron one, it works. Arm is 2x4 on edge, 8"-10" long. 3/4" hardwood dowel through one end, with tangential grain parallel to arm. 1/4" to 1/2" pad at other end of arm to elevate arm slightly above workpiece, allowing dowel to be driven into bench dog holes.

You'll find this gives plenty of strength to hold work against forces parallel to the arm, is weaker for forces perpendicular to arm, and is totally inadequate against forces that would rotate work under the hold-down point. A friction pad between work and bench would help all of these, though.

[deadlock]

Why painting? Seems a lot of effort for no reward.

[Leuf]

Funny thing about benches, they don't look new for very long. Mostly they look like "there must be something under there, there can't be

*that* big a pile of tools stacked over there"

I would really think about ditching everything but the top, and make yourself a new base. Doubled up 2x4s for the legs, if you take 1/4" off each side to square it up and remove the rounded corners this can actually look quite nice. Build in storage underneath.

-Leuf

[Enoch Root]

Why skimp, when you can start over, from scratch:

[bent]

well its actually about finding out what to do to the front edge of apron and legs, and what to do w/ (3) O===[]= that are 9 inches of thread long. That is, a woodworking vise and a leg vise are just bench screws and faces to clamp. But clamp which way, to what, and by nut or O on the outside, and how to attach to the slots? To make a sliding leg vise, I would just need a slot, and two would allow me to clamp anything long, at any height. A ww vise is not a pattern makers vise, and I already have a "vise" if I need it. With 3 of these improvised sliding/moving clamping with board devices and my real vise I could conquer the world. I have never seen one in person, and have no idea how to make this a reality. What the legs will have is adjustable levelers and a pick up stroller assemble for moving it around. I'll make hardboard tops. i may start with new legs too. Don't know what I need yet!