The Leg Vise
The leg vise is made from the same maple board as the end vise front jaw. It is one of the hardest and heaviest hunks of maple I’ve ever worked with. I think it will be a great vise.
Ripping down to the width of the top of the vise was the first task.
Here’s the vise with the rough shape cut out.
It got flattened and squared with my No. 5.
Once it was cut to length and the front edge chamfered I had to set it next to the vise and dream of using it.
I started out thinking I was just going to keep it simple. However, I decided I had to do more. This is the bottom of the vise.
The bottom gets the curves and the bottom of top section.
I used a can of paste wax to draw the semi-circles.
Fitting the vise to its leg was a lot easier before the bench was assembled.
It still took a while to get it working smoothly.
I have never used a leg vise like this and I’m already impressed by the design.
I made the pinboard out of maple and added one of my favorite flourishes to the front.
Now that the leg vise was at this point the next step was to assemble the bench. I am nervous about that but I’m going to just do it.
-Eric
Eric J. Knapp 