Face Vises: Left Or Right End Of Your Bench?
Because I’m a leftie, and because the face vise on my bench is on the left end, I get asked whether that causes me problems. This question comes from the common view that righties put their face vise on the left end while we lefties are supposed to need ours on the right.
If one consults the workbench bible…Chris Schwarz’s Workbench book, one finds Chris covering the subject with “Right-handers generally place the face vise on the left side of the bench; lefties put it on the right.” In short, Chris simply restates the common view.
But why are they put there? Chris goes into great detail about the “whys” of different kinds of vises, their virtues and drawbacks. Why no bold statements about why one places their face vise on one end or the other. I’ll tell you why.
Cuz it doesn’t make a whit of difference which end of the bench has your face vise. There is power in this statement and an understanding of why this might be, so don’t dismiss it as heresy. I can’t speak for Chris but my guess is that he’d agree with that statement.
Face vises are used to do edge work. You use it to boards while jointing and edge, when shaping an edge or when you cut dovetails or tenons. Edgework: that’s what face vises are about. When you work on a board face, you don’t use a face vise.
So, whether you stand in front of the left or right end of your bench to cut a dovetail hardly matters. Whether you are looking left or right hardly matters when you’re shoving your #7 along a board edge.
So, is the common view untrue? Not exactly, but for a reason that doesn’t get attached to discussions of face vise location. What end of your bench has an end vise DOES matter, if you’re going to have one at all (a subject for another post). So, if you insist on having an end vise and are right-handed, you need it on the right end for a number of the reasons. Left handed, you want it on the left end of the bench. And thus, you put your face vise on the opposite end.
But let’s assume for the moment that you don’t need an end vise (you don’t in my opinion). In this case, you open up a lot of options when it comes to bench placement in your shop. Take a look at these benches, from the Hay shop. Notice the face vise location and the fact that the craftsmen at Williamsburg don’t seem to need end vises. Because of this, they can butt one end of the bench against a wall, not needing open space on both ends of the bench. If it would have been better to butt the left end into a wall, leaving the right end open, the face vise would need to be on the right end of the bench. Note, this has nothing to do with whether the cabinetmakers is left or right handed.
Here’s the best example I could find. Bob Roziaeski is a hand-tool only woodworker who really knows his stuff. On the left is a photo of his old bench. On the right is his new bench. Note that the face vise has shifted ends. Bob also doesn’t use or need an end vise. This is where the kewl kids say “I’m just sayin’.”
Cheers — Larry
11 Responses to “Face Vises: Left Or Right End Of Your Bench?”
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one picture down from your reference, the picture of the Dominy inspired bench at Williamsburg shows it on the right.http://anthonyhaycabinetmaker.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/dsc_00151.jpg
I’m right handed and my vice is on the left end of my bench. When working at the vice, I pick up and set down the plane/chisel/saw I’m using which is on the bench surface on my right.
If the vice were on the right end of the bench, I would have to take a couple of steps forwards to set down my tool/work piece and that would interrupt the natural flow.
It’s logical which is probably why it’s taken by so many for granted.
I have that photo too and you’re right. It’s further evidence that the guys at Williamsburg don’t much care which end the vise is on. Thanks for adding it here.
Cheers — Larry
Well, I’m left-handed and my vise is on the left. If I’m jointing a board my bench is on my left and I place my tools on the bench, just as you do. I just use my other hand.
Cheers — Larry
The one thing that comes to mind is stability when edge planning. If you’re jointing the edge of a long, thick board, it is going to be a less chattery (is that a word?) cut if you are planing into your vise (where there is more holding strength) than into your deadman/holdfast/etc.
Even then, it’s probably an outlier of a secnario.
I suppose, Steve, that this is the logic behind old bench designs that rely upon a crochet and holdfast, avoiding the use of a vise completely. But a crochet is something for the board to push against eliminating any possibility of lateral movement. This is the direction/force that’s really important when jointing.
Unless a board is flexible, where it’s connected to the bench is unimportant as long as it’s connected at both ends. It’s not going to move laterally as you joint it…right? In my experience there’s not much stress on either the vise or holdfast – if your plane is sharp
I’m joking a bit but my bench is far too light for handtool use and if my planes start to dull, I’ll end up pushing the bench when I joint boards.
Cheers — Larry
Good, your article confirms my “feel”. My current workbench is a temporary set-up but I’m adding to my “real” workbench design, and I kind of imagine where the vises will be and do mock-ups with scrap wood on my plywood bench. So this kind of confirms what I was thinking but now I understand the logic behind it.
Really useful site, by the way. I’m checking out your archives between episodes of the “Rough Cut” marathon today…
An important thing to say here is that I think Chris Schwarz’s book is right on the mark, with one exception. His analysis, which is the best of its kind, talks about workbenches and workbench vises largely without the addition of the appliances that we handtool guys use to hold wood. I suspect this is not because he’s unaware (he is) but rather that he was simply trying to limit the variables in his analysis
If you want a really good analysis of workbench use by a handtool guy, go to the Logan Cabinet Shoppe and watch Bob Roziaeski build stuff. You’ll see that he has no problem doing everything with those appliances I’ve mentioned and a double-screw face vise that, as I pointed out, was on the left end of his old bench and the right end of his new one.
His work is consistent with virtually all old drawings of benches, most of which had no vises at all, or had a vise that clamps to the bench like the one Popular Woodworking (Chris) featured recently.
I guess I need to write a post where I really shake the bars and say that you don’t need an end vise at all. I removed the one from my bench years ago.
Cheers — Larry
Larry – awesome post, thanks. I was thinking along the same lines as Steve, that you want to edge-plane into the vice, not away-from. But I also can’t imagine that a decent vice can’t hold a board relatively in place while planing away from it.
I also do like Jack’s point that as I work at my vice (on the left, I’m a righty), the majority of my bench is to my right, easier for my major hand to reach and do stuff. And I guess at this point, that just feels natural – having the bulk of the bench to the right.
I’m super intrigued by the no-end-vice – when you mention it, I’m thinking “yeah, why do I need one?” I handplane into a stop which is easy to do and quick. Unless you want a double-screw to do edge work on large panels that you can’t handle in the front vice, except there are easily a couple just-as-fast approaches to doing that too.
Cool.
Morton++
Hi Morton,
I have to confess that I don’t see the problem with putting tools down. I’m a lefty with a vise on the left. When I need to put my jointer down, I do so. Maybe it will be dropped closer to the end of my bench than you put yours but only by a foot as arm lengths determine this. Pretend you’re left-handed, stand with your #7 as though you’re jointing a board, and you’ll see that there’s plenty of bench space for the tool.
I think a dandy way to solve the double-screw vise situation you mention is the removable twin-screw vise that are depicted in so many early graphics and built by ‘the Schwarz’ recently. Not only can you get it out of the way when you don’t need it, it raises the piece above the bench for things like dovetailing and installing knife hinges.
One thing I didn’t mention was why I removed my tail vise. I wanted to hang drawers over the end of my bench so I removed the vise. I never put it back on and, as I did say, I didn’t miss it. Having one end of your bench with nothing protruding is a real virtue to me.
Cheers — Larry