Gentle Galoots:

This is for those of yopu that are using Emmert vises od their clones. I am
preparing to mount the "big iron" on my new bench.

Spokeshave's "Brain dump on mounting the Emmert Vise" and/or the
reproductions of the manufacturers instructions kindly posted by John and
several other galoots, offer (at least) two options in positioning the vise.

One is to cut the bench as in figure one of the instructions and mount the
vise with the front of the rear jaw almost even with the front edge of the
bench.

The other, shown in figure three, I think, has the vise mounted with the
front of the mounting bracket even with the front of the bench and the vise
jaw standing out some distance.

Which have each of you used, and what are the rationales used to decide?

The second option involved much less material removal and would be easier,
but which is best?

John L. Odom in Ooltewah, TN

(Very thankful, having walked away unhurt from the wreck of my pick-up truck
which hydroplaned off I-75 in a blinding thunderstorm this morning)

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john the emmerted & other viced galoots discusses the two options on
mounting a patternmakers vice

> One is to cut the bench as in figure one of the instructions and mount the
> vise with the front of the rear jaw almost even with the front edge of the
> bench.
>
> The other, shown in figure three, I think, has the vise mounted with the
> front of the mounting bracket even with the front of the bench and the vise
> jaw standing out some distance.

when i got my first emmert i used option two as i had never seen or
thought of recessing the rear jaw into the bench.  this position was easy
to mount by i've never liked how it projects out so far from the bench.
i've caught boards, clothes, and even myself on the projecting corners.

when i bought my second emmert it came attached to an 1900's bench where
it was receessed into the massive benchslab.  even though this bench
(minus it's vice) now lives with a galoot-lurker rather than my shop where
it never would have fit, i played with the vice quite a bit before i
handed the bench over.

having the vice recessed you can much more easily use it to clamp wide
boards w/ a benchjack or a clamp holding one end of the board to the
benchtop.  it still spun and did all of it's great tricks.  the only
(minor) disadvantage i saw was that you might occassionally lose a pencil
in the gap.  a pretty minor problem if you ask me.

so, recessed it the route i will definately go for my next bench, whenever
that is (which might be sooner rather than later if i get the 5"x20"x10'
cherry slab i left an absentee bid on at an auction this weekend.

-andrew
packing in ithaca for mwtca tomorrow.  see ya.