Having only observed face and shoulder vises being used, I have a question.
(The only vise I have ever used personally is my WorkMutt).

I guess that I cannot see the advantages of a standard face (or worse yet,
metal like a Record) vise over a shoulder vise. It would appear to have
limited depth, and be terribly subject to racking without various offsetting
gymnastics. By contrast, there is no racking with a shoulder vise and you
can clamp anywhere behind the screw.

Now, I can see where the face vise does answer some of the disadvantages of
the shoulder vise - it's ungainly big on the corner of your bench, and maybe
there are other problems I haven't thought about. The disadvantages of the
face vise don't seem (to me) to outweigh the advantages.

At times I have toyed with building Paul Pederson's multi-mode vise
(http://pages.infinit.net/perrons/Paul/Woodwork/Workbench/Woodvise/woodvise.
html) and I think that Jack's shoulder vise "insert" for his face vise is
brilliant. Still, why bother with the shoulder vise at all?

It occurs to me that you gain the advantage of clamping boards flat between
dogs in the top of the vise, but isn't that handled just as well by either
an end vise or a well placed holdfast?

Rob, quandrying in Peoria
1960 Anniversary Shopsmith Mk V Brownie
www.jlatech.com/rob/Woodworking/Knowledge%20Base.htm
 
Wood shavings on the floor! Wood shavings on the floor!
 

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