The front vise is way more useful if you incorporate a sliding board jack into
the design of your bench. Then you have a support point for working on larger
boards, without having to balance stock in vise jaws. Freestanding board jacks
are also an option, but the sliding board jack seems more robust to me. And
compact. Essentially, you need to include a groove under the front edge of the
bench for the top of the jack to run in, and have the front rail far enough
forward so the jack can run on a batten along the top.


The tail vise with dog holes gets the most use on a bench, I find. But I don't
see why you wouldn't use both on your bench. I'd finish the tail vise first, and
add the front vise later, since the tail vise and dog holes are more of an
integral part of the benchtop.


The vise I use most frequently is a 3 1/2" jaw blacksmiths' leg vise. The trick
is to set up the design of the bench so the tail vise will clamp a block of wood
to mount the vise, and extend one of the bench feet to socket the vise leg. I
eventually put threaded brass inserts into the benchtop to bolt direct.


Smartest thing I ever did in my shop was to layout every chisel and screwdriver
set when I made the back tray and have sockets for all of them. Otherwise wasted
space, but keeps everything organized.


Holdfasts will clamp stuff that otherwise cannot be clamped. If you layout the
holes when you build the top. you can worry about finding good holdfasts later.


My 2 cents.