Roubo - LN Tail-vise placement Question

[WoodTinker]

Question???:

If you were to build a 6' long 22" wide Roubo bench with the traditional joinery of the legs going thru the top and wanted to add a LN tail-vise on the right-front, How far from the right-front leg would you put it?

I am thinking of at least 3". Or ????

There will be a leg vise on the left-front leg.

[Mike Brady]

I would call them and ask them the clearance/overhang required for that vise. I know that when I checked I did not have enough overhang for that on my Schwarz/German-style bench. They are difficult to retro-fit as well. They may have a full-scale layout available for planning your installation. Just ask. They are helpful.

[WoodTinker]

The question is not for the vise. The question is about the wood thickness of the Workbench top between the leg and the Tail-Vise using the double tenons and the front tenon being a dovetail.

If the leg was at the end of the tail vise, I do not think there would be enough wood there from the dovetail tenon.

[Anji12305]

There's one on my joinery bench.

It's 4" from the leg. Total overhand is under 24".
******

If you've never used a sliding tail vise before, on another bench
I would urge you to reconsider the choice.

Mine is the LEAST used vise in my shop.

I have a removable central batten in my planing bench that allows me
to hold most anything in place, without clamping it down.

The sliding leg vise is a fixture that is use primarily to hold long
planks flat on a joinery bench. It can also be used to pinch odd shapes in the opening (which can be handy) or to pull assemblies
apart.

In my opinon, the same basic features of a sliding leg vise
can be emulated with holdfasts and battens - at lower expense
and without the annual 2 weeks where humidity renders it immobile.

(That's now, for me - probably until Labor Day.

[wmickley]

Andre Roubo illustrates maybe a dozen benches in his work. There are three types of leg joinery: 1. the through tenons of Plate 11, 2. tenons that go to about an inch and a half from the top and are visible from the front surface, and 3. hidden tenons. Of all the benches, only the German bench has a tail vise.

The German bench has the second type of joinery. I think this is better than what you planned because with a through tenon you have a short piece of the top that is not well connected to anything. A heavy blow could break it off. Note that the dog holes are on either side of the leg and should figure in your planning.

Here is Plate 279


Warren

[WoodTinker]

wmickley said:

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Andre Roubo illustrates maybe a dozen benches in his work. There are three types of leg joinery: 1. the through tenons of Plate 11, 2. tenons that go to about an inch and a half from the top and are visible from the front surface, and 3. hidden tenons. Of all the benches, only the German bench has a tail vise.

The German bench has the second type of joinery. I think this is better than what you planned because with a through tenon you have a short piece of the top that is not well connected to anything. A heavy blow could break it off. Note that the dog holes are on either side of the leg and should figure in your planning.

Here is Plate 279


Warren

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Thanks Warren!! This helped me tremendously.

Just thinking out loud.

Would 3 through tenons and one 1 1/2 inch tenon from the top (for tail vise) be good? Maybe notch the leg (which are 5" x 5") an inch or 2 to make the leg meet the start of the tail vise.

Thoughts???

[WoodTinker]

Notching the leg would prevent a bench dog on the right of that leg.

Or put in a notch in the right front leg for accessing the right bench dog.