Leg Vise

[Jason28]

I'm closing in on finishing my knock-down English workbench. It's been a trial with the doug fir tearing out if I look sideways at it, and the top refuses to stay flat, though it's getting better. My issue now is the leg vise, specifically the parallel guide. I tired using a 3/4" steel rod and bushings I had laying around (saw it online somewhere), but that didn't work so well since my drill press table shifted a degree or two while drilling.

So now that I have these holes on the chop and leg, I figure I'll just put a traditional parallel guide there instead. The bench and chop are douglas fir, so I assume some straight grained, dry fir would work. Or should I consider another species just for kicks?

[Axehandle]

The harder the better for a parallel guide.  No reason to cheap out on it since it is just one board.  I don't deny that fir may be adequate but for my money I would go with oak at least.  There is a lot of pressure on the pin that holds the parallel guide in place when you torque down on something real hard.