My bench has three vises. The seven foot bench has two wilton quick release
vises with dogs and the other end has an Emmert's pattern makers vice. The
bench dogs align with the two wiltons . I faced them with Wenge after
stripping them and painting them. They were bought at the flea market for
$17 each.
I am not sure I ever used the dogs to clamp but got plenty of use from the
two vises. Then, I brought the Emmert's home from the tool swap. I am not
sure I have used the Wiltons in the years since I installed the Emmerts.
max

Armed with a large cup of coffee, several plans printed off the internet
and a copy of "The Workbench Book" I proceeded to shamelessly steal and mix
a bunch of ideas together to create my future bench this morning. As of
now, the base for the new workbench is roughed out and dry fitted. What
really needs to happen next is I have to make some decisions on the vises
before I build the top. I've done some research here, but would like to get
some opinions to help with the final decision. So far, the Veritas twin
screw looks good for the tail, (unless anyone has another suggestion to look
into), so the dilemma is mainly on the front vise. The "Tucker" vise from
Lee Valley looks like the cadillac of vises, but also has a cadillac price
of $550, there are imported knockoff patternmakers vises for less, but I'm
unsure if I need a patternmakers vise anyway. I prefer hand cut joinery,
and am learning to carve so the vice should be able to accommodate those
tasks. Also, I'm not against just buying a screw and building the jaws.
Anyone have a suggestion or preference I can look into? Any input
appreciated. --dave