Another view of the hold-fast

 

For years I clamped the seat blanks of my miniature chairs directly to the top of the bench using the existing bench dogs. This had several draw-backs. The face of the dog could easily mar the sides of the blank. Requiring more effort on my part to sand out. The dogs themselves were in the way, both of my hands as I worked, and the chisel I carved with. I also had to reclamp the seat blank between the dogs repeatedly as I rotated the seat to carve it. So I came up with the clamping jig shown in these photos. The long lower platen secures the jig to the bench top, while at the same time keeping the bench-dogs well out of the work area around the seat. The upper block holds the seat with small L-shaped buttons that can be tightened or loosened as neccessary. The upper plate turns like a lazy-susan, so I don't have to keep unclamping, turning and then reclamping the seat blank as I carve. This clamp works great with only two drawbacks. The first has to do with working height. When clamped to the bench the saddle being carved was to low for me to carve comfortably.  I either have to bend over. Stooping over the work. Or squat uncomfortably in front of the bench. The need to raise the work up to a comfortable height is the main reason I decided that it made sense for me to build the mini-bench. I am still working on one thing. When I carve, I rest my hand next to the work-piece. In the course of carving, the side of my left hand or one of the knuckles repeatedly rubs against one or another of the buttons. By the end of a day of carving a batch of seats, I usually have a blister or raw spot on my hand. I'm still looking for a tweak to elimenate this problem. Good night.

Carving hold-fast for saddling miniature chair seats

The min-bench vise's movable jaw

 

This drawing shows the layout of the front, or moving jaw, of the bench vise. One of the issues I inadvertantly created for myself was one of scale. I outsmarted myself once again. I drew the three construction drawings full size so that anyone wishing to make a similar vise for themselves would not have to fuss around to much. However to load these diagrams into the blog I had to reduce their size in Paint before inserting them in the blog. So one act cancels another. I just tried copying this image and reloading it back into paint to see if I could re-size it back to the original 8-1/2 inches by 11 inches. No luck.

 

The simple truth is that you can position the holes for the screws, bolts, and even the holes for the screw as you wish. The locations I used are somewhat arbitrary, and not based on anything but personal whim. Looking back, it might make sense to lower the height of the holes for the bench screw a little. I didn't leave alot of meat between the top of the threads and the top edge of the rabbet in the back side of the fixed jaw. This is compensated for by the rabbet being lag-bolted up against the bottom of the bench. If you intend to use a larger diameter tap and die set, I would definately drop the height of the hole a little. The main concern in laying out the multiple holes in the blocks that make up the jaw is that you don't cause one screw to interfer with another. One of the iron laws of physics, if there is such a thing as an iron law in physics these days. At least in the reality of my shop, given the multi-verse, you still can't put two things in the same space.

The assembled vise ready for use

 

Not much more needs to be said. I purchased small bench-dogs from Rockler. They are plastic. Bummer! They require 3/4 inch diamter holes a little over 1-3/4 inches deep to seat properly. But they come four to a package, and are reasonably priced. I leave the extra length of the garter long. This gives me purchase with my hands or a tightened twin-screw hand clamp to lever the the garter free from the mortise if I need to pull the garter out. Garter thickness is like Goldilock's porridge. To loose the garter falls out. To tight and the screw may bind and not turn freely. Just right is well just right. Sand or plane down an over-tight garter. Check the fit as you insert the garter and don't slam it in all the way until you are happy with the fit. If the garter is to loose, drill and insert a small screw through the inner face of the movable jaw and on into the body of the garter locking it it position.