Workbench - Leg Vise

Over the last week, I've been working on the chop for the leg vise on my workbench.  I'm making it from a piece of 2" thick hard maple,  which made it a good workout to rip it to size by hand.  To reduce the weight of the chop, the bottom half is trimmed where it isn't used for clamping.  To make it look nice, I added a curved transition, which I cut with my new bow saw that I bought while at the Handworks Tool Show in Amana, IA a month ago.  It basically functions like a coping saw, but on a bigger scale.  I was glad to have this saw, but cutting these curves in the thick stock was a lot of work, even with the most coarse blade.

I used auger bits, chisel, and then a rasp to create the hole for the wooden screw to go through.  Then I cut a through mortise to mount the parallel guide.

The parallel guide is made from 5/8" hard maple.  It will be glued into the mortise in the chop and then it will slide through the mortise that I cut into the bench leg.  The purpose of the parallel guide is to keep the chop from racking.  Also, there is a series of holes drilled into it.  A pin will go through one of the holes to set the distance that the chop is away from the leg.  This distance should match the thickness of the piece being clamped and keep the chop flat against the piece.

Soon I should have some pictures up of the entire bench assembled and will try to include some pictures on how this vise works.