I will be showing how I mounted my vise but remember each vise will be different. The one I am using is a very old woodworking vise, made of heavy cast iron but with a short handle. It came from an old tool auction many years ago and has been waiting for me to put it somewhere. I decided not to clean it up and repaint it, the look of old suits me just fine.
One of the reasons I went with four layers of MDF was this vise. Its mounting depth was just over 3 inches which equals 4 thickness of ¾ MDF. I want to enclose the jaw in wood so a spacer of ½ plywood was added to the vise.
This gives puts the top of the vise jaw just a bit less that ½ inch below the bench top.
The vise hangs below the top so the top front stretcher will have to be notched out for clearance. The first step was to build a pattern for the notch. I set a piece of scrap and traced around it. Cut out the waste and adjust to clear.
The pattern was placed against the stretcher in a position to make sure the cutout would not interfere with the mounting bolts. A reference line was drawn on the pattern and stretcher.
The pattern was used to mark the cut out on the stretcher. Because we are cutting out a big chunk of the stretcher, it was also used to make a reinforcement piece from ½ plywood and a short piece of the stretcher material. The whole thing was glued and clamped then trimmed as necessary.
Now turn the top over. Be careful it is very heavy, the equivalent of 1 ½ sheets of MDF. Set the top into its final position. With the dimensions I choose, the top overhangs the base by 11/2 inch. I mounted the vise and its spacer in position and clamped them together.
Now turn the top back over. The top seems a lot heavier this time and it is not just the vise base. Mount the base and spacer using lag bolts and #14 screws. Reassemble the vise and get ready to turn it over again.
This time of night it is really heavy. Line the top up and screw the top to base from the bottom. I used 10 3 inch long sheet rock screws. Two at each end and three on each stretcher.
It looks complete but we still need to add the apron. The bench can be used now to build the apron and tool tray. That is for another day. Time to turn out the lights and get a nice Pete’s Wicked Winter Brew.