Good day humanoids,
I have just received my wonder pups ( I purchased a pair) and felt compelled to let the world know. If you have an inside line to the world, please explain the situation, let them know that I am always open to a bung.
I am building a bench and I initially planned to include a wagon vise, giving the matter some thought I opted instead for wonder pups and a doe’s foot. I was not happy with the wagon vise in the Chris Schwartz workbench book, Mr Schwartz has said since, that it is not a great design. I thought through the issues with the Schwartz design and came up with a couple of designs which solved the weaknesses but, I wasn’t sold on the resulting vises. The best wagon vise for a Nicholson bench is an all metal assembly. All metal wagon vise assemblies are very expensive, Veritas makes a vise which is similar to a wagon vise for 100 pounds but it has issues which are well documented in reviews. The Veritas version has a small modified bench dog which drops into a couple of holes. This part doesn’t fit correctly so the jaw/modified bench dog pops out when you attempt to tighten the vise. I contacted Veritas and I asked about the issue and they promptly replied. Veritas seemed to be saying that they had manufactured a number of vises using incorrect specifications, hence the problem. I still wasn’t convinced and the handle for the vise would permanently get in the way of my shooting board. I started thinking about the wagon vise and what I was specifically going to do with it. When carrying out tasks which are not common, when compared to a doe’s foot and a hold down or a wonder pup, the benefits of a wagon vise are slight. A wagon vise means losing the solidity of the right hand corner of the bench, the mechanism clogs up the corner of the bench and it pushes the row of dog holes further from the front of the bench and I would have to build the vise myself ( the only decent metal alternatives are either too expensive or not currently available ) requiring significant input. All this for a negligible benefit; I thought through the issue time after time and without exception I came to the same conclusions. So I will use the wonder pups if I have to hold unusually shaped pieces, wide pieces, for diagonal planing and probably if I am holding a jig or fixture as these are generally made using 19mm MDF or plywood. The wonder pups are not essential to using the bench, I purchased them prior to purchasing the more useful hold downs so I could ensure they would fit in holes in the end of the bench, for storage. Storing the various dogs, hold downs, shims, planing stops is something which I am going to try to do within the bench itself. Looking at the benefits of a wagon vise surprised me, I realized that the popularity of wagon vises is a trend. One of the woodworkers I admire and who makes benches for a living has said he wouldn’t put a wagon vise on a bench he built for himself.
So providing the work is more than 18mm thick wonder pups allow diagonal planing for scrubbing, they are well made, very effective and on occasion, they will be the work holding solution that nothing else will equal. But they are expensive and they are of limited use because they are 16 mm thick and the threaded rod is tapped at a 3 degree angle, meaning the bar sits higher than 16mm ( the doe’s foot is useful across a much wider range of work due to its lower profile ).Everything considered I don’t think wonder pups are great value for money unless you have a specific use which can only be accomplished using the wonder pups.
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Hey Giles, how’s it going? I’m finally a member and have had my basic woodwork induction so am hoping to kick of my first project in the space shortly. Probably an overbuilt cajon (drum box thingy).
Do you have any tips for holding a c.30cm wide board for cutting dovetails on the benches at the space? I’ve only been there for the induction, but they didn’t look ideally set up for hand work.
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I would think that you need to use a moxxon which can be clamped to the bench top.
I think that Mark ( lewiss is his user name)and Ryan have moxxons. I expect you will be able to borrow, if you ask. The bench for the track saw has large aprons, I imagine it would be simple enough to clamp straight on to the apron whilst sawing the dovetails. The school benches are pretty basic. At least you will be able to benefit from the machinery.
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