A few weeks ago, I replaced the worn out plywood "chops" on my front vise with hardwood chops lined with cork. I find it helpful to mark a couple of lines on the top edges of the chops. The lines mark the outside edges of the guide bars that are a few inches below.
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| Pointing to one of the marked lines |
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| Closer view |
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| How they're located: blade of the square is touching the guide bar |
This way, when I need to clamp a workpiece vertically in the vise, I can butt the piece against the guide bar and align the piece with the marks on the chop. This ensures the workpiece is (very nearly) perpendicular to the benchtop.
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It's perpendicular to the bench, but not exactly vertical due to
the garage floor sloping at about a 1-2° angle |
Here's another one. On the cork that lines the vise chops I've marked a series of lines at 30° to the horizontal top of the vise. For a tool that is challenging to sharpen, this can help. When I line up the tool with the marked lines, the tool's bevel will be approximately horizontal, making it easier to hone the bevel.
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| Marking 30° lines on the rear chop |
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| Clamped an incannel gouge along one of those lines |
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| This makes sharpening the incannel gouge less difficult |
I've found these to be helpful time-savers; hopefully you will too.
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