Great question...without trying it I can't say for sure; but thinking about it this second, it may work just as well. The only thing is the boxing in the back may be a little more difficult. We just recently boxed in our parallel guides to help them run smoother and prevent them from sagging- worked really well. I suppose you could install some blocks behind the apron and drill the same size hole through for an easy way to create the blocking. best of luck with the build!

Had the same exact thought! Please do let us know if you end up trying it because I have a hard wood dowel in hand (used to be an old tool handle) and I would love to use that!

I plan to give it a go tomorrow, I'll let you know how it turns out! My plan at the moment is to make one block, screwed to the underside of the top surface, with a hole drilled through it to support the dowel, probably placed 10-15cm from the inside of the apron on my bench. I think I'll also cut the dowel 10-15cm longer than the threaded screw on the vice, that way it shouldn't come out of the block even if the jaws are at max opening. I'm not sure if it'll give enough support - certainly won't be as sturdy as boxing in the guide as Tom describes.

Mostly successful... A few things that I learnt along the way: 1. Sanding the length of the dowel - except the section glued into the jaw of the vice to slightly reduce the diameter and the inside of the holes through the apron and the supporting block helped it to move more smoothly. 2. Applying wax to the dowel also movement. 3. Fitting the block was mostly trial and error to find the right place. 4. Buy your dowel then drill the hole... don't drill a hole then go and hope there's dowel that fits!

electroritz thank you so much for the update mate!! do you feel that the vice is at all wobbly or do you still get a strong hold? does it stay parallel to the bench? can you grab pieces of wood on the outer side of the screw without loosing the parallel holding? And finally, regarding the supporting block, I am guessing that it just has the same diameter hole drilled into it?? Sorry for asking so many questions, but I'm just so excited that someone actually went ahead tried this with a dowel!

Thanks Maddie- happy you're enjoying the work. all the best in your creative journey.

+Fester Adams Many thanks!

Thanks for the comments Jeff! Very much appreciated~; )

Thanks Bill!

BearKat Wood buona L’idea ma pessimo il formato. Forse bastava licenziare il cameraman e impostare la fotocamera sull’autofocus

+Edward Kennedy good to hear- many thanks and best of luck with the new shop.

+Tim Kotanko Thanks Tim! Very much appreciated. I hope you do make it up this way one day. all the best to you~

+Nicolás Salgado excellent~ happy to help!

+Woodnerd excellent! Hope the video helps. You'll find pdf. and sketch up files on the UW website....follow the links at the end of the video-; )

+neil atkinson Thanks Neil- very much appreciated!

+Tom Fidgen very welcome

Thanks David!

+John Morris Thanks John- great points. Much appreciated!

+Jonathan Simmonds Much appreciated-; )

Happy to hear it helped! all the best~

I have to definitely agree.

Brian Mills holy shit i had to skip video due to lack of focus. at least i learned what its called. maybe someonw else made a more in focus video.

The video was out of focus? What a relief, I thought it was me. I'm going to install this on my own michelson, and I'm going to put a big number 6 on the apron, so it will look just like Tom's.

+Jesemanuel Ramirez Thanks for the comments- happy to hear this vice will be an option for you. As for more videos, we're working on them-; ) many thanks and all the best~

+Cordless Carpenter It's good to finally have the time to post new videos! Thanks for the comments~

+norm1124 Thanks Norm!

Many thanks~

+Raymond Charon Thanks Raymond~ good to hear.

Thanks! Yes, more to come....

Thank you-

+Brad Lloyd Thanks Brad!

+bob Last Thanks Bob!

Thanks Gwen!

+Nick Stokes (Coach Nick Stokes) it's my pleasure! all the best~

+cavamanara I think the videographer is trying to do a focus fade as a sort of softer cut to the next scene. I think it would be better to not take so long focus-fading to the next scene. I agree that can get a little annoying at times.

+rdouthwaite ; ) cheers!

+Guillermo Janner Many thanks!

+Jeff Forbes Thanks Jeff! Very much appreciated~

+Tony Miller. I'm wondering if it was manual focus but yeah it was a bit distracting. I kept trying to blink to clear my eyes LOL

+Tony Miller Great work almost made hard to watch due to the focus issues,

I agree. I'm a first time watcher and if I hadn't read the comments, this would have probably been the last video I would have watched, but it sounds like this is atypical.

ouch not alone, the poor vocal audio was drowned out by the music which got really annoying

Agreed

+Günter Schöne Thanks Gunter- the live edge was a nice coincidence. We left it as it will be great when sawing dovetails at a 45 degree angle- the edge of the vice won't get in the way- all the best!

Aha, okay

+David Clarke LOL- thanks for the question and comments! Yeah, my eyes aren't getting any younger either-; ) but as for the vice...it's easy/quick and inexpensive to make and does a great job holding. "pretty decent" was definitely an understatement. cheers!

Thanks Gary- this vice is very accessible. We enjoyed making and using them at the UW Toronto. all the best~

nice job you schould check out my channel would be cool

+Humus Workshop Many thanks!

+Brian Ernste Thanks Brian! We have a lot of new content planned for the channel- stay tuned!

+Adam Craig thanks Adam!

Yes and great music too

Thanks John!

Tom Fidgen deserved

Thanks Jordan- much appreciated and well said. I never worry too much about the negative comments-; ) you can't please everyone! all the best~

+Zitto Rossi Muito obrigado! tudo de melhor ~

Thanks Paul- maybe we'll catch up on my next trip down under. I would love to visit Sydney one of these years. Do you have a website showing your work? I'd be curious to see the snare drums. Sounds like you have a nice hand plane collection on the go-; )) watch out- it's a slippery slope! all the best~

Hi Tom, I don't have a website where you could see my work, sorry. I do have photos of all the drums, both acoustic & electronic I've built over approx. the last 10 yrs. I also build electric guitars & I'm currently experimenting with Australian grown Paulownia as a tone wood for solid body guitars. You probably have a Fb page so I'll post some pics on mine for you to check out. Yes you are right, it is a slippery slope! She Who Must Be Obeyed (my long suffering spouse) is often at her wits end when she sees another 'must have' hand tool coming through the door! However I have recently admitted to myself that I do have just too many hand planes so two early 1900's British made Record No. 4 smoothers are being sold as I just don't ever use them, they just sit there as I only ever use the Stanley Sweethearts. I've just found a guy here in Sydney who forges holdfasts from 1" round bar & only charges $15 AUD each for them so I'll be using those in favour of the fiddly bench clamps with star knobs that have to be screwed and unscrewed add infinitum. I've checked out several of your vids now and am in awe of the Unplugged Workshop. We visited Canada in 2010 started in Vancouver and made our way by train to Jasper, rental car across the Icefield Parkway and then plane from Calvary to as far east as Montreal. So Toronto and a visit to the UW next time! Cheers

sounds good- indeed, come for a visit next time. cheers!

+Helio Thanks for the comments.

+thebr00klynz00 LOL- missed you too!

Thanks!

+José Grau Gracias!

+jmber27 many thanks!

Thanks Rod- this one isn't on any of my albums, but if you drop me an email I'd be happy to send along an mp4 file. you can find me at: tom at the unplugged woodshop dot com cheers~