Musings on what to do with my Emmert clone.

[Texfire]

I'm conflicted on what to do vis a vis my Emmert clone and the guild build Roubo. I bought the vice from Woodcraft when I saw it was being discontinued, at that point I was wanting a pattern maker's vice for holding carvings at various angles. I still want to do so, but am considering building a purpose build carving bench for that purpose, one I can use inside my house to take advantage of the natural light available in one corner of the living room.

I could use the clone on the Roubo, either mounting it in a face vice position instead of the leg vice, or mounted at the end, replacing the tail vice. Since I've never used a leg vice, I'm not sure how much I'm losing if I replace it, same goes for the tail vice, though I think I understand how they work better by watching Shannon's videos on his Roubo. One train of thought is to build the under carriage standard Roubo, but build the split top with two torsion boxes for ease of replacement with a conventional solid laminated top at a later date when I've settled on a vice arrangement. An advantage to this would be quicker mounting of the vices in the interim, but at the possible cost of solidity?

Another option would be installing the leg vice, wagon vice on one end and the clone on the other end. That would allow me to play with each, but I'm leery of making the mistake of trying to design the workbench equivalent of a Leatherman.

I could mount the clone on the carving bench, grafting a tilting doghole surface, a carvers screw and the Emmert clone into a Frankenstein's carving bench.

I also could mount it onto my current Sjoberg bench and play with it for awhile. I may decide that it's a waste of space.

Any other suggestions on what I should do with this cast iron albatross?

[capnjack2]

Texfire, I think you will be using the clone for very different woodworking projects than what the Roubo was designed for. Here's how I picture it. The Roubo seems to be used principally for cabinetmaking and other flat work. Your Emmert clone belongs on a bench dedicated to carving. This bench should have storage for carving tools, etc. The Roubo, on the other hand, will sit in a shop with your hand tools right nearby, possibly in a wall-hanging cabinet! My opinion is that you should build the Roubo, full-size, with all of its original equipment. Then you should build a "Petit-Roubo", just large enough for your carving work. Got your work cut out for you. Good luck!

Jack

[Texfire]

Thanks for the feedback Jack, I'm leaning towards that way.

[Dyami Plotke]

Texfire, I think you will be using the clone for very different woodworking projects than what the Roubo was designed for. Here's how I picture it. The Roubo seems to be used principally for cabinetmaking and other flat work. Your Emmert clone belongs on a bench dedicated to carving. This bench should have storage for carving tools, etc. The Roubo, on the other hand, will sit in a shop with your hand tools right nearby, possibly in a wall-hanging cabinet! My opinion is that you should build the Roubo, full-size, with all of its original equipment. Then you should build a "Petit-Roubo", just large enough for your carving work. Got your work cut out for you. Good luck!

Jack

I agree with Jack. Put the Emmert clone on a carving bench and let the Roubo be the beast of burden for less delicate work.