Vise recommendations

Re: Vise recommendations

Jim in Burlington Ontario

>LV sells some good ones cheap enough and solid.

Re: Vise recommendations

R.J.Whelan

>Stephen ... I have a couple of Record 52-1/2 vises and am very happy with them. They are in your price range too. You'll have to laminate some material to the underside of your bench top to bring the top lip of the vise level (or slightly below) benchtop level.

You may find that having the vise in the middle of the bench to be a problem - it'll be in the way for just about every non-vise related task. I you're right handed I'd suggest putting the vise at the left end of the bench with the centre-line of the vise being 12-18" from the end.

There are some fairly inexpensive bench screws (Rockler and Woodcraft) that you can mount one the right (short) end of the bench that will give you a pretty effective end vise (of sorts).

Good luck .... rj

Re: Vise recommendations

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>1. Consider a leg vise. You can buy the screws for about $50 ($57 plus shipping from Woodcraft online, including the handle; search for "bench screw" and troll around), and the wood should run you less than the remaining $40. Some of us here absolutely love leg vises, and I'm hoping to get some time to replace the experiment currently on my bench with one some time soon (ha!). The Workbench Book, almost certainly available at your friendly local library, has a pretty decent discussion of leg vises.

2. Watch eBay for vises - I was surprised to discover that people sell them, since they weigh so much.

Re: Vise recommendations

Tony Zaffuto

>I would second the E_ _ _ route. However, before you buy: 1. know the vise! There are some really good old ones out there cheap (Morgan, etc. etc.) 2. Request the shipping charges before you buy! Some of these vises weigh 40 pounds or more and the shipping may be more than the cost of the vise. Don't just bid on the first or prettiest!

Amen...

Scott in Douglassville, PA

>Leg vises rock! Put one on my new bench - not only was it fun to reuse an old massive screw, but the vise was fun to build and has changed the way I work. And, for me, that's a good thing. Now if I could only get a new handle turned...

Re: Amen...

Joe Rogers, Northern Virginia

>Hi Scott. How have you been turning the screw up till now? I agree that a nice handle will complement the vise wich is very sharp looking.

On another note...Have you recovered from the mishap to your hand? If your recovery is like mine you should be very functional at the worst and maybe even mostly normal looking:-)JR

Re: Amen...

Scott in Douglassville, PA

>Hi, Joe -

I've got a stick of poplar (stop laughing) that I rounded over with a spokeshave that I run through the hole and use to crank on. Crude, but effective.

Hand's ugly, but mostly working, thanks for asking. Still hurts, especially when the weather changes, but I'm able to play guitar again, even sans that joint. Glad yours is up to par.

Scott

Re: Amen...

Jack Guzman from Maine

>That sure is a pretty leg vise.Mine is old and crude but very effective. I couldn't get by without it.I bought a piece of pipe threaded on both ends and put pipe caps on it.Of course,it looks right on my vise.I don't think I'd even notice a fancy handle once I get busy using it so why bother.---Jack

Nice gams...or should I say gam.

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>

Re: Amen...

Joe Rogers, Northern Virginia

>Up to Par...Not exactly...more like functional and disfigured. Not heinous to look at but it gets in the way sometimes. I don't think I could play guitar with mine if it was on the left hand. You sound like you are getting to the point where it won't figure in your thoughts much. That is a good thing. The caution it brings will stay with you forever. Another good thing. JR

Vice recommendations

Mark Harrison -- in Sydney, Australia

>One you haven't tried before or the one that seems the most fun.

Oh, Vise... :-)

(Sorry I couldn't resist :-)

Leg Vise *LINK*

Jim Shaver, Oakville Ontario

>Hi,

I built a leg vise on my shaker bench, it's been a great choice for me!

take care,

Jim


My Bench

Re: Vise recommendations

Stephen Kirk in Quakertown PA

>Thanks for all the reply,s everyone. I like the look of that leg vice, but it may be more work than I want to get into at the moment. Assuming I go with a normal face vice, does anyone have recommendations for the solid iron kind that already have a front and back face, or am I better off just getting the screw and mounting hardware and building the rest myself. Seems like you can save a bundle buy building the faces yourself (which, really, doesn't seem to be all that difficult - cut rectangle from piece of hardwood, round edges slightly, drill holes). My local Woodcraft has a 10% off day tomorrow, so I'll probably pick up what I need then.

Re: Vise recommendations

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>Never having made one of those wood-and-metal face vises, I can't speak from experience, but I don't see how making a leg vise could be any more complicated. If you're looking for simple, I'd go with a regular all-metal vise (though with thin wood or leather covering the vise jaws to prevent dents in the wood you're working).

Re: Vise recommendations

Jack Guzman from Maine

>The only difficult thing about a leg vise is getting a big enough piece of wood to make it out of.The only hardware is the bench screw.---Jack

I've been thinking

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>Our local borg has had birch 1x4, 1x6, etc. for not too horrid a price. I've been wondering if it would be feasible to laminate three or four pieces of this into a 3x4 vise jaw. Since the screw operates on the outside of the jaw, and you could put your pivot on the very inside lamination, it should be possible to build one that didn't delaminate when you cranked down on it.

When the round tuits finally migrate back to Sebastopol from wherever the heck they've flown, I'm going to try it.

Re: Vise recommendations

Stephen Kirk in Quakertown PA

>Well, after looking around, I settled on the Groz vice from Woodcraft. Smooth action, pretty easy to mount. Screw holes for wood faces. a resin type bench dog upfront (so you don't ding up blades as easily). Now I just have to get it mounted on my bench. That will probably be a Saturday morning job. I was also looking at the Wilton at Woodcraft, but I wasn't happy with how the bench dog worked - it seemed very hard to move up and down. The removable, angled face was nice, but not enough to sway me over.

Thanks for all the input everyone! I may build up a real woodshop yet, instead of just a conglomeration of tools and jigs laying around (or wait, that is a real woodshop, isn't it).

Re: Vise recommendations

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>I've mounted and used a Groz. It's a decent vise, if you can get used to the quick release action. (I prefer the Record's mechanism. For day-in-and-day-out work it is quicker, less tiring and more reliable, but we'll have to wait for Anant to put that mechanism back into production before we see any more of those.) Other than that, the mounting procedures and options for the Groz are the same as for the Record, which are well documented in The Workbench Book.

I never use the built-in metal dogs that these vises come equipped with. Instead, I attach an oversized hard maple face with two round dog holes drilled in the top of the face. Note that the longer you make the face the more prone to racking when things are clamped near one end of the jaw, so restrain yourself when cutting the front jaw. There are other trade-offs as well. The thicker you make the jaw (hoping to increase the length while minimizing racking), the smaller your maximum opening.