Bench Vise/Vice Choices

[GazPal]

Simply wondering what others currently use or plan to use as their preferred face vise.

My own preference are Record 52.1/2 and 53 quick release cast bodied vise due to mass and clamping range.

 

[marcros]

i am using an angled leg vice on my bench, made from an axminster/yorke vice screw. This is half constructed, chosen on paper for clamping depth, budget and simplicity.

 

[GazPal]

i am using an angled leg vice on my bench, made from an axminster/yorke vice screw. This is half constructed, chosen on paper for clamping depth, budget and simplicity.

What clamping depth are you targeting?

 

[Vann]

I have a Record No.52 which I purchased back in the late 1970s and final installed (for the first time ) last year.

I find it a little small, and I decided a vise/vice with a dog might be better. So I tracked down a second-hand 52 1/2 D. This is now on the floor in my workshop. Going by past experience it'll probably be pressed into service in 2043 :roll: .

Cheers, Vann.

 

[marcros]

i am using an angled leg vice on my bench, made from an axminster/yorke vice screw. This is half constructed, chosen on paper for clamping depth, budget and simplicity.

What clamping depth are you targeting?

By depth, I mean that I could clamp a door in it if I needed to plane its edge, I may have used the wrong expression.
I dont know what the maximum thickness of timber that it would hold, but I cant see myself needing to use it on anything more than 6" often which it will do comfortably. I think it would cope with 10" + though.

 

[AndyT]

Another vote for the 52 1/2. I have a nice old second hand one which will last my lifetime and a few more.
I recently had a lightbulb moment though - I'd originally fitted it with wood jaws only a little longer than the iron:

but have now upgraded them to about 16" long - better capacity and usefulness and just as good a grip!

(NB I don't wear sandals in the workshop - I just popped in to take the photo, a few weeks ago, when we had this year's summer.)

 

[Jacob]

My two are 52 1/2 (new about 1980) and ditto with a dog (used, £20 but in perfect nick under the rust). Both quick release which is more or less essential IMHO.
Excellent bits of kit and will last a lifetime. You hear stories of edge-holding and racking but it isn't an issue thanks to the two bars and heavy castings keeping the jaws parallel.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

The face vice is a Record 52 (7", quick release, pop-up steel dog). Solid, but wish I'd payed the extra for the 9" now. The tail vice is a Record V176 (6", plain) which has served quite well.

 

[DTR]

I use a Record 52 too. A pair actually, one is in the tail position. I fitted it with a wooden jaw around 12" wide, the rear jaw being the face of the bench. It's not the quick release version which I'm actually quite happy about; I've read a few stories on here of quick release mechanisms failing and it's not a feature I've ever missed.

My only criticism of the Record as a face vice is that it's not easily removable. Once or twice I've wanted to clamp an interior door to the side of the bench, but the vice gets in the way meaning I have to have 2' of door overhanging one end of the bench. For this reason I'm thinking about putting a leg vice on a future bench.

 

[Benchwayze]

At the moment, I use a Record 53 and 1/2 (Or is it 52 1/2?) with a metal dog in the top. It's okay, but not pretty, so I'm going to use my old Paramo 10" again. It's been clamped to the rafters long enough!

I bought two 'York' Vice screws, as I thought about using a leg vice. I intended to use the two screws, connected by a cycle-chain and sprockets, to avoid having to bend down to adjust the sliding board at the bottom.

I fancied something like a Veritas twin screw vice, on-end, and the following is one solution.

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/woodw ... e-leg-vise

But the cycle-chain idea was my fave. Trouble is, my engineering skills aren't good enough to fix the sprockets to the vice-screws, so another idea bit the dust. Then I discovered that LN invented a similar idea.

http://www.finewoodworking.com/ToolGuid ... x?id=33615


EDIT: Found the link for the leg-vice

http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?sku=wb-r


Oh well. the Paramo has always been good to me, and there's nowt wrong with it!

 

[Doug B]

Like Dave, I went for a pair of 52 1/2`s using one as a tail vice on my bench build last Xmas.

I went for large beech jaws so I could drill dog holes that line up with the holes in the bench

So far i`ve been really happy with them.

Cheers.

 

[Paul Chapman]

Why did you put the tail vice on the same end as the front vice, Doug?

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Paul Chapman]

I used to have two Record #52D vices, one as a front vice and the other as a tail vice

They were good but had some shortcomings so I modified my bench and fitted a twin-screw Veritas on the front and the Veritas quick release tail vice, which I find ideal for the way I work

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[DTR]

Paul, I think you need more dog holes

 

[Paul Chapman]

:lol: :lol:

 

[Benchwayze]

I just wish I could transplant my drum, a few feet to the right. Then I could widen the garage, and have a proper size bench and a tail vice.
:mrgreen:

 

[Doug B]

Why did you put the tail vice on the same end as the front vice, Doug?

Cheers :wink:

Paul

Made more sense to me to put it there for the woodwork I do Paul.

I prefer to finish my planing stroke off the table, so I can clamp panels such as the one in the photo & do that. If I planing an awkward shape I can clamp 2 pieces of wood in each vice & they act as a corner bench stop.
Also being right handed when sawing planks off the end of the bench the right hand end is free of hardware to possibly hit (hammer)

I`m not claiming it to be the right way to do it, god forbid :lol: It just works for me :shock:


I think I`ve just had a Paul Sellers moment :lol: :lol: :lol:


Cheers.

 

[Paul Chapman]

I think I`ve just had a Paul Sellers moment :lol: :lol: :lol:

:shock: :shock: :lol:

 

[GazPal]

At the moment, I use a Record 53 and 1/2 (Or is it 52 1/2?) with a metal dog in the top. It's okay, but not pretty, so I'm going to use my old Paramo 10" again. It's been clamped to the rafters long enough!

I bought two 'York' Vice screws, as I thought about using a leg vice. I intended to use the two screws, connected by a cycle-chain and sprockets, to avoid having to bend down to adjust the sliding board at the bottom.

I fancied something like a Veritas twin screw vice, on-end, and the following is one solution.

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/woodw ... e-leg-vise

But the cycle-chain idea was my fave. Trouble is, my engineering skills aren't good enough to fix the sprockets to the vice-screws, so another idea bit the dust. Then I discovered that LN invented a similar idea.

http://www.finewoodworking.com/ToolGuid ... x?id=33615


EDIT: Found the link for the leg-vice

http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?sku=wb-r


Oh well. the Paramo has always been good to me, and there's nowt wrong with it!

I've a Paramo saw vise and wouldn't be without it.

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Simply wondering what others currently use or plan to use as their preferred face vise.

My own preference are Record 52.1/2 and 53 quick release cast bodied vise due to mass and clamping range.

Hi Gary

I replaced a Record 52 1/2 with a leg vise I built with a wooden screw. I would not go back to the Record.

More details here: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTo ... ished.html

Regards from Perth

Derek