Vise question

[MelNM]

Hi folks I was wanting to get an opinion from all of the folks that have holding vises. I have a homemade job that doesn't work that well. It tends to move around quite a bit when I do mallet work. So I need to know what you think of yours?
Thanks
Mel

[Dan S]

I have a Jerry Rig vise. It's not too bad but I hear the new one is better. I wil be buying a Tucker Vise from Lee Valey in January. I plan to use that for most of my mallet work.

Dan

[Joy]

I have a Jerry Rig that I love. I don't do a lot of heavy mallet work, but I haven't had any problems when I do.

[markken5889]

Hi Mel,

I have a Veritas carvers vise from Lee Valley, and think it's great. Check it out on their web site.

Mark

[RoadKingMN]

I have a Veritas vise. The handle is made of plastic and it broke. I don't think I'm that strong. I e-mailed Veritas and they are sending me a new handle at no charge. I hope this one holds up better. I am impressed with the customer service from Veritas. Another vise that looks interesting is found at Woodcarvers Vice Since I am getting a replacement handle from Veritas I won't have a need for another vise but I liked the look of the other one.

[Mottles]

Hi Mel, as we have talked I have the Rock with a pana vice base. As I mentioned I wouldn't recommend it for heavy mallet work. Light work it's great hold the work well and has a nice variety of positions.
If and when I buy another vise it will be a Jerry Rig as the other's have mentioned. Before I made my decision thought I'd like to see the wooden carving arm too.
Dan, I hope you will let us know how you like the 'Tucker Vise' I'd be very interested for sure. As I can't see how much longer I'll be able to use my Rock Vise. As I mentioned to Mel in any early message chat my hubby removed the plastic knob on my Rock and replaced it with a bolt of equal size thread and gave me a rachet to tighten it down. Which really helped a lot!
Mel thanks for posing the 'vise question' it will help me too for future purchase.
Kathy

[xsailer]

Years ago long before I took up carving I had an opportunity to buy a Wilton Pow-R-Arm from a friend for $50. She had two. Kept it on a shelf for years until I saw it in the Woodcraftshop catalog(pg 60). $359! Got it out, put on my table and couldn't be more pleased with a holder for my carving work. Expensive now but a good holder.

[Canopener]

For whatever it is worth; I use my shop vise. It is "The Bulldog" made by Larin, and is a 5" multi use vise. The base swivels 360 degrees and the jaws spin 360 degrees, so you have a lot of options. It has regular jaws and pipe jaws that work well for woodspirits, walking sticks etc. I got it from Sam's for about $50.00.
It is made for steel work so you can beat or torque on it till the bench leaves the ground. That bench has to be close to 500 lbs
But it has many drawbacks as well; like if a tool slips and hits the vise, that tool will be making a trip to Seattle [Rick] You have to be creative in protecting your carving as well. Every piece seems to bring a new challenge; but you can make it work, and it is heavy duty and useful in many other aspects of woodcarving etc.
Jim

[Kenny_S]

Watch out Mel, The "Vise Squad will be knocking on your door..

"What'ca go'in to do when they come for you"Sorry Mel, couldn't resist.
Bad Boy, Bad Boy!!!!

'

[MelNM]

Kenny go stand in the corner, that definitely was badTalking

Kathy I think with your advice I'll steer away from the Panavise, I want something I can really take out my frustrations on. Wink

Veritas vise is pretty reasonable for the work I want to do. How big of a carving can you put on it?

I've also thought about the Jerry Rig, it seems to be a good vise. I need to look into it some more.

I did email Veritas and asked them if they made a metal handle that could replace the plastic one.

I also thought about a shop vise like the bulldog vise, but I think the draw back to it is your limited to the angles you have to work with, same with the Tucker vise, which I thought was a pretty neat vise in it self.

Roadking I checked out the website your talking about and that Vise is similar to the one I have, probably a good vise but I'm leery of that type right now, it too was a decent price though. The other thing I saw is they used hold down clamps/ C clamps and those babies don't hold well enough when your using a mallet. But they did have a way to bolt them on to the bench. I might email them and ask them some questions, I tell you what whoever the wood carver is that uses that vise sure is talented though.

I haven't been able to find the Wilton Power Arm vise, but like you said thats a little expensive for my allowance.

Thanks everyone I'm off to the Jerry Rig website to do more investigating.
Mel