Vise Advice

[davidinsarasota]

Thanks for all the replies on the knife, now on to vices. I am getting my list ready for Woodcrafts March first sale. My birthday is Feb. 28, and I seem to recall them sending a coupon or something last year; anyone know if they still do something?

Anyway, I need a fairly sturdy one that won't slip; I carve rosewood, which is very hard. I like the look of the Jerry Rig vice, but it is pricey.

I found these four advertised. I don't like this first one very much because the base is so wide, and I can visualize my tool impacting the steel



These next two look adequately sturdy





And this last one is presumably sold at Woodcraft, making it the most desirable, but I worry about it being sturdy enough.



Does anyone have any experience with these vises? Any input greatly appreciated.

[mark yundt]

I own the Veritas and I like it very much. One way to avoid your tool hitting the wide base is to simply mount it to another wood base. This might seem redundant,,but depending what types of jobs you end up doing the wider base might come in handy at times. With the vise I have sometimes I have to add a wider base to accomodate bigger pieces. You might think you wouldn't have to,,but If I'm doing something large I need the stability of a wide piece of a more solid wood or ply to give me the stability and ability to securely mount a piece of basswood to a piece of ply and then mount that to the vise. You can only tighten wood screws into bass so tight before they strip out.

[davidinsarasota]

Ok, thanks Mark. I was leaning toward the Veritas. I like it that there are two posts available--wide and thin profiles. I appreciate the response. I have read enough of your posts to know how adamant you are about immobilizing the workpiece. Like others, I have found that it makes my tools seem sharper.

[markken5889]

I agree with Mark Y. I recently got a Veritas carver's vise and am really liking it! well worth the money. You might want to get an additional base or two, if you like working on more than one project at a time. I got the larger and smaller base, so I can be working on something like a decoy and its head at the same time, without stripping one off its base.

-Mark K

[davidinsarasota]

Great idea Markken. I'm doing chess pieces. Matching the two knights, for example, is a real challenge. It would be very convienient to be able to have them pre-mounted for switching back and forth. Two vises would be better, but no way I'm gonna spring the dough for two.

[Bandaid]

I have the Veritas as well and agree with the others that it is a well made, and versatile carving vise.

[davidinsarasota]

Deed is done. There goes half my Woodcraft Mar. 1st sale $.

[Dundee]

Mark,

Do you also have a ball vise like the Jerry-Rig for comparison? Does the Veritas rotate when locked down? I was fed up with my panavise 405 which did rotate around the shaft even when tightened. I wasnt sure if the problem with the panavise design was only the soft aluminum of the shaft or not being able to get enough grip on the 1 inch shaft. l ended up buying the Jerry-Rig ball vise. Which is fantastic but was nearly twice the price of the Veritas. Still the Jerry-Rig is less than half the priceHappy of the Wilton Power Arm. Anyone have an idea of what the http://www.monsterballvise.com/ goes for?

Chris

Originally Posted by mark yundt

I own the Veritas and I like it very much. One way to avoid your tool hitting the wide base is to simply mount it to another wood base. This might seem redundant,,but depending what types of jobs you end up doing the wider base might come in handy at times. With the vise I have sometimes I have to add a wider base to accomodate bigger pieces. You might think you wouldn't have to,,but If I'm doing something large I need the stability of a wide piece of a more solid wood or ply to give me the stability and ability to securely mount a piece of basswood to a piece of ply and then mount that to the vise. You can only tighten wood screws into bass so tight before they strip out.

[mark yundt]

No,,I ,,but I have used the hydraulic vice which I really did like. Just a simple flick of your wrist and it was free to move or snug,,and it would support an incredible weight at some distance from the center axis.
Initially I noticed some movement when I would really pound on a carving while in the vice. To compensate I would over tighten the handle ultimately stripping the threads as they are in brass. After ordering two replacement pieces ( I now keep at least one backup of almost everything in my shop) I was able to eliminate this problem. My solution,,simply roughen up the spindle that goes through the threaded shaft. Just this little bit of roughness provides enough friction to keep the piece from turning. Then again how much can you really expect from this thing. Though I do have to say,,,the hydraulic one wouldn't move even if I stood on it,,,I think it's rating was over 400 lbs....of course it's price tag is somewhere around there too! I can live with a few passes with a rough file to add a bit of friction ,,,but now that I think about it,,,,I really ,,really liked that vise.But for how often I use mine,,it works just fine. Truly,,,I would recommend it,,and would buy another if I needed to.

[DiamondWillow]

Kind of a neat one advertised or mentioned I guess I would say on www.pinewoodforge.com

I do not have this one so I cannot comment on it other than it looks nice and heavy duty. Interesting discussion for sure.

Gene