Best Vise for the $$

[ajooter]

Those are some nice looking vises guys.  I will surely check some of the flea markets out.  I wanted to actually have a pedestal mount made that i can set in concrete outside somewhere for fair weather work.  I use an old piece of fire hose for my passing when clamping staves.

[stuckinthemud]

I use a carpenters vice flush mounted onto my bench, wish it was quick-release, but its donkeys years old, I inherited it and its showing no signs of breaking-down despite the punishment I dish out wood-carving and bow-building.  The flush-mount has many advantages over a high-mounted engineers vice  - I got one of those as well but to be honest, I never use it

[Cloudfeather]

An old Wilton vise that my neighbor gave to me. A little TLC and she's a real looker.

[ajooter]

Now thats a sharp looking vise....not that looks parallel function...but damn!!  It seems the Wilton vises are winning at this point.

[loon]

...What I have is a Yost BV-4 bench vise. I think the kind they sell at Lowe's. So it's gonna break?

[ajooter]

I have not disected one yet...but they seem to have a spring inside of them that controls the level of tightening the vise is capable of? i think?    Not sure what brand mine were but they literally just end up not tightening.  With a good vise I would think you could crush a bow blank if you wanted to ( not that i would).  The ones i have gotten from the big box stores just dont hold up.

Do any of you guys perform any type of maintenance on your vises? (greasing)

[Cloudfeather]

When I refurbished mine, I greased the threading and the base plate, where it swivels. Most vises are very simple.

[osage outlaw]

That's a cool looking vise Cloudfeather.  I've always liked the bullet nose Wiltons.  I'm hoping to find one at auction or a garage sale one day. 

[Cloudfeather]

I just got lucky with getting it. The funny thing is that I used it for a few years before refurbishing it. I always thought that it only had a 4" jaw capacity, but it's about 7" after cleaning the insides up. Lol

[osage outlaw]

I'll try to post a picture of my grandpa's old vise tomorrow.  The front jaw is stationary and the back jaw and body move.  It's the opposite of how most vises operate. 

[George Tsoukalas]

I use a woodworker's vice.
To augment it, I wrap a belt around it. The belt is specifically used for wood working.
Jawge

[RBLusthaus]

I use a regular bench vise with diff magnetic pads depending on what is being clamped.  I always wanted to get a parrot vise.   You will find them in guitar making places.  Maybe the grizzley catalog.  The head swivels like on a Emmett pattern vise but not to the same extent or range of motion - but also not at the extreme cost.   CHeck it out. 

[PEARL DRUMS]

I have a giant Columbia vice I took from a shop we closed about 5-6 years ago. I also have a sweet version of a press that Cody made for me. If I had to use one and only one? It would be the vice. It can do a few more things the press style cant. At least the way I use it anyway. That being said there are times when the press is priceless.

[osage outlaw]

Columbian is a good brand Pearly.  I traded for a small one a few years ago and use it as my traveling vise.

Here are the ones I use the most.  My big Matco is on the left.  I use it for stave work.  Once I get down to a roughed out bow I switch to Missile Masters version of the stave press.  Its the one in the middle.  I would have to use a spacer block to keep the vise plate level.  I sunk magnets into the spacers so they would stick to the vise and I wouldn't lose them.  Since I only used it for bow blanks I requested a special order bow press from Cody.  It's the smaller one on the right.  It's just wide enough to hold a bow without using any spacers.   I just swapped the two out on my bench a while back. 




Missile Masters versions of the stave press are much beefier and built to last.

 


Here is my Grandpa's vise.  The front jaw is stationary and the back jaw moves.   Sorry for rambling on about vises.  I'm just very interested in them.

[ajooter]

Nice collection Clint..usable collection i mean 

I have a stave press...i too use it after the bow is roughed out and only the fine tuning is left.  I keep a couple packs of door shims that i can stack as i need them to shim up the bow in the press.