Ok, these things look pretty hard to mess up. Need something to hold parts when working on the bench. Anyone have any suggestions, or ones that suck?

Thanks,
Jason

My $0.02...

Like many things, you can pay alot for a really good thing that *might* last awhile, or buy cheap versions, wear 'em out & throw 'em out.

Unless you're planning on really beating the hell out of it (in which case, buy an anvil) just go to Home Depot or your local equivalent & but the size that works best for you. They aren't *all* bargains at these places -- some of them will be, so choose carefully.

DO NOT buy the one with the swivel head - it **will not** stay where you put it & it will just aggravate you.

Some nice things to look for are replaceable jaws (or interchangable hard/soft) and ones that have integral pipe (half-round) grips below the main jaws.

Happy Hammering,
BlackJack

Just re-read that....

Re: where I said, "...don't buy the swivel head..."

Most vises include a locking swivel in the bench mount. Some also include another swivel that controls the upper part of the vise. THAT is the swivel I would avoid, because they usually don't hold.

Vises are one of those things you don't even think about until you need one. The really good ones cost you a bundle. The small ones are easy to damage or destroy.

Which one you select is dependent on a number of factors, not the least of which is the space you've got to put it into. I personally prefer to own 2 vises. I have a small Sears/Craftsman thats mounted on the workbench that I use for all my minor needs, but never anything like a driveshaft. I won't allow anyone to grind or weld on or near it. That insures long life and prevents it from getting sprung when some idiot wants to use a pipe/cheater to crank it down.

My other vise at the present time is hiding under my workbench. Its variously been mounted on the workbench and on a nice round of firewood. Its a monster that cost me only the effort to unload it out of the back of my Chero-pig about 6 years ago. Our maintenance man declared it surplus and was in the process of hauling it out to a dumpster. I told him I wanted it. He said 'no problem, leave the liftgate unlocked'. So I found a piece of heavy cardboard/double thickness and put it on the floor to protect the carpet.

Sure enough, when I came out from work, there it was, placed nicely inside. Also grinning was the maintenance guy. He said he'd love to follow me home just to watch me try to unload it by myself. That sucker weighs about 200# and has jaws that are about 8" across. It was used here for about 40 years for various machine shop purposes, including a good bit of welding spatter all over it. Not a problem.

Its got a flat on the back that's as good as an anvil. The pressure screw needed some clean up and oil, but its got a T handle thats a pleasure to use. Leverage is good.

For general pounding I've got a block of steel, inherited from my father. He had the classic story about walking to school everyday along the railroad tracks (back in the 20s, no less). I'm certain I've heard about it uphill both ways, too. He found the cube/rectangle and it took days of carrying it, hiding it, then carrying it some more. Its good for crushing rocks, cracking walnuts and hickory nuts, or about anything else you can come up with.

My present search involves finding a good quality pin vise. Thats a little hand held deal that is much better than a set of vise grips.

For those with limited space, consider finding a big, well used vise for a beater. The idea of mounting it on a tree round works pretty well. It allows you to move it out of your way when you don't need it. No wheels, just a section of tree trunk about 2' high and about the same diameter. I had to give away my walnut chunk. The White Ash split and wasn't very good. Looking for another downed walnut.

I've been looking for a new vise for the "at home" projects. I never realized how expensive they really are. For what I intend to use it for, I'll just look for one thats decent and has a good price.

I looked at the craftsman ones, besides the interchangable jaw thingy on one of them none seemed all that exciting. Went to 'Dept, found a 'columbian' ? 4" that fits the bench well. Seems constructed good enough for now. Still not cheap.

I'll probably look for something later that I can do the nasty things like welding and grinding on.

Jason

Really good variety at Northerntools…. http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/NTESearch?storeId=6970&N=0&Ntk=All&Ntt=vise&Nty=1&D=vise&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Dx=mode+matchallpartial

Shipping is really not to bad most of the time, and I think you work for UPS so that should help, when I worked for FEDEX they gave us shipping for 10% of cost (miss that)

They have a lot of other good stuff for equipping a garage, which it sounds what you are doing

I didn't realize how expensive those were. My dad has one that is at least 40 years old (he said his dad used it) but it's a beast. Those are some cool looking vises on the page above for a cheap price.