What makes a good vice good?

[Badasssapper67]

Some good vices are really expensive. What makes a $350.00 six inch vice cost that much, besides being made in the U.S.A.?

Do certain types stay better longer? If you're not talking machinist vices is there a need for a mechanic shop vice to have tight tolerances?
If you needed a vice you could really clamp down hard with, which type would work best the longest?
I have broken a vice before by tightening it down and don't know if it was just a cheap vice or if I just reefed on it too hard.

One day, when my tool purchase savings account builds up, I want to buy a super awesome 6" vice to use mainly for mechanic/industrial/heavy equipment work. I'd love to get an awesome tilting/tipping/turning vice for my mill/drill but that will have to wait.

If your shop foreman was looking to purchase a 6" vice, which brand and model would you want him to get? And why?

 

[dr_clyde]

Brand new, your options are more limited. Off the top of my head, new vises worth owning are limited to Wilton, Yost, Columbian, Reed and Ridgid. Good luck getting a 6" one for $350. My 4" wilton was over $500 new.

My personal preference for bench vises is Wilton. The castings are high quality iron, the screw is enclosed and protected, and the machining is top notch. The machinist models or "bullet" vises are the nicest, followed IMO by the tradesman series and the C-series.

Used you can do a lot better on price and selection. Parker, starrett/athol, emmert and prentiss are good makes to look for in addition to the aforementioned.

 

[dr_clyde]

A good vise shouldn't break if you are using it properly. That means no cheaters, no bashing it with a sledge, using it like an anvil and so on.

In all honesty, most any vise will work in a mechanics setting for a while. What sets the nice ones apart is longevity, quality of materials and workmanship, ergonomics and engineering and just plan old being better made.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Use a cheap *** one for a while. Sloppy fit so the jaws are wobbling all over. Usually there is a spring to help open the jaws, etc.

 

[Ign]

Pharmaceutical narcotics make a good vice

 

[1982fxr]

Some good vices are really expensive. What makes a $350.00 six inch vice cost that much, besides being made in the U.S.A.?

Do certain types stay better longer? If you're not talking machinist vices is there a need for a mechanic shop vice to have tight tolerances?
If you needed a vice you could really clamp down hard with, which type would work best the longest?
I have broken a vice before by tightening it down and don't know if it was just a cheap vice or if I just reefed on it too hard.

One day, when my tool purchase savings account builds up, I want to buy a super awesome 6" vice to use mainly for mechanic/industrial/heavy equipment work. I'd love to get an awesome tilting/tipping/turning vice for my mill/drill but that will have to wait.

If your shop foreman was looking to purchase a 6" vice, which brand and model would you want him to get? And why?

if new and price matters, a Wilton Tradesman 6". US made, pipe jaws, anvil, swivel base, thick Wilton base, dual lockdown, parts support from Wilton and others.

 

[bobcatdan]

The big difference is a USA vise is beefier, heavier and more robust then most imports. Take the 6" vise. An import will be maybe 50 lbs and open 6". Take any number of classic 6" USA vises. They will open 10" and weigh anywhere from twice to three times a HF special. For my main go to vise at home I went from a newer 6" import craftsman to an old 3 1/2" Columbian of my Grandfather's. The craftsman was fine when my garage was a some piddle round tinker place. Now with my shop doing real work loads, I was quickly unhappy with the craftsman. I gave up 2 1/2" of jaw with for a vise that opens just as wide, if not a hair wider and although probably made durning the Eisenhower administration, is still a more soild unit. My big vise, a 6" Parker pipe vise makes the craftsman look like a toy. As for what to buy, depends on what you need for a vise. General use, a good import may serve you fine. If I was to buy a new USA, probably a Columbian machinist vise. Personally not a fan of Wilton tradesman.

 

[mopar440_6]

Pharmaceutical narcotics make a good vice

You beat me to it!

 

[maddawg1952]

My vice of choice is usually a **** blonde in her early fifties, woman after menopause don't swell don't tell and usually are grateful as hell.......as for vises I like an older non swivel machinist vise the heavier the better, not that I'm about to beat on it just the mass holds things better. Something like this one....

 

[Badasssapper67]

Pharmaceutical narcotics make a good vice

Hahahaha, got me.

 

[PugetDude]

My vice of choice is usually a **** blonde in her early fifties, woman after menopause don't swell don't tell and usually are grateful as hell.......

Watch out for the rabbit boilers......

 

[Badasssapper67]

I hadn't thought about the swivel being optional. If you have a vise (not vice haha) that doesn't swivel do you have it mounted on a stand/post so that you can move around it? Or do you just deal with not being able to maneuver the work around?

 

[Fretters]

Swivel base vices are for pussies. Real men have statics/non-swivellers.

If you mount a vice properly on the bench, you'll rarely if ever find occasion where you're stuck, for general work.

 

[ZRX61]

The cheap ones are imported & made from cast putty.

 

[ZRX61]

Swivel base vices are for pussies. Real men have statics/non-swivellers.

If you mount a vice properly on the bench, you'll rarely if ever find occasion where you're stuck, for general work.

Real men have both.... one of each end of the bench...

 

[rockinacummins]

I can honestly say I enjoy my vices... That's why they're vices...

As for my vises, I like em big and heavy!

 

[oldldh]

Swivel base vices are for pussies. Real men have statics/non-swivellers.

If you mount a vice properly on the bench, you'll rarely if ever find occasion where you're stuck, for general work.

Swivlin' B@#tards are not good for anything other than rotating...

And rotating ain't necessary...

The 5" Reed pictured, in this restored condition, was STOLEN on ebay for $85.00, if my memory serves, by a Communist GJ member...That beat me to it!!!

After remembering that...I'll think I'll go have a good sulk...

 

[bobcatdan]

Only thing I ever liked having a swivle base vise was for rebuilding hydraulic cylinders. Other then that I never had a use for. Probably why I don't own any. However I'm debating a swivle pedestal for my 6" Morgan.

 

[Fretters]

As for my vises, I like em big and heavy!

Switching to using your language for a moment, that could apply to both vices or vises.

 

[Fretters]

Swivlin' B@#tards are not good for anything other than rotating...

And rotating ain't necessary...

The 5" Reed pictured, in this restored condition, was STOLEN on ebay for $85.00, if my memory serves, by a Communist GJ member...That beat me to it!!!

After remembering that...I'll think I'll go have a good sulk...

If it's meant to be, it'll be. There's always another.

 

[Mohawk Dave]

A good vise shouldn't break if you are using it properly. That means no cheaters, no bashing it with a sledge, using it like an anvil and so on.

SNIP

Swivel base vices are for pussies. Real men have statics/non-swivellers.

If you mount a vice properly on the bench, you'll rarely if ever find occasion where you're stuck, for general work.

(Solely from being on GJ) I now use Wilton Bullets. I have a 6" swivel with copper jaws that's my go to. I like these because I can put a cheater on it, and I do....Not super stupid crazy style, but I crank on it damn good.

When I first joined here and learned of "how to treat a vise" I really started baby-ing them.....but that got old and slow, so now I use the frikin thing hard and it holds up.


As far as swivel bases being not needed, I suppose it's what you are doing. A do a BUNCH of hand filing, and the swivel is indispensable for getting the correct/comfortable angle.

My opinion, search CL or yard sales and spend a little bit more for a NICE well taken care of vise. Start restoring them after you get a good one on the bench and up and running.

 

[dr_clyde]

I have 2 wilton vises. I have never needed a cheater. The handle is engineered to provide the right amount of clamping force for the tool, with an average man tightening it. If I need to hold something tighter, I'm doing something wrong or need to change how I hold the object.

Not saying that using a cheater will immediately damage your stuff, but when you pay $500 for a vise, its hard to do things that you know can damage and break them. They are tools, and are meant to be used. I don't baby my vises, but I also don't do things that I know to be bad for them.

 

[Mark in Indiana]

There are a lot of good answers here. Funny ones also. I'd like to add that a good vise will clamp a work piece in strong and straight enough that you couldn't pull it out.

I have to voice a difference of opinion on swivel bases. I like to be able to position a workpiece for better ergonomics and to be able to work on large workpieces that can't be clamped unless the vise is moved. Sometimes swivel bases don't hold position. However, the Parker swivel base that's built like a drum brake would take an act of God to move, when it's locked down.

It's also good to have a cheap beater vise that you can set up to weld with or abuse it as needed.

 

[dr_clyde]

I would also add that the Wilton swivel base has small teeth, such that when its clamped, you can't swivel it at all. I've had 10 feet of pipe held in the vise and it wont move when I push on it. The downside is it takes about a full turn and a half on each clamp to loosen the vise.

I seldom swivel my vise. A fixed vise is fine 99% of the time.

If I'm welding a small object that requires a lot of manipulation, its nice to be able to easily swing the vise around, I'll admit.

 

[kazlx]

I really like Athols. They are relatively easy to find (around here anyway). I have a 3.5" that I use for most stuff. Like Clyde said, chances are if you feel the need to over tighten the vise, you aren't holding the work correctly.

I also have a big Hollands that I need to finish up and a smaller Chas Parker. It's hard to explain, but even the big vises feel buttery smooth when they are nice quality.

 

[ATK305]

pharmaceutical narcotics make a good vice

lol!!!!

 

[Mohawk Dave]

I use a cheater when: a round object is placed in it because I have the Wilton copper jaws, and round objects spin easily in them.

I hardly ever use the knurling because everything I work on is finished pieces.

Should've included this in my previous post.

 

[General Geoff]

What makes a good vice good?

A good vise is the one that's there when you need it!

 

[jpinca]

I have a couple of nice vices waiting for me across the country at my mom's house that I need to eventually move. However in the meantime I've been using the big Harbor Freight for 10 years. I've ripped the mounting lags out of the bench wailing on it. I've beat the living **** out of it (cause its cheap, so who cares) without failure yet.

So, if you can afford a nice vice, then have at it. But know that a cheap vice won't necessarily fall apart just by looking at it. And you won't feel as guilty abusing it.

 

[Cima96]

In my opinion the best vice you can buy is a model with dovetail guideways. It's not the classic type of vice that you can buy in the USA or in England, but here in Italy where I live it's the most common type of vice in the workshops. Someone could say that this type of vice is not the best solution beacuse the sliding part is the one on the bench side, so you wouldn't be able to keep pieces with strange shapes. In part this is true, this type of vice is not designed to be mounted on a swivelling base but directly on the workbench, as a result of this you have an incredible rigidity that is also given by the structure of the vice, and it permit you to clamp your piece in an absolutely strong way. The stifness of the dovetail ways system permit you to clamp also round pieces (such as pipes) without using pipes jaws. I have used this vises in al lot of bad ways (for eample with a 3kg hammer) but I hadn't had no problem. This vises are usually built with cast steel, forged steel, cast nodular iron or cast iron, it depnds from the price, and obviously the ones made of cast iron are a bit brittle compared with the others. To give you some brand: Ursus (Cast Steel), FZA (Forged steel, Cast Steel, Cast iron, it depends from the model), Leinen (cast iron).

 

[Mohawk Dave]

Cima96, I want a Leinen!

And you're correct. Dovetails are nice. Out here in the US, the FPU Polish dovetails are a little common. They are good vises as well.

 

[bobcatdan]

We have one of those goofy back jaw moving vises at work. What a *************. I'd rather weld a C clamp to the bench and use that first besides that other thing.

 

[404]

A good vice makes the groin tingle when you think about it.

 

[JimbosGarage]

I own this one. It's been great having a really nice vice vs the cheaper one I had before.

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