This vise has been sitting in a drawer since before Art passed away. I think he may have even given it to me for Christmas at one point or another. I had always been a little confused about the installation process and was afraid I’d screw it up – or worse – screw up a new bench by fastening it wrong. It’s been taking up my badly needed storage space to the point where I even offered to give it to a woodworking friend of mine at no charge just to get rid of it.
It was time to face the dragon head-on…
This morning I hooked it up to a temporary bench to iron out the process. And sure enough, it came out just fine. It could use some refinement, but it’s totally functional. I crafted a handle by planing down a 2×2 from the scrap bin. Eventually, I’ll make the jaws from maple and turn down a new handle on the Shopsmith from ash. When I finish my “real” bench, installing it a second time will be a piece of cake. It probably took me a couple two or three hours total, including one trip to Lowes for some #14 screws for the faces. One other note: I haven’t installed the two “Support Collets”, being not sure what they’re for. Now that I see it assembled, I believe they’d be useful in a more permanent solution to reduce wear and add some structure. I hope to have a new bench here before too long; I’ll wait till then to add these features.
You can get one of these vises from Lee Valley. Here is a link to an installation guide (which I didn’t find until after I had it installed…!)
