Everyone Needs a Vise

vices are something that I use but I don't have a whole bunch of really in-depth information about the complexities and varieties and function of all the different kinds of vices there are so I don't want you to think for a second just because I'm gonna talk to you about devices that I know much about them but I do know that they're irreplaceable I know you've got to have one in a workshop in fact they say a blacksmith can never have too many vices but I'm not sure they're talking about these tools this is an iconic representation of a vise that was made in the USA for a long time Wilton was understood to be the sort of the pinnacle of vise quality this particular one is referred to as the Wilton Bullitt I think probably bullet shaped on the back this is made with a combination of casting and forging and machining machined forged cast machined forged cast if there's something that's frozen rusted in place that you have to be able to twist no one is strong enough to hold both sides of the wrench and really get the leverage you need to break something loose but if you can clamp one side and the vise and it's bolted to your workbench you can break it loose so the sort of obvious function of a vise is it's an extra man in the shop it's an extra set of hands it will hold something while you're doing something to it it can also act as a press it can push things together that you just cannot squeeze hard enough or even hit hard enough to make them move it is something that you can hold when you've got to get it hot which is a nice feature I mean you don't you holding it in pliers and you're getting it hot and then you've got to set down your torch and so being able withstand heat this Wilton bullet has pipe giant pipe vise jaws inside of the throat of those jaws there's an example of a pipe vise I assume that's fairly self-explanatory old-time plumbers just had to have them new time plumbers can work for months at a time and never need a pipe vise I think says the carpenter but in any case if you don't have a vise on your workbench you don't really have a workbench as long as I'm talking about Wilton vices I got a turn you on to a couple of the YouTube videos channels about Wilton vices a couple decked guys did just some remarkable things and the first is Keith Rucker and he restored one of these things better than new I lack the patience for restoration that that fellow demonstrated on making one of these old girls absolutely pristine perfect the other video series that I think you're really gonna like is why aux tool Co he made a Wilton bullet from scratch now what an accomplishment and it is not diminished by the fact that I tell you it's a it was a baby bullet the jaws were two inches wide but he still made a perfectly rendered example of a Wilton bullet vise from scratch himself his own creativity his own ambition his own tooling so check those guys out you're gonna have a deeper appreciation for Wilton's but in the meantime I've got some other vices in here that perhaps you'd be interested in seeing so this is a vise that is called variously a blacksmith's vise or a leg vise or a post vise the leg vise post vise designation refers to this so that goes down and fits into a socket that in this case is embedded in a steel plate that's cast in a little bit of concrete this type of a vise is specifically designed for blacksmithing first of all there are I want to say no cast components now the Box in there may have some cast pieces but the rest of this is either forged or machined I think kind of taking a chance there but the point is this is tough you almost never see one of these ears broken off because that's a very husky forged section and the rest of it is that the force of pounding on this transfers straight down to the ground so it's not like you're just bashing on the case or on the slide or on some component that was never designed to take it you're beating on something that is really hard to break the other thing that sort of earmarks is specifically for blacksmithing is the pitch on the screw these I believe our Acme threads now yeah I'm gonna stick with that correct me if I'm wrong but that's a very coarse thread it's square in section it's strong and it covers a lot of territory now why would that be that would need to be faster than a machinist vise because you're almost always clamping steel at temperature it's got to be grabbed while it's hot if you're you know you're you've got a monkey tool and you're upset you're your truing up a shoulder on a tenon or if you're riveting or if you've got a bending operation going or whatever it is you need that to get tight fast you don't have time to be tightening up a machinist vise so speed and strength or what these are built for the downside is these jaws open and pivot the center of the pivot is on this one about 24 inches down so those jaws are always perpendicular to a line let me say that's right these jaws essentially are always parallel to a radius line a line drawn through the center of a 24 inch diameter circle so as they open up they are no longer parallel to each other so on a big piece you don't get that perfectly parallel face between the jaws that you get on a machinist vise but a blacksmith doesn't care about that the same nut cases that are always on the lookout for animals are always on the lookout for post vices and if you see a post vise leaning up in a shop somewhere an old barn come to a full and complete stop and use your eyes because there could well be an anvil lurking in one of the shadows in that same building they often kind of come as a set you see I mean anvils and post vices before you see one you're liable to see the other I have here on the vise on the ground another machinist vise that was given to me by my friend Ken Jordan and the vise itself is not that remarkable but you see that metal base that's very remarkable look what it allows me to do so this is a Fowler bench vise machinist vise the slide is all cast and there's a little handful and it rotates nicely and that's all good you know that's that's great but look at this you can change the orientation of those jaws depending on which one of those flanges you put in your big vise that's pretty handy unlike anvils which are sort of designated in pounds vices are often designated and how wide the jaw is so that's the 4 and 3/4 that would probably be referred to as a 5-inch vise my bigger post vices are 7s let me show you how the attachment works on these post vise for attaching to your bench or your post or your base see that so that yoke also captures the spring which holds the jaws open so you just tap that in there put this keeper in it's got the notches that make it to help it stay that starts from the white side is that a satisfying sound or what this vise is special to me in one particular way and that is it belonged to Sam ball my wife's granddad who gave me the guts of the sawmill that I built when I was 20 and 21 and who taught me a lot about what it takes to start doing something even though you don't know how to do it so this was in his shop this is a monarch it says monarch right there and there's the bust of a lion it's been beat up Sam used his tools hard but the jaws are true and the swivel works and the slide and the screw is smooth and I don't use it very often but I would sure hate to lose this it's really the last tool that I have that was important to Sam and Sam was important to me so keep your eye open for a vise I mean a vise can be as simple as a pair of vise grips clamped to a piece of plywood or as complex as an expensive machinist vise carefully attached to an expensive and machined machinist table or an expensive really high-quality wooden workbench can have vices but you gotta have some sort of a vise because a man can't always hold with one hand hard enough to do the work that it needs to do with this other hand probably almost every flat surface in here well a lot of them anyway either have or have had or will have a vise attached to them they're that critical to getting work done that a man sometimes needs to do if you've got a great idea for some great content we want to hear it but we're gonna lose it if you just send it to us in the comments so go to our website there's a spot there under contact us there's a forum you could put your ideas in there we'll darn sure read it and we'll be able to go back and find it when we need it [Music]

Channel: Essential Craftsman

Views: 204,967

Rating: 4.9669275 out of 5

Keywords: blacksmith, blacksmithing, vise, vises, leg, post, machine, machists, wilton, bullet, restoration, workbench, tool, review, goat, recommended, advise, shop, must, have, essental, craftsman, oxtoolco, keith, rucker

Id: r8DI2olAKPA

Length: 9min 33sec (573 seconds)

Published: Thu May 24 2018