Choosing the Right Vice

Make the right choice in a vice and it will soon become your second set of strong, sturdy hands. Depending on the type of work you do, you may need just one vice or various purpose-built vices.

Choose the Correct Vice for Your Workshop

To ensure your vice becomes a valued piece of equipment in your workshop that lasts the distance, you need to choose one that best meets your needs. A machinist will choose a different vice to a woodworker. If it’s general household work that you need a vice for, then you will need a basic, all-round vice.

Quick Action Bench Vice

The Quick Action Bench Vice is a good all-rounder. Thousands of these vices appear in home workshops and schools throughout Australia. The handles are made from a solid 17mm steel bar, so they don’t bend. The peg is height adjustable to allow for it to be used in conjunction with bench dogs to clamp work above the benchtop. The cast iron jaws are tapered to allow you to clamp anything that is slightly out of square. Both jaws have holes pre-cast so you can attach wooden sub-faces to prevent timber from being marked. Jigs can also be fixed to hold odd-shaped material. The vice is available in three sizes – 175mm, 230mm and 265mm.

Front Vice Screws

This vice type is most commonly used for woodworking jobs. The solid cast iron plate is mounted underneath the bench so that the edge of the bench acts as one clamping face and another jaw is mounted on the vice front. Timber is ideal for use in the clamp jaws to protect the gripped item.

The clamp uses three posts (two guides and a screw) for smooth adjustment and even clamping pressure. The brackets are made from solid cast iron with a powder coating to ensure a long-life.

The Baladonia vice is available in two sizes – small and large. The small vice has a clamping capacity of 210mm while the large can clamp up to 330mm (both sizes are minus the wooden jaw thickness).

Cross Slide Vice

Another Baladonia vice made of solid cast iron construction, the cross slide vice is ideal for fine adjustment when making mortice joints and positioning work for drilling with pin-point accuracy. Designed to hold pieces up to 100mm wide, it has a sliding mechanism and adjusts in both directions to ensure parallelism with an integral stop for production work. The jaw faces can be replaced with wooden faces to ensure the jaws don’t mar your piece.

Shoulder Vice

The shoulder vice provides flexibility for clamping out of square and tapered pieces. The threaded section and adjustment knuckle are morticed into the vice shoulder while the pivoting jaw mount is located on the ball-end.

Tail Vice

The tail vice and mount kit reduce sagging over time with the weight of the material. Many tail vices are sold without a mount kit but the extra mounting brackets are good for reducing the sagging. A tail vice is ideal for holding narrow boards horizontally and clamping wide or long pieces with an open end holding it in place while working on it. The vice screw is made from bright steel bar with a deep-cut thread for positive clamping pressure. It has a maximum travel of 330mm.