Vise Gloat - finally CL pays off

[Larry Fox]

Some of you may have seen me complain about the POJ vise that is currently on my bench. I have been going to replace it for a while now but have just been too busy. Wednesday I took a breather from work and surfed over to CL and the very first ad on the page was this.

150338

150339

It is an Emmert #2 Pattern Makers vise. It is missing one bracket and the handle but I can source those locally. Othere than that, no cracks, no repairs etc - pretty much as close to prisine as you are going to get with something of that vintage. Guy knew what he had so he didn't give it away but the price was such that I think we both made out pretty well.

[Jim Koepke]

Crazy "like a Fox" kind of find.

Great gloat.

jim

[harry strasil]

You going to love it, opens up a whole new world for you. Mine is a Columbian knock off of the original turtleback Emmert, but the price was right on mine, an old retired farmer was my neighbor and I used to help him and his wife with things they couldn't do and he asked me if I would like to have the old piece of cast iron in his garage that was one of the few things he had kept from the farm sale.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/patmakersvise.jpg

Of the 7 vises on my workbench its one of the two most used along with the leg vise.

[Jonathan McCullough]

I've heard that is a very sturdy, very flexible vise, and everyone who has one is very enamored of their Emmert. Does anyone have any experience with the woodcraft pattern maker's vise they sell? Good/bad/indifferent recommend, not recommend? Good as the old Emmert, just made elsewhere?

[harry strasil]

I think its unfair to compare the modern versions with the old Emmertt, as the newer ones have smaller jaws, width wise and height wise, and I don't think they open as wide as the old Emmertts. If you are going to compare the newer ones, you will have to compare them to what is currently selling. In my opinion even a newer one with some flaws is a very large improvement over an ordinary bench vise. You can not believe all the uses for a Pattern makers vise until you have actually used on for awhile. The old handier than a pocket on a shirt syndrome applies to Pattern makers vises. I have never used one of the newer models, so I am just going by the specs on them.

Woodriver patternmakers vise, 13.75" width, 5" height of jaws, 12" max opening.

My Columbian knockoff, 18" width, 7" height of jaws, 14" max opening, which is probably close to an original Emmertt.

And the screw enclosure is in the center of the jaws, so that limits the depth of jaw if you are going to clamp something full width of the jaw.

[Roy Wall]

Cool factor is high on that vise......nice!

I take it the 'little cam wheel' is what helps the vise orient to odd shaped stock and such???

Slick vise.......I bet it's a heavy little dude:cool:

[Keith Pitman]

An Ebay seller has reproduction Emmert vise handles. Seems pretty high at $50, but it would certainly increase the value of your vise.

[Dave Anderson NH]

You are going to love the Emmert Larry. It is more versatile than you can ever imagine. Only after having it installed for a year or two will you even begin to truly appreciate how easy it makes clamping wierd shaped objects. My 18" K-1 Emmert is always in use.

My advise on padding the jaws is to buy some flexible magnet like they use for refridgerator advertising (McMaster-Carr or MSC) and glue it to either leather or one of the Cork/rubber sheets also available from the same source. This gives you both a good grip and something that won't marr your workpiece. Make each jaw face in 2 pieces so that it fits around the adjustment bar. The flexible magnet sheeting makes the padding removable in case you want to use the vise for the occasional bit of metal working. I also made myself a set of wooden jaws using 1/8" plywood and the flexible magnet. Versatility is everything.