Veritas Inset vise mini review.

[Andrew Gibson]

My new bench has been patiently waiting to be completed until yesterday. Santa brought my the finishing touch. An Inset vise and a Pair of bench dogs from Lee Valley.

Installation was basically easy, A Plunge router made short work of it, it would have taken a bit longer with non tailed tools but there is nothing fancy in the installation. I would say between installing the vise and drilling the 17 dog holes with my 2101 brace it took about 3 hours... I wasn't really keeping track.

This morning I got my first impressions. I have some drawer bottom blanks that I ripped down to 5/8th on the table saw leaving the middle third to be scrubbed off. So I went to work scrubbing. Both the bench and the vice worked wonderfully. It did what it is supposed to do. taking heavy cuts in Maple the piece never slipped or moved... it has been so long sense I have had a proper bench that it is such a joy to work on a solid work surface with proper vises.
My only complaint with the vise is that I can see that there is definite possibility that shavings and chips could jam up the shuttle.

The dog on the vise itself is simply held in place by 2 pins and can be lifted and moved with no tools. I would guess that odd or different sized dogs could easily be made.

I cna't think of anything else to mention at the moment so if anyone has any questions please feel free to ask. I have not seen anyone else pos a review on this vise so I thought sense i now have one I would throw this up. here are some pics.

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk294/handyandy3459/100_1371.jpg
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk294/handyandy3459/100_1372.jpg
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk294/handyandy3459/100_1370.jpg
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk294/handyandy3459/100_1369.jpg
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk294/handyandy3459/100_1373.jpg

[Frederick Rowe]

Andrew - Thanks for posting your review. How high is the inset vice dog? How would you handle stock that was 1/2" or less?

[Mark Baldwin III]

Definitely bumped this up on my things to get list. I was waiting until I saw someone install/use one. Thanks!

[paul cottingham]

I have one of these and love it. Solved a bunch of issues for me. Of course, neither my bench nor my install is as pretty as yours.....

[Charles Goodnight]

I have a question that has nothing to do with your vise: I love the dovetail apron on you bench, and I am considering that for a bench I am planning now. My question is do you have a problem with wood movement, and if not, why not? It seems to me that the end boards are trapping the bench which presumably will change widths with the weather. Normally when I put bread boards on things I set them up so they don't interfere with wood movement. It seems to me that in this case they would interfere.

[John Stankus]

What I am trying to figure out is how Rob Lee managed to hide this vise from me. (My copies of the Lee Valley catalog has drool marks over all the pages) I have been contemplating making a wagon vise using a veneer press screw, but this look a heck of a lot easier to deal with. Is it new, or am I blind?

Regards

John
San Antonio, TX

[Chuck Nickerson]

Frederick - It's easy to make your own dogs with a much lower profile. People on other boards have done it.

If I understand, the dogs are built around a 10-32 screw.

[Rob Lee]

What I am trying to figure out is how Rob Lee managed to hide this vise from me. (My copies of the Lee Valley catalog has drool marks over all the pages) I have been contemplating making a wagon vise using a veneer press screw, but this look a heck of a lot easier to deal with. Is it new, or am I blind?

Regards

John
San Antonio, TX

John -

No conspiracy... it's on the back cover of the January catalog - mailed to you on the 22nd.

CSR0274 DISPLAY Display Customer Mail History 12/29/10 14:37:44
Lee Valley Tools Ltd.

Customer # ###### STANKUS, JOHN

Source Description Item Mail Date Ofr

UW0111 JANUARY WOOD CATALOG US 2011 UW0111 12/22/10 2
UX1210 CHRISTMAS MAIN CAT US 2011 UX1210 11/05/10 2
UX1010 CHRISTMAS EARLY CAT US 2011 UX1010 10/08/10 2
UH11 MAIN HARD CAT US 2010 2011 UH11 9/22/10 2
UW0911 MAIN WOOD CAT US 2010 2011 UW0911 9/02/10 2
UG0610 JUNE GARD CATALOG US 2010 UG0610 6/03/10 2
UW0510 MAY WOOD CATALOG US 2010 UW0510 5/10/10 2
UG0510 MAY GARD CATALOG US 2010 UG0510 5/03/10 2
UG0410 APRIL GARD CAT US 2010 UG0410 3/30/10 2
UHW0210 FEB HARD AND WOOD CAT US 2010 UHW0210 2/08/10 2
UG0210 MAIN GARD CATALOG US 2010 UG0210 2/05/10 2
UX1207 CHRISTMAS MAIN CAT US 2007 UX1207 11/06/07 2
UX1007 CHRISTMAS EARLY CAT US 2007 UX1007 10/12/07 2

Cheers -

Rob

[Bill Rusnak]

John -

No conspiracy... it's on the back cover of the January catalog - mailed to you on the 22nd.

CSR0274 DISPLAY Display Customer Mail History 12/29/10 14:37:44
Lee Valley Tools Ltd.

Customer # ###### STANKUS, JOHN

Source Description Item Mail Date Ofr

UW0111 JANUARY WOOD CATALOG US 2011 UW0111 12/22/10 2
UX1210 CHRISTMAS MAIN CAT US 2011 UX1210 11/05/10 2
UX1010 CHRISTMAS EARLY CAT US 2011 UX1010 10/08/10 2
UH11 MAIN HARD CAT US 2010 2011 UH11 9/22/10 2
UW0911 MAIN WOOD CAT US 2010 2011 UW0911 9/02/10 2
UG0610 JUNE GARD CATALOG US 2010 UG0610 6/03/10 2
UW0510 MAY WOOD CATALOG US 2010 UW0510 5/10/10 2
UG0510 MAY GARD CATALOG US 2010 UG0510 5/03/10 2
UG0410 APRIL GARD CAT US 2010 UG0410 3/30/10 2
UHW0210 FEB HARD AND WOOD CAT US 2010 UHW0210 2/08/10 2
UG0210 MAIN GARD CATALOG US 2010 UG0210 2/05/10 2
UX1207 CHRISTMAS MAIN CAT US 2007 UX1207 11/06/07 2
UX1007 CHRISTMAS EARLY CAT US 2007 UX1007 10/12/07 2

Cheers -

Rob

Wow...big brother is watching and knows all. :eek: :D

[Mark Baldwin III]

That is WAY too funny! Maybe Rob already knows what I'm ordering next and can just pack it up and send it to me.:p

[John Stankus]

John -

No conspiracy... it's on the back cover of the January catalog - mailed to you on the 22nd.

CSR0274 DISPLAY Display Customer Mail History 12/29/10 14:37:44
Lee Valley Tools Ltd.

Customer # ###### STANKUS, JOHN

Source Description Item Mail Date Ofr

UW0111 JANUARY WOOD CATALOG US 2011 UW0111 12/22/10 2


Cheers -

Rob

Ah...so it is new. The way some were talking, it sounded like they had this installed on their bench for a long time. Hopefully the catalog will show up soon!

My brother is intrigued by this vise as well.

I miss being able to check out things in the Lee Valley store. I used to work for Nortel and would get sent to Ottawa (usually in February) and would go check out the store (that and straight 2x4s at the Home Depot). I survived through 13+ rounds of layoffs at Nortel before being asked to apply my skills elsewhere (105,000 employees when I started, they were passing 30,000 when I left). I do miss the people, but I am enjoying teaching chemistry now.

Cheers

John

[Andrew Gibson]

Sorry I somehow missed that this thread had gotten attention. I think I was out of town for a couple days after i posted it.
Fredrick, the dogs is 1/2" tall. I have not measured the pins, but they just drop in and out. I think it will be quite easy to make new dogs for this vise.

Charles, the top boards have a tenon that fits into a groove in the end boards basically they float. There are a couple of braces that run from front to back and are attached to the front apron and then toe nailed into the back apron ( close apron of the tray) hopefully this will allow the top to move enough. I have a temporary floor to the tool tray. my plan is to make a tongue and groove floor that is loose so there is room for it to move if the top needs to... We will show it holds up in the long run.