Experience with Lee Valley's inset vise?

[Bill Houghton]

I've been thinking for a while that what is, these days, called a wagon vise might be a good solution for my workbench. I'd even acquired some Jorgensen veneer press screws to make my own. But I'm now contemplating the Lee Valley Inset Vise, this one:

and wondering if anyone here has any experience with it, or opinions on it. I'm really behind on shop projects, and would put off any final decision on this, except that there was a recent conversation about a Lee Valley tool that's been discontinued, and I'm thinking that I should perhaps buy it while it's available.

[Chet R Parks]

Bill,
I bought one 3-4 years ago and love it. Even thinking about another one for the opposite end of the bench and kiddy-corner to the one I have. That would be to bad if they discontinued it, it's a great vise, recessed so it won't intrude on any work on the bench top. If you currently have dog holes in your bench you can line it up with them or make new ones, spaced, to correspond with the travel of the jaw. Yes I bought the optional jaws and don't regret it, especially the low profile jaw. Since nothing is perfect the adjusting screw does stick out a little, about 1.25 inches, not a big deal. If you get it you might want to consider moving it in a little when you mount it??? Good luck.
Chet

[glenn bradley]

I put mine on my bench-on-bench. Works great with dogs for me.

BonB (25).jpg

[Bill Houghton]

I should clarify: I have no reason to believe that Lee Valley will discontinue this vise. But I did lose out on buying the lever-action adjustable bevels they used to offer, because I waited too long; so I'm trying for the "burned once" approach, just in case.

[Patrick Chase]

and wondering if anyone here has any experience with it, or opinions on it. I'm really behind on shop projects, and would put off any final decision on this, except that there was a recent conversation about a Lee Valley tool that's been discontinued, and I'm thinking that I should perhaps buy it while it's available.

You're referring to the conversation about the patternmaker's vise, right?

I think that the situation is rather different for the inset vise, as it doesn't contain any castings or similarly tooled parts that I can see. All of the shapes appear to be CNC-able, so given that they already have CNC machines and the tool paths worked out I don't see how that vise could possibly end up in a situation similar to the patternmaker's vise, where they would need to invest half a million to retool the main casting if they were ever to make it again.

Buy it if you need it, but there's no reason to resort to hoarding IMO.

[Bill Houghton]

Thanks, all. My bench top is a solid core door, and I have learned that solid core doors will warp if the door skin is removed on one side only (the core expands/contracts with humidity, unrestrained by the “uncovered” side). I’m considering cutting the first, narrower mortise for the vise all the way through the bench top, then screwing a piece of 1/4” metal stock underneath the resulting slot, to stabilize it. Should I be concerned about the strength of the vise body in terms of any sideways pressures? I've asked Lee Valley this same question, but figured field experience is good too.

And Patrick, no, not the patternmaker's vise, but the tool LV made that looks like a round spokeshave (for concave surfaces) married to a scorp. Can't right now find it on their website, which makes sense, since it's discontinued...

[Patrick Chase]

And Patrick, no, not the patternmaker's vise, but the tool LV made that looks like a round spokeshave (for concave surfaces) married to a scorp. Can't right now find it on their website, which make sense, since it's discontinued...

You're talking about the pullshave, I think. You can find the page if you know how to look :-).

I don't know what happened there, though I have a sneaking suspicion that it never caught on with its intended market. As with the patternmaker's vise (but unlike the inset) it's built around a tooled casting, which means that they'd have to shoot a minimum number each time to justify running the tool.

[Bill Houghton]

Mind like a steel sieve, me; I could have just gone out and looked at the box for the name.

I have to confess I've yet to use it; bought it during a period when I was reluctantly doing some consulting to pay for a kitchen remodel, and got some fun money out of the deal. But my woodworking focus for nigh on ten years now has been catching up to the years of deferred maintenance on this house, and there's not a lot of call for concave surfaces in carpentry and architectural trim. Maybe if I were doing an artsy house.

But that's a bit of a digression from the inset vise.

[David Bassett]

You're talking about the pullshave, I think. You can find the page if you know how to look :-). ...

Not hard to find *IF* you know it's name. Pretty good memory if you can remember it's hidden in the scrapers section though.

I wouldn't be surprised, if that had a little to do with it's popularity. Put it with the spoke shaves or with shaping tools (another "Huh?", who thinks to go to "log building" for carving axes, adzes, and other green carving tools. Time for some cross links, but that's another rant.)

[David M Peters]

Hi Bill, I've had the inset vise for a few years and still really like it. It does a great job of medum-to-light-duty workholding tasks. Heck, this weekend I flattened a 12" x 12" end grain cutting board using it (with a 5-1/2 plane doing the hard work) so maybe I should add heavy-duty as well!

Here's a photo of it back when the bench was new:

InsetVise.jpg

[Kevin Smira]

Is anyone using one on an MDF bench top? My bench top is 3" of MDF. Also, what's the necessity to have a perfectly straight/90 edge for the edge of the vise where the hand screw is? Reason I ask is that my MDF top has a small roundover on the edge, and it's not perfectly 90 degrees...

Thanks,
Kevin

[David M Peters]

Kevin, neither your MDF top or its roundover would pose a problem. With the roundover you would just have the square top of the vise protruding by the radius of the roundover. So aesthetically it wouldn't be perfect but it would work fine.

Is anyone using one on an MDF bench top? My bench top is 3" of MDF. Also, what's the necessity to have a perfectly straight/90 edge for the edge of the vise where the hand screw is? Reason I ask is that my MDF top has a small roundover on the edge, and it's not perfectly 90 degrees...

Thanks,
Kevin

[Edwin Santos]

I have to say, the inset vise looks very cool. But for what it does, I think some might be just as well off relying on dog holes and the Veritas wonder dog. In a splurge moment I upgraded to the newer quick release wonder dog and I reach for it quite often. It has a surprising amount of holding power.