Thread: Veritas or Lie-Nielsen twin vise - any feedback

Good Morning Nathan

I do not have a twin-screw vice so I cannot comment from personal experience.

However, Fine Woodworking Magazine did a detailed test of 14 bench vices in their May-June 2009 issue. They rated the Veritas twin screw vise as the best overall, and essentially gave it an excellent review. Only real downside was $$$'s at US$230.

The Lie Nielsen twiniscrew vice was released after the above tests and was tested by Fine Woodworking Magazine and reported in their Sept-Oct 2010 issue when they effectively gave it a rave review and explicitly said it was better than the Veritas. Downside again $$$'s at US$275!

The reasons they gave for prefering the Lie Nielsen were that the chain mechanism was totally enclosed withinn the wooden jaws, was better prtoected from dust and grime and that the single handle was easier to use than Veritas's twin handles which apparently sometimes get in eachothers way. Both were very well made.

The magazines may be available from your local library or can be downloaded for a fee. I bought a DVD that includes all 237 issues of Fine Woodworking Magazine from start up through January 2014 for US$69 - incredible value and very useful.



Fair Winds

Graeme

Thanks very much Graeme.

I've actually joined the FWW website (free for a fortnight) and looked up the articles (the CD for 70 bucks is worth me looking in to, thanks for that heads up).

They both sound good, couldn't really go wrong with either (which matches up with the little bits of info scattered around the web).

You can slightly skew the front face on the Veritas to clamp non-parallel pieces - but I'd hardly use this (if at all). Hmmm...... toss a coin?

I'll sleep on it, and see if anyone replies with experience with either vise.

Thanks again for that lead, Graeme.

Nathan.

I dont have any experience with either to add right this second but very soon i will have a Veritas Twin screw vice ordered recently. I ordered this vice as i didnt want to spend as much on the Lie neilson but i did get the larger 24" Veritas vice so i can put some large jaws on there. a friend has the single screw quick release vice and just thought it was great combined wth the dog holes. So i just wanted to go bigger and watched a video of the install of the twin screw vice as a face vice instead of a tail and thought that i could really use that sort of clamping functionality on my bench so i decided to go with that and move my irwin quick release as a tail vice with wooden jaws is fine for me. I will be taking the time to really follow the instructions as ive read you need to follow them to a tee. but i can post up pics and my thoughts once its done if you would like. It wont be taking too long maybe a few days to install during working.

So yeah no real reasons except that i really want a large face vice and thought the Veritas was a good price compared to the Lie and from experience and word of mouth from my friend. cant wait to get it, think it will be great

Hi Nathan,
I have the Veritas twin Vise and am very happy with it for most things. It is not really good for skewing workpieces as it is I believe designed to be closed evenly. The two handles sounded good to me and are fine most of the time but can sometimes interfere with the job by being in the wrong orientation relative to the job. if it only had one handle I believe it would not be a problem and would be a better choice as one handle is easier to manipulate out of the way.
Adjustment of the two handles can also be fiddly so only having only one would probably be a better option. If I had to buy another I would have a good look at the LN before making a final choice.

Cheers, Ian

Good advice Ian. Orders already shipped so cant do much now but ill take note of the nuances and work with it.

Thanks Delbs and Nanigai.

Well, I got the Veritas vise for Christmas from my wife. I've only opened the box to look at it, but it looks good.

Looking forward to the bench build now!

Nathan.