Thread: A new style of Leg Vice - with a quick release

Looks pretty good, leg vice, tail vice and criss cross for $500ish USD. Just need to find out if they ship to Australia and how pricey that is. If I can get the lot landed for under a grand this seems like a great alternative to Benchcrafted. They were always my plan but the price just keeps going up and the exchange rate down. I can't justify the price any more unless I find them second hand.

I bought an X-Link from Len - he was a pleasure to deal with. Shipping was $US50 about 4 years ago.

I used it in conjunction with a cheap Carbatec front-vice screw - see my workbench renovation thread here for some pics of what it looks like:

New bench? NO - a renovation!

I really can't understand the obsession with Benchcrafted leg vices at the moment. They seem WAY overpriced for what they are. You can buy a nice cast hand-wheel, acme threaded rod & nut from an engineering supplier such as Blackwoods, RS Components, Farnell etc for a fraction of the price. Their "criss-cross" looks beefy and is more reasonably priced at $US115. The Hovarter X-link works well, is easy to fit due to the spherical bearing and is cheaper to ship as its lighter. It is $US95.

The benefit if buying a commercial "Croix de St Pierre" as opposed to buying some steel & making your own is that the commercial ones come with great templates for drilling & morticing & have detailed fitting instructions - the manufacturer has worked out all the issues for you.

Timbecon usually stock the Benchcrafted ones - but is a wash as to the cost of buying from US with international shipping vs buying locally & local shipping.

Oh - I forgot to say the McJing have a good leg vice kit for AUD165 - handwheel, criss-cross & threaded rod all included. Not sure if they have any detailed fitting templates - call & ask them!!

Leg Vice Hardware Kit

Flicked them an email for a quote on shipping! Will post back when I know more. Exchange rate has been kind last couple of weeks at least.

Heard back.

With the AUD/USD today @ 0.7117 it comes to ~AUD$900 not inc GST and any import fees.

Note that this number is for a very full set of gear...

Over all, given the excellence of the kit it represents excellent value.

For a leg vise, wagon vise, 2 wooden hubs and handles and an X Link the price is $510 USD plus $128.63 USD shipping to Australia.

If you would like to order let me know and I will email a PayPal invoice which may be paid by credit card.

I would be interested to know how many production workshops would purchase a $1,000 leg vice. I get that it’s nice to have nice things, but as far as holding wood goes, this baffles me.

I appreciate that this is probably a fair price once you factor in living wage labour costs in the USA for what is essentially a hand manufactured item, but holy smokes, given the other options for holding wood to my bench, it would take an awful lot of convincing to get me to part with that much money for a bench vice.

I am with you on that Lance. A basic acme thread vice screw is all you need as it has nothing that can go wrong. The Mcjings offering is more realistic. Being reasonable a whole bench build should come in under the cost of that one leg vice. Anyhow taking cover in the bunker before the incoming replies.
Regards
John

Im with John and Lance on this one, have started dressing the timber for a bench and wont be spending that sort of money on a vice. But my bench wont be a show piece either, just want something solid and functional.

I should point out that this is TWO vices, with an X brace and the wooden handle options....

Probably no more expensive than Benchcrafted... but if McJings works, thats cool. I use a quick release from H+F.

Suppose one could make an "ordinary" vice special by filing it all super smooth and applying gold leaf

Originally Posted by woodPixel

I should point out that this is TWO vices, with an X brace and the wooden handle options....

Probably no more expensive than Benchcrafted... but if McJings works, thats cool. I use a quick release from H+F.

Suppose one could make an "ordinary" vice special by filing it all super smooth and applying gold leaf

Considerably less expensive; at half the price!!

Benchcrafted leg & tail vice "bench-builder" package, including shipping to Oz, is $US1,300 for cheapest shipping method (approx $AU 1,800 at current exchange rates.) More again if you want their retrofit vice.
(Note that you will actually pay more when you add card fees & the credit card or bank exchange rate - considerably higher than the "official" rates you get when looking them up on Google etc)

As I said above, despite the beautiful fit & finish of the Benchcrafted hardware, its a HUGE premium to pay when you can get something like the McJing leg & tail vice kits for $AU250 delivered. That $1,600 odd savings

Originally Posted by woodPixel

It thought to share this little find. May be old news, but its the first Ive seen of it... Leg Vise | Custom Created Made in Michigan USA
.......

There was extensive discussion on this Forum when I asked similar questions several years ago, including contributions from members who actually owned and used Hovarter vices. The concensus was that they were great in most circumstances, but not all.

The mechanism allows you to simply slide the jaws in either direction to firm up on the object you want to grip, then you turn the handle up to half a turn to tighten. The tightening is limited to half a turn on the handle and if this is not adequate then you have a problem - you cannot tighten more.

Might be worth searching before investing.

Thanks for the feedback! That actually does not sound ideal.

I'm leaning away from having a tail vise on my next bench and just having the leg vise so may be able to spring for Benchcrafted. But would be interested to see if anyone has the McJing version. I bought a moxon set which was pretty decent for the price although I did need to get a part replaced.

Hi all. Having made my leg vice from a salvaged metal screw and leftover timbers, I am really struggling to see any benefit from these commercial vises. Yes I do have to bend down to move the pin as required, and yes I have to spend time unwinding the vise but the bench is in my workshop and gets used on a "whenever I can" basis. Surely everyones money can be better spent elsewhere. And as a working carpenter I am well aware of the benefits of tools that save you time and weighing up initial purchase price against long term benefit.

Originally Posted by bueller

...
I'm leaning away from having a tail vise on my next bench and just having the leg vise .....

I have posted about this before, but my mother's family were builders and stone masons for over 200 years until no one in my parents generation wanted to continue the business. When great-great-great-grandfather migrated in 1818 he brought with him an "olde oke bensch" - that's the spelling from the customs forms. Old in 1818, and it continued to be used commercially untill the late 1970's.

The bench was about 3m long, 150mm thick and the "oke" was almost black in colour but the grain was still quite visible. It had a leg vice, only, plus dog holes. Work pieces were held in place using wooden bench dogs and parallel wedges - see below. Who needs a vice? [Except me!]

Parallel Wedges.jpg