It’s all very well to have a file, or a hacksaw. If you can’t hold the work tight you really won’t get much done. That’s where a vise comes in. Let’s chat about them for a minute, shall we?

Close-up shot of a vise.

This is the vise in my basement workshop underground laboratory. It’s a Larin brand, and if you’ve never heard of it, I hadn’t either. It’s nothing remarkable, but it’s a workhorse. Just about any time I’m working in the shop I use it for something.

The vise holds the bar of metal while I cut it with the hacksaw. It holds the work as I file it to size and shape. Any time I need work held securely while I do something to it, I head to the vise. Sometimes I need to hold the work more tightly than I could by hand, or more steadily. Sometimes I just need to use both of my hands for the tools.

The vise is a lot tougher than my hand, too. The vise holds the work when I heat it with a blowtorch. It holds on while I swing a big hammer at it. These are jobs my hand just isn’t up for.

A small anvil surface hides behind the vise jaws. It’s not enormous, but once in awhile it’s useful.

A big vise is better

Ruler on top of jaws, demonstrating that the jaws are five inches wide.

Vises are sized by the width of their jaws, so mine is a five inch. In some ways I wish it were bigger, but it’s already a little bit intrusive in my tiny shop, so it’s probably about the right size.

I tell you to get a big vise, but the width isn’t what’s useful. Bigger vises are stronger, and you can beat on things with a hammer and not worry about the vise breaking. The jaws open farther, too, which helps sometimes. And if you use the anvil on the back of the vise you’ll appreciate a bigger one.

Working Comfortably

The height of the vise has a huge effect on your comfort in the shop. For maximum comfort raise the vise up until it’s the height of your elbow when you’re standing comfortably.

Top of vise is at the height of my elbow, as it should be.

As you can see, that’s how mine is set up. I went to some trouble to make it that way, though. Note the big block of wood underneath the vise. That’s three chunks of 2×10 lumber, glued together and finished.

Be sure your vise is securely bolted down. You don’t want it to wobble around under your hammer blows.

Showing that it can swivel

And don’t forget that your vise swivels. Don’t contort your body to reach the work, move the work around to reach your tool.

I hope that helped you get a grip on vises. Thanks for reading!