As you can see, by using a variety of smaller vises, I can avoid over-stressing or damaging the small parts in my heavy
bench vise. Also, these smaller vises can easily be taken along to the range or wherever I might need to work outside my shop.
A Even if you lock the door and keep everyone else out of your shop, there's always the chance that you'll walk into or stumble against a stock held in your
bench vise, A trick I've used for years that has helped avoid accidents like this is to simply drape a clean red shop towel over the end of the stock if it extends more than a few inches from my vise and is not supported by a floor stand.
There is a roll permanently hung on the back of my
bench vise. Here are a few of the endless uses:
This is the second one I have owned and the first one was my main
bench vise for 15 years.
A good
bench vise, set at the proper height is a must.
I clamped the bolt body in the aluminum blocks in a
bench vise. Then I used an oxyacetylene torch to tin the bolt and handle, and then to braze the new handle to the bolt body.
In most shops, the humble
bench vise is the center of any real gunsmith's work space.
Install the tool in a
bench vise if desired to drive out this pin but I have found it just as easy to set the tool on the bench for this procedure.
The customer tried to squeeze the slide in a
bench vise in order to tighten up the horizontal or sine play.
I ordered two full-length sizing dies and used a
bench vise to squeeze the cartridges in and a wooden dowel to knock them out.
If you don't have a
bench vise, you can support the legs with a handscrew clamp while you sand.
In addition to a well-installed
bench vise, you will need a few simple tools--a smooth-cut file.