A helper at the cottage is always welcome—especially the strong, silent type! Adding a vise to your cottage workshop may not be as exciting as buying some other tools, but having both hands free while your workpiece is stable is magic. Among countless other uses, my vise easily holds a shovel for sharpening or secures any number of small pieces that need holes bored in them.
Vises can be divided roughly into two groups: woodworking vises have large, flat surfaces, usually faced with wood to prevent marring the workpiece. These mount below the workbench so that the top of the jaws is flush with the bench surface. Machinists’ vises have smaller, textured metal jaw surfaces and mount on top of the bench. These cast or forged iron vises are much heavier, have beefier proportions, and generally cost more than woodworking vises, but the added utility for a wider variety of jobs makes them better cottage tools. A 6″ machinists’ vise is a good all-round choice for most cottage uses.
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An added feature on most machinists’ vises is a small anvil surface behind the jaws. This is a great spot for precisely shaping metal or just bashing stuff—perfect for flattening the end of metal tube or coaxing a bent nail back into shape.
Space is at a premium on my cottage workbench, so a permanently installed vise just gets in the way. A simple trick is to mount the vise on a ¾”-thick plywood square, which can be secured solidly on the bench with a couple of small C-clamps. This plywood base means the vise can be stored away when not in use, and you can move it to other spots around the cottage when necessary.
This article was originally published in the August 2023 issue of Cottage Life.
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