[hairy]

Temporary Metal Vise for Woodshop

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I have a very nice woodworking workbench. My bench is adjustable height, has a built in mobile base, bench dogs, a twin screw vise on one end and a quick acting face vise on the other end. It is a fantastic bench for woodworking, which is most of what I do in my shop. I do like metal working, but I focus on woodworking. Occasionally, I need to use a metal vise and I discovered a great, and very easy, solution.

I have two metal vises. I keep the better one in the garage and I have a smaller one that I keep downstairs in my woodshop.

This is a really quick and easy tip. I just bolt a tee shaped block on to the bottom of the metal vise. On those occasions when I need a metal vise I drop it into one of the vises on my woodworking workbench, tighten it down and I am ready to go!

The block is made up of a small wooden "plate" with holes that correspond to the mounting holes in the vise. I glued another block on to the plate that can be clamped into the vise on my bench.

I normally store the metal vise someplace out of the way. When I need to use it I just pull it out, drop it into my face vise, tighten it down, and I am ready for metalworking!

This is how it looks when I am using it:

I have to thank my friend Al Frank for giving me the idea for this. I don't know if it was his original idea or if he "borrowed" it from someone else, but I really like it. I hope you like it, too!

I am able to give more detail on this in my YouTube Video

Please be sure to check out my other blog articles and for sure leave a comment. I would love hear about how you approach this issue in your shop!

Thanks!

Charlie

I've been using the concept in a different way. It works great.