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Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Hi Vise Instructions: Correction


Thanks to an attentive customer we've had to make a correction to the Hi Vise instructions. We spend inordinate amounts of time editing our plans, but evidently not enough. On page 4 we state that the Crisscross arms reside in a mortise that's 7/8" deep. But page 1 of the plans show the mortises as 1" deep.

The correct figure is 7/8" deep.

We're working on correcting the PDF and will upload it as soon as possible. In the meantime, you can download the corrected page above and print it out if you've already begun your build. If you've already cut your mortises 1" deep, don't fret. The fix is relatively easy. Simply make a 9/16" wide x 1/8" thick shim and glue it into the bottom of the mortise. That will place the bearing plates in the proper location.

EDIT:  Corrected plans are now on our Downloads page.


Monday, November 28, 2016

Hi Vise Now Available


Three and a half years ago we made our first "etau" or what we now call our Hi Vise so we could take a prototype to the first Handworks event.

Now that the Hi Vise is officially for sale we can say with a bit of regret: we put this off for too long.

The new Hi Vise is quite the thing. Compact, portable, versatile. But if there's one indulgence we're guilty of with this one, its making something just because its cool. This little unit has a certain charm to it that says "lets make something fun." The other side of the coin is, it's a powerful vise that will give you the opportunity for control and precision that you may not have experienced before.

The Hi Vise is like a blacksmith's post vise for woodworkers. It gets stuff up at chest height where your eyes are closer to the work, you elbows are closer to your body, and your tools can be moved in a more efficient way. I'll never forget Peter Galbert's technique I learned during a class for how to move your body when turning a long spindle. And it sounds counter-intuitive. Begin in an uncomfortable position, and end your movement at a comfortable position. We can't have the perfect body position at all times for every operation. But we can make the best of it, which is why Galbert's technique is perfect. The Hi Vise puts detail work in that zone of comfort that you can't get with regular bench vises. Once you work at chest height when the task demands, you'll never monkey around with anything less. On a personal note, my Hi Vise (yes, I got the first one off the line) is either on the right end of my bench, or sitting below on the shelf, ready to mount at a moment's notice.

One application of the Hi Vise we haven't touched on much during development: as a permanent leg vise in its own right. It's 5 -1/2" capacity between jaws is more than enough for typical furniture making requirements. And it's robust construction (overbuilt, as we like it) means it can hold its own in more demanding situations. Although we don't recommend it for a full-on bench build, we can't think of a better leg vise for a small detail bench, or even a children's bench. The Crisscross Nine's diminutive size would also allow the Hi Vise to be built into short assembly benches as well, or even height-adjustable benches like the Noden Adjust-a-Bench.

Two Ways To Buy

The Hi Vise can be built in a number of ways (see our  assembly and construction notes for all the details) but for purchasing purposes, we're offering it two ways: The Hi Vise and The Hi Vise with Mounting Screw. The  Hi Vise can be built to mount your bench with clamps, holdfasts, in our Tail Vise, or in a traditional moving-block tail vise. If that's how you'll use the vise, simply purchase The Hi Vise for $189.

Here's what you'll get in the Hi Vise box (plus a few fasteners and Crubber):




All you need to complete your build is wood.

If you'd like to build the version that allows you to quickly mount the vise to any surface without tools, clamps, holdfasts, etc. you'll purchase the Hi Vise with Mounting Screw for $259. You'll get a box with the Hi Vise, plus another, separate box with this inside:

The fasteners needed to assemble the Mounting Screw are included in the hardware kit in the Hi Vise box. Again, all you'll need to complete your build is wood.

To read more about the Hi Vise, see our Hi Vise page.

To download the assembly and construction notes, click here.

To order your Hi Vise, see our store page.




Friday, November 25, 2016

Hi Vise plus minor website update



Come Monday we should have our new Hi Vise available via our Store page.

Also, a major upgrade for us but a minor one for customers; a new cart system.  Our old cart worked fairly well but it could not calculate shipping costs for weighty items.  This worked OK for smaller orders, but alas we flipped a coin over 10 years ago, which would it be, high end thimbles or vise hardware?  The thimbles lost out to the vises and hence the widely varying costs of shipping heavy cast iron to various parts of the country and the rest of the world.

Many of you know that our kludged solution all these years has been to issue a shipping invoice after the fact.  We did this primarily to save our customers any unnecessary expense, but at the cost of time and energy to us (setting a flat rate cost would have been super easy for us but would have resulted in some pretty gross over payments for our coastal friends).  The downside of course, other than the extra work, as many of you also know, is that very often the additional invoice would cause confusion "I already paid, why am I being charged again...." and more often than not the invoice would go straight to spam resulting in some serious shipping delays.

So come Monday the new cart will be live.  It will probably cause it's own flavor of problems (hopefully not) but we'll get them ironed out in good time.  So far it's working perfectly in testing.

The rest of the website is also currently in full face lift mode, but it's going to be a little while yet.

Monday, November 21, 2016

Hi Vise Update: Video



We're still extremely busy this year trying to make good on our promise of releasing all of our new products before the snow flies (sorry folks in Northern Minnesota.) Last week we finished up the photo shoot for the Hi Vise and Classic Workbench, and here's a short video of the Hi Vise showing the different configurations it can be built in. We don't show much of the workholding capabilities because we know our supporters are highly intelligent people. This is, after all, just a leg vise. And we've made a few of those over the past decade. The function is sort of obvious. We're still holding wood the same way, just in a different position. Like all of our products, we use these daily to make stuff. It's not just another tool for us to sell.

Pricing has been nearly finalized and packing day is set for later this week, barring any unforeseen complications. If you missed out on our run of Carver's Vises back in 2013, you'll be pleasantly surprised by the Hi Vise. For nearly identical functionality, and equal cool factor you'll be able to pick up a Hi Vise for less than half the price of our Carver's vise! We really don't design our vises to meet a price point, but we do try to keep unnecessary costs down when possible.

Watch for these to become available for purchase very soon.