Video: Hi Vise Build

Watch Guy Dunlap build our Hi Vise in this excellent video from our friends at Highland Woodworking.

Hi Vises are in stock and ready to ship.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Fall Update

We apologize for not updating the blog as frequently, but it's been quite busy here this summer what with all our new products coming down the pike. Here's what's happening at Benchcrafted.

Swing Seat 
The patterns are done and on their way to the foundry. Next week we hope to get some video of the first pour. We always run samples to check gating (how the metal flows) and such, so this won't be a production run. If the sample run looks good we'll go right ahead with a production run so we can get these produced asap. The goal on these is to have some ready for Christmas delivery.

Planing Stop
We've got the first run finished and ready for packaging. Once we update the website you'll be able to buy one. Price: $24. Includes everything you need to put one in your bench, except for the wood stock. Watch for these in the next few weeks.

Classic Workbench Plans
The plans are finished (thanks Louis!) All we need to do now is sit down and write the instructions, take some pictures and update the website. Christmastime is our goal.

Hi Vise
We've finished our first mass run of Hi Vises. This week we'll begin packaging them up. We've still got a bit of stuff to do with instructions and website copy, but we're close. We're also building the portable version this week, so look for updates on that as well.

Turbo Ecabulator
This never gets old

Mid Summer Update - Hi Vise

Right now the giant fireball is roaring outside and the heat index is 116. But our test shop window air conditioner (circa 1995!) is pulling overtime and keeping it a crisp 68 degrees. In this environment of extremes the first production version of our new Hi Vise was born.

First off, we've decided to ditch the French name and stick with something simple. Hi Vise. It's a mix of sappy happy greeting and functional description. Besides, when you work at Benchcrafted you end up saying Crisscross, Glide, and Moxon about a bazillion times a day. I'm not saying "ehtoe" any more than I have to (apologies, Mr. Punchinello.)

Pricing
Okay, we still can't be 100% on this, but here's a solid ballpark. This shouldn't change much, but don't hold us to that. When we began developing this vise we touted it as having nearly all the functionality of our carver's vise, plus a couple distinct advantages over the carver's vise. That vise cost $379. The Hi Vise base model (no mounting hardware) should come in somewhere around $165, and the deluxe model (mounting hardware included) should add about $75. We're trying some new processes with this vise that give a more worn-in look such as wheelabrating. Combining this technique with precision milled surfaces makes for a sweet classic look. Our mini Crosscross arms (see above) use this process.

Base Model
The difference between the base model and deluxe model is in the mounting. The base model can be mounted in a variety of ways depending on how you build the vise. So far our favorite way is to build a bracket into the rear leg that slips down into the jaws of our Benchcrafted Tail Vise. This thing is so rock solid in this configuration you'd think the vise was part of the bench. And it mounts and dismounts nearly instantly.

Another way to mount the vise is with a simple stick of wood across the back of the rear leg. Dirt simple and quick, you can hold this vise down to your bench with a pair of holdfasts or a couple clamps. Both of these mounting blocks are attached to the rear leg of the vise with two 5/16" flat head cap screws--the mounting bracket is tapped to receive these machine threads--a technique we've long recommended.

Capacity
Typical builds will yield about 5-1/2" between the jaws at full extension.

You may notice a new material lining the jaws on this vise. For some time we've experienced increasing difficulty sourcing suede on a regular basis. The problem isn't so much supply, as there are plenty of cow hides out there, but rather finding a supplier who is consistent and wants to do business. Must just be the industry. So we've looked for other options. And we found it in an unlikely place. Over the winter we've been fixing up our '69 Volkswagen Beetle and even went so far as to rebuild the engine from scratch. When we opened the gasket kit we found this corky-looking material that seemed to grip to any surface. After a fair amount of research we've sourced this material--a blend of natural cork and natural rubber, chopped up and reformed under great pressure into a dense roll of grippy material that's sliced--rotary veneer-style--into 3/32" sheets of grabby goodness. The good thing is, it's less expensive than suede and the supply is much more reliable. As a result we'll also be offering this material, which we're tempted to call Crubber, as an item on its own so you can buy it and line your other vises or clamp heads. It should also work on holdfast pads, although we haven't tested that yet.

Look for the Hi Vise to be available this fall.

And in case you were curious about the outcome of our little VW engine experience....