Broke my Vise

[Dave Schreib]

About 14 years ago I bought two woodworking vises that I planned to use for a new work bench. I didn't get around to building that bench until now and I mounted one of the vises to my new bench. Of all the things that I thought might go wrong with this project "breaking a vise" wasn't one of them. But that's what I did.

I was testing its holding power and I must have cranked too hard and I heard something snap and clank on the floor. I looked down and there was a piece of the quick release mechanism. As I said, I had bought two of these and was only using one so I had spare parts, but now I am worried that I will break it again. And of course my second vise is now unusable.

I think I might have bought these from Rockler but I am not sure. I do remember that at the time they were pricey (for me) at maybe $175 for the 2 of them.

Any thoughts? Did I make a mistake cranking too hard? Has this happened to anyone else? It looks like a design flaw because it cracked at a very weak spot where the cast iron was especially narrow.




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[Jimmy Harris]

You probably cranked too hard. But don't feel too bad. These modern vises are pretty poor quality. They're not built to last, which is why you often can pay as much for an old vise as a brand new one.

Two years ago, I bought a cheap Irwin face vise. It worked fine up and generally felt like a well-made vise up until about three months ago, when the threads in the cast iron stripped out. I was in the middle of a new bench build, so it wasn't a huge deal, but it did make building the new bench more difficult since I was without a vise for about a month. Not granted, I put that vise through a lot in those two years, and when it worked, it worked great. And I didn't pay much for it, so I wasn't expecting it to last forever. But I was expecting more than two years.

I think they do alright with the steel parts, but the cast iron parts just aren't made with the same quality as in the old days. Either way, all of my new vises (leg, wagon, and Moxon) are designed so that the screws can be easily replaced, because I bought the cheap Lee Valley and Woodriver screws for them, so I'm planning on them failing one day. I could have gone for Benchcrafted hardware, but I did the math and I can replace all of my current vise hardware 5 times over and still save money. Though, if I only get another two years out of them, I'll probably go ahead and make the upgrade.

[Richard Coers]

That is a pretty small cross section of cast iron, but it's hard to say if you overloaded it or not. You are the only person who can say just how hard you loaded it. I would say that a wood vise rarely has to be tightened as hard as a metal working vise if that helps. I doubt if it's Rockler, everything they sell is blue. $85 is not a high end vise.

[Randy Heinemann]

My problem with quick release vises like the cheaper ones Woodcraft sells is that the quick release mechanism wears out. Must be cheap cast iron. I replaced my old one about a year ago with Rockler's version and that seems to function better than my original. However, I'd say that, it you really want a great vise try the Veritas twin screw vise or their quick release vise. There is also a fantastic looking vise sold by Andrew Klein (at Twin Turbo Vise (in-kleind.com ). These are much more expensive and Andrew Kein's vise may be a bit more complex to install. However, they are certainly more like life-time vises than anything else on the market. The other possibility is a moxxon vise. Hardware for these is sold by a number of companies, including Lie-Nielsen (whose vise I think is already together). However, moxxon vises may not serve all of your needs.

As for putting too much stress on the quick release mechanism, I suppose that's possible although I've cranked mine quite a bit and have never broken it.

[Tom Bain]

You are not alone. I broke my quick release vise a few years ago … will never buy one of those again.

[Mel Fulks]

Lot of the old pattern makers vises have been broken. So any of them can break . I was always told to use only enough pressure to
hold the work. I’ve seen old timers be careful with tightening and add only more turning when there is slippage.
Confucious say …turn slowly and carefully, and you will learn when enough is good enough…

[Dave Schreib]

It never would have occurred to me that I could overtighten a vise.

I did a little googling and I think I got it from Rockler. It's identical to these two though it seems to fall in between in terms of its size. I emailed them and we'll see what they say.

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[Doug Garson]

Maybe it can be fixed? Glue the two halves together with JB Weld and clamp together with a hose clamp leave the clamp on for extra strength?

[Dave Schreib]

Maybe it can be fixed? Glue the two halves together with JB Weld and clamp together with a hose clamp leave the clamp on for extra strength?

JB weld is a really good idea. I've had good luck with it in the past.

Woodcraft cant confirm whether I bought the vises from them or not but for $25 I can buy that piece that broke. Rockler also cant confirm whether I bought from them and they didn't offer a replacement part.

[Ole Anderson]

Not a woodworking vice, but Fireball tool released a monster vise, designed to be nearly indestructible. The 6.5" Hardtail vise weighs 270 pounds and costs $1800 for the Taiwanese version. Jason, the designer and owner of Fireball Tool has a series of videos on YouTube where he tries to break it, even making a trip hammer-like device to swing a 88 pound weight into it. Knowing folks will use a cheater bar to tighten the jaws beyond design limits, he redesigned the screw handle to fail first.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cubc...l=FireballTool

Abom79 has a whole series of videos where he machines the USA made castings for his personal Hardtail vise. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXDg...channel=Abom79

I broke a fairly heavy vise once by trying to bend a Jeep shifter rod with cheater bar, so been there, done that.

[Ronald Blue]

I don't know if they always have but the Rockler vises now have "Rockler" cast in the handle casting. It's visible in the photo. Woodcraft has an identical looking vise as well.