Benchcrafted Hi Vice: It fills a niche you may not have realised you have
Benchcrafted have taken the traditional french vice, or etaux if you're a francophile, and taken a modern spin on its hardware to create something truly special. It's an innovative, modern yet sturdy and hugely reliable design that will save time, money and hassle in your workshop. Make vices a pleasure? Benchcrafted can.
Features
- Criss Cross mechanism ensures smooth, light chop movement
- Precision-rolled acme screw
- V-groove sliding handle
- Spring plunger allows easy disengagement
- Smooth machine finish
- Black oxide prevents rust and ages to a beautiful patina
Why a Benchcrafted Hi Vice?
Once you have a leg vice with jaws that extend above the surface or your bench (unlike a typical face vice) you can hold all manner of work that break the typical shape of a flat board. This allows you to hold curved chair parts with ease, and more importantly, gain easy access to that part for working with hand tools such as spokeshaves.
Another application is tweaking through mortises or paring end grain. Getting the work raised up to chest height allows you to use your whole body for power, while maintaining excellent control. Cutting small dovetails on small drawer parts is also a great task for the Hi Vice. It also excels for sculptural work involving carving, rasp or file work.
Journeyman's Choice
The portability of the Mounting Screw - shown in the main hardware image as well as images three and five showing how it can be mounted - means you can take a box of tools and the vice to the park and work at a picnic table, off the back of a caravan, or give woodworking demonstrations at the local club or trade show. The Hi Vice fills a niche for those times when typical bench vices aren't quite up to the task.
It's no wonder that the 19th and early 20th c. French manufacturer of woodworking tools "At The Royal Forge" offered nine different versions of this vice marketed to stair builders, last makers, armchair makers, etc. There is even one version called the "gentleman's vice" alluding to its general versatility among hobbyist amateurs of the time.