# Vise on the workbench: what size?



## zoro (Mar 14, 2007)

I now have the luxury of a small wooden workbench in the basement of the city apartment I'm living in right now. I want to bolt a nice blue vise on it, but don't know which size would be good. A 4inch one? A 5 incher?

Keep in mind I don't want a humungous vise as the the general workplace is really not that big!

Thanks for the help


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## highdelll (Oct 3, 2008)

Whatever size you like! :thumbsup:
Hope this helps


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## reptilezs (Aug 20, 2007)

4 or 4.5 jaws is a good size. that vise you have pictured is not good by any means but it will work for very light duty. be on the lookout for a nicer older vise at yard or estate sales. prob under 50 or so


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## arphaxhad (Apr 17, 2008)

Any vise is better than no vise at all. When you install it, find or buy some aluminum angle iron and make some jaw covers so you don't scar softer metals with the teeth.


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## Squash (Jul 20, 2003)

A 4 to 6 inch vice is sufficient for most bike related work. I depends totally on the type if work you intend to do. Usually a good quality 6 inch vise will do anything that you might need it for in bike mechanics, plus some. And as arphaxhad noted, do get some aluminum or brass soft jaws for the vice. You can make them or they are available commercially. 

Good Dirt


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## sasquatch rides a SS (Dec 27, 2010)

I use a 4" at home and there is a 6" at the shop I work at during the summer. Honestly 6" is overkill. 4" is great for home use and will handle anything, but if I can find a good 5" I'm going to try it out for a bit and see which I like better.


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## Dad Man Walking (Sep 7, 2004)

This bad boy has been on the corner of my bench for at least 20 years. And it (or one just like it, I forget which one he gave me) was on my dad's bench for that long or more. The jaws are 3.5" across and it opens to just over 4". It handles just about anything I've asked it to do. If I was doing metal fabrication (you know...building race cars or things like that) I might have wanted a larger one but for the average home mechanic (me) this one has been great. Almost a member of the family.

The anvil on it is small...I keep a 12" section of RR track that I pilfered a while back for really serious beat-downs. But I lived without that for years, and honestly it sits in the corner of the garage on the floor most of the time. If your primary use for the vice is basic home and bike maintenance, a small, but quality, vice will be one of those buy-it-once-and-give-to-your-grandkids purchases.


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## zoro (Mar 14, 2007)

Ok so thanks for all the replies! 

I got a nice 4inch vise and it's now proudly bolted to my bench! Looked at the 6 incher but seemed a bit overkill for my personal, bike related use. DMW, that vice looks like it could resist WW3!


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## ADDam (Jun 7, 2008)

Wait until you need to get a seized BB out of a frame using the vise! That's fun, a guy at the shop managed to break our vise doing that last year.

This is the one we picked up, works VERY well. The clamps on the bottom side have come in use for light fork service.


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## zoro (Mar 14, 2007)

Wow, never thought about taking a seized bb off with a vice, that's creative thinking. Luckily, the bikes I work 90% of the time are mine and I've put some anti-seize on the bb threads to prevent such a situation!

That vice looks nice, I love the multiple jaws!



ADDam said:


> Wait until you need to get a seized BB out of a frame using the vise! That's fun, a guy at the shop managed to break our vise doing that last year.
> 
> This is the one we picked up, works VERY well. The clamps on the bottom side have come in use for light fork service.


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