Whether you’re a hobbyist or a professional serious about working with wood, you will need a wood working vise for a variety of functions in your shop. Gluing edges together, holding the material together for hand planning or routing, a wood working vise can save a lot of time and aggravation.

A small wood vise will work fine for those small hobby jobs, but if you’re going to get serious about it, you’ll need to move up in your choice of a wood working vise. There are several on the market that can make your wood working easier.

One of the better wood working vises on the market today is the Veritas Twin-Screw Vise. Although it has two handles, they work chained together and it’s the only non-racking wood working vise on the market. Many two handled vises need to have both handles turned at the same time which usually causes one side to have more tension than the other.

The Veritas Tucker Vise has full rotation capability along with tilt. This wood working vise rotates 360 degrees and will go from horizontal to vertical and can be locked at just about any position in between, providing the angle needed for just about any job.

Protection of Wood is Important in a Vise

A Heuer wood working vise is made of forged steel, making them stronger than cast iron, and boasts a dual-prism guide track. This aids in precision clamping, keeping the tension even across the surface. Magnefix-jaw blocks are a feature of Heuer vises in that they protect the wood surface while it is being held in the jaws.

Other wood working vises are made for smaller jobs and can be attached to your work bench with its clamp. Most will rotate at least 90 degrees to give you the angle you need the wood held in for you to finish. There is even a handheld wood working vise made by Starrett that can be used whenever you need a portable vise.

This wood working vise is also available with a clamp to fasten to your work bench. The handheld portion can be removed for portable work, or with the clamp on your bench for more stationery projects.

But in all cases of working with a wood working vise it needs to have a covering on the jaw faces whether it’s plastic or wood, to protect from wood damage while it’s being held.