At Trinidad, we were told how important vises are to gunsmiths. It's a third hand that holds the workpiece steady so one may work on it (especially filing or sanding). We had Wilton bullet vises at almost all workstations and some of those newer Wiltons that had jaws with teeth. A swivel vise was best and sometimes we spun the vise and locked it down so our workpiece wouldn't get in the way of classmates. Every now and then we did light hammering on the anvil portion of the vise, but as there was a big anvils, anything heavy was done on them. One vise was designated for heat so if you had to heat something to critical, you used that dedicated vise.
Jaws with teeth hold things better, but they can mar the workpiece. In the course of our two year program, we made various jaws including lead jaws (poured in benchmetal), copper (which was a large copper pipe cut in half, hammered in shape of the vise and then heated to anneal), wood and wood with cork glued onto it and sometimes even aluminium. Some folks bought aluminium with rubber. Rubber salvaged from old farm boots or inner tubes could also be used (glued to a piece of wood). In a pinch, a piece of leather could be used to pad the jaws. The softer jaws were often secured with rubber bands (no one ever glued magnets onto the back of the wood).
In stockmaking we had pattern maker vises with swivel jaws (available from Woodcraft). The jaws were wood padded so we never worried about them marring our stocks.
Today I have numerous vises. One is an American made Wilton 4" bullet vise that is heftier than the 4" Wiltons at school. The Wilton was purchased used from a classmate at WKU. Another is a 4" Athol with rachet handle (took me a search on U-tube to learn it was a ratchet handle) that I picked up at Friendship, IN (Gunmakers' Row). Of the two vises only the Athol is mounted. First, I got it earlier (3 years) and second, I like its height. It's much taller than the Wilton so for an older guy like me there's less neck strain.
I've other vises, but the Athol is the main one.
So, get yourself a good vise. Flea Market, Garage sales, even farm auctions (never tried it but they tend to have a lot of equipment). Mount it on a sturdy workbench and it will give you many years of good service. Most vises were mounted in the corner of the workbench and this gave you plenty of bench space to put your tools on or to work around the workpiece.
Jaws with teeth hold things better, but they can mar the workpiece. In the course of our two year program, we made various jaws including lead jaws (poured in benchmetal), copper (which was a large copper pipe cut in half, hammered in shape of the vise and then heated to anneal), wood and wood with cork glued onto it and sometimes even aluminium. Some folks bought aluminium with rubber. Rubber salvaged from old farm boots or inner tubes could also be used (glued to a piece of wood). In a pinch, a piece of leather could be used to pad the jaws. The softer jaws were often secured with rubber bands (no one ever glued magnets onto the back of the wood).
In stockmaking we had pattern maker vises with swivel jaws (available from Woodcraft). The jaws were wood padded so we never worried about them marring our stocks.
Today I have numerous vises. One is an American made Wilton 4" bullet vise that is heftier than the 4" Wiltons at school. The Wilton was purchased used from a classmate at WKU. Another is a 4" Athol with rachet handle (took me a search on U-tube to learn it was a ratchet handle) that I picked up at Friendship, IN (Gunmakers' Row). Of the two vises only the Athol is mounted. First, I got it earlier (3 years) and second, I like its height. It's much taller than the Wilton so for an older guy like me there's less neck strain.
I've other vises, but the Athol is the main one.
So, get yourself a good vise. Flea Market, Garage sales, even farm auctions (never tried it but they tend to have a lot of equipment). Mount it on a sturdy workbench and it will give you many years of good service. Most vises were mounted in the corner of the workbench and this gave you plenty of bench space to put your tools on or to work around the workpiece.