Not that sort, this sort:

A big meaty bench sort I need. Had my old one donkeys years, was my dads and grandads before that, went to use it and the bottom bit has shattered, I suspect one of my kids or my neighbour who pops in to use my stuff has got carried away whacking the handle to tighten something up. No-one has said anything though surprise surprise. Going to google in a bit but any recommendations / tips for places for a good quality replacement?
cheers

That looks almost identical to my Grandad’s->Father’s->My Record vice from, I believe the 1930’s.

I would suggest that you don’t need a new vice, but a new to you old vice – try Ebay/Gumtree.

New? Try Axminster Tools, Cromwell Tools would be my initial suggestions.

Gumtree for a nice olde Record

That’s how I got mine

coke n hookers !

eBay local area search for an old Record worked for me. Wasn’t a lot either.

Is coke n hookers just one vice now? Could save some time at my next confession….

eBay. Get an old one and restore it!

I’ve inherited my late grandfather-in-law’s, which I’m in the middle of restoring. The handle is quite bent so he clearly put some force through it!

It’s too heavy for my already quite sturdy workbench, so I’m going to have to reinforce that to take it…!

Miami?

When you find one, be sure to add a pic to this thread.

mcmoontertrackworld……. Vices

I git mine from Freecycle

I bought one from machine mart many years ago, and I’m very happy with how it’s doing. I shopped around for an :old” vice second had but they command a high premium. Went for the cheaper option as a stop-gap and glad I did. Mine rotates and has pipe grips on the opposite jaws also. Very useful.

Thanks, will look for a big old one locally on gumtree/ebay. The new ones I see on various websites I’m a bit dubious about as you can’t really get a feel for the size or quality without seeing them in the flesh, they might be really weedy and poorly made. Are the ‘Irwin’ Record ones any good or has someone just bought the name, bit like they do for old bike manufacturers and then turn out shit?
^Actually there is a machine mart and a tool shop in the nearby town, might take a look whilst keeping eyes open for a good used one.

Irwin Record, is Irwin afaik.
They bought it, and presumably all the moulds/tooling etc.

I don’t want to upset anyone, but new vices are really rather good. Better machining tolerances, better quality materials and probably not worn out. And not that expensive.
Tryhere.

I reckon one one is a good bet at £70.

Thanks dbcooper (and others), just googled, there’s a machine mart 9 miles from me, not been before, do they have stuff on display to look at first or is it like screwfix and all hidden out the back and you just order what you want?

Nope plenty of stuff on display.

if you’ve got the time and inclination, get an old Record off ebay and restore it.. however be aware that if you need any replacement parts they can be horribly expensive.
I’ve got a huge record vice I picked out of a skip at work, I think the main screw is worn as it jumps sometimes. Shame because it is a monster and around £400 new!

Otherwise, the Irwin one above for £70 looks good.

If you’re going for a new vice I’ll recommend this one: Irwin Multi Vice

That multi vice looks nice.

No idea where you are in the country, but I’ve got a brand new Record vice going cheap near Guildford if you are close enough to pick it up in person. I was going to stick it on ebay but postage is a bit of an issue – it weighs a ton!

Not as big as those monsters above, but it’s a fair size bench vice. Looking for £20…

Vice-ists – what are y’all doing about a workbench? Do you just build one or are they worth trawling gumtree etc for?

I use an old crappy computer table that would probably fall over if I screwed one of those behemoths on to it.

The cheap Machine Mart ones are crap, we had two (buy cheap, buy thrice in this case) and the bases both cracked within a couple of months of fairly light but repeated use. Meh. We ended up with one from Chris’s dad that had been, er, liberated from one of the pits at Seaham years ago. Five years on in our hands and it’s still going strong. It gets used for bicycle, motorcycle and rusty old car stuff, plus the odd bit of welding and hammering.

Autojumbles, car boot sales, that sort of thing. Old is good!

Chris built a heavy-ish duty workbench in the shed using lengths of 2×4 and some kitchen work top. It’s going nowhere and it probably adds a fair bit of strength to the shed as well cos it’s all glued and screwed to the shed as well as itself 😆 I think the bits came to less than £100 to do both long sides of a 10×8 shed.

If your “visitors” broke an old vice the I would give the Irwin multi vice about 5 minutes life – those things are notorious for breaking the front jaws off. They are fine if you are sympathetic and only “hold” things but any rough treatment or use as a “press” and it will fail.
Look for an older Record 3X (cast steel) or 2X(quick release) there are loads about for pickup only – for less than the cost of a new – Irwin Record – they may look nice but the cheap ones are not well regarded.
Other makes to look out for
– Woden 186 series -similar to Old Record
– York – Czech – still available new
– Swindens – what Irwin Multi is copying – no comparison – Swindens are bolted to army truck bumpers and cost 1k+ .. (unless you get lucky on ebay or gumtree – somebody last year did and got one for 99p!..)

Tom – YGM! As you were everyone.

Probably the last boot sales of the season today

I bagged a small hobby vice a couple of weeks ago, if I’d had another 20 quid on me I would have had the nice Woden engineers vice next to it.

On my way to the office this morning, I stopped by a small independent DIY shop to pick up a split pin to replace the one I bent taking out of the vice I’m restoring.

Eventually we found one the right thickness, but it was too long.

“You’ll need to put it in a vice to cut it,” says the shopkeeper.

“Trouble is, it’s from a vice that I’m restoring….”

“Come and use our vice instead.” And, handing me a hacksaw, he lead me into the workshop at the back of the store. Imagine my disappointment when there was no massive ancient Record but a flimsy, misaligned clamp-on vice attached to the edge of a work table.

And, even after I’d cut the thing down myself, I was still charged 25p for the pin…!

djtom – am in New Forest, have sent pm, I see someone else is trying to usurp it….

Stef – I’m about to make a start on one of these:

Basic Workbench Design & Plans

I took down a studwall partition in the garage and I’ve got enough wood for the frame, and the solid core door will do nicely for the top.

It will be a good home for Grandpa’s Record No.3.

Vice-ists – what are y’all doing about a workbench? Do you just build one or are they worth trawling gumtree etc for?

I use an old crappy computer table that would probably fall over if I screwed one of those behemoths on to it.

I’ve got stacks of ancient Dexion which my Dad passed my way after he retired and broke up his business.
Dexion frame and 2″ thick MDF/PLy laminate worktop is basically indestructible.
I’ve got a big stainless plate to reinforce the area where the vice is bolted.

@ nedrapier – mine is a simpler less well built version of that.

Photos here. It’s been dismantled and moved since it was first built, which hasn’t helped sturdyness.

Will need to be reinforced to accept this vice:

Thjis is the one I bought

It’s had a serious amount of use and abuse (I used to do a lot of steel fabrication, welding, land rover bumpers, that sort of thing). Machine Mart have everything out, great for all sorts of bits!

Are the ‘Irwin’ Record ones any good or has someone just bought the name, bit like they do for old bike manufacturers and then turn out shit?

Sadly, the latter. Nothing you can buy from Machine Mart for £70 will be anywhere near the quality of the proper old Record vices. The metal used in the Chinese made stuff is of poor quality, and from experience, they just aren’t made to the same accuracy as the old British stuff. I’ve seen cheap Chinese vices actually snap when used in a workshop. If you want to do any heavy work with it, then invest in something decent. The cheapo ones might be ok for light/occasional use, but I’d not risk safety for the sake of saving money.

Having said that, Axminster appear to be selling some very expensive ‘Irwin Record’ vices such as this one:

http://www.axminster.co.uk/record-irwin-no-25-fitters-vice-150mm-6-in

So it’s a bit confusing. Personally, I’d look around for a decent old British Record vice. I picked up a lovely old Record 52 1/2 QR woodworking vice for just £30 a couple of years ago, and a strip and clean later, it’s perfect. Stuff was made to last back then.

I have an old Record 1 ton vice in my garage. I love it, even has a little flat section that I can use like an anvil. It’s a lot like this one
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Record-1Ton-E-Workshop-Vice-4In/dp/B0001GS172

but a bit older

Update, well I got this one off gumtree locally for £100, it’s in really good nick, hardly used and pretty similar size to the one that busted. Hope it does the job, bit dubious as it’s an Irwin Record one but for the money (supposed to be £400 rrp) I thought I’d give it a go: