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Have you ever needed three hands to clamp something in a vise? The new BenchJaws from Rockwell might be the answer: it’s a machinist’s-style vise with a foot pedal. Lightly stepping on the pedal puts enormous pressure on any object up to 16″ wide. Your hands are free to keep a grip on the piece while you tighten the vise.
It took me a few tries to figure out how the vise works, but it made sense once I realized that the mechanism was similar to an old face vise I once owned. Basically, you get just one stomp on the foot pedal to tighten the jaws (this moves them by 3/4″), so you must manually position the rear jaw close to your work before tightening the vise. To remove your work, you slide a large yellow switch on front of the vise to the unlock position and depress the pedal. This releases clamping pressure and allows the rear jaw to freely slide backwards.
The BenchJaws vise utilizes all-steel construction, so it’s rigid and sturdy. It mounts to a steel bracket that you can screw to the left or right corner of your bench. Loosening a few large thumbscrews allows you to reposition the vise 90°. The pedal can be lengthened or shortened to accommodate your height.
The jaws are 2-1/2″ deep and located 8″ above the bench’s surface. This is nice when you want your workpiece closer to eye level, such as when cutting dovetails or carving.
Two accessories are available for the BenchJaws: an Extended Jaw, which stretching the vise’s capacity to 24″, and a Multipurpose Jaw, which swivels for holding tapered, round or irregular-shaped parts. The Multipurpose Jaw also includes bench dogs to clamp a workpiece on top of the vise.
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