Reply by Ripthorn

I bought the Lee Valley economy face vise ($56 USD currently) and am very happy with it. I put 1 5/8” thick chops on that are 15” wide. It is not a perfect vise, but works very well. The top of the jaws are supposed to touch before the bottoms so that the work piece is always grabbed at the top, but they should only be ever so slightly not parallel. I still need to tweak my chops a hair, but I am totally pleased with it, as I used a smaller version of the HF vise for a while and was never happy with it.

-- Brian T. - Exact science is not an exact science