# Harbor Freight vise



## joshtank (Apr 5, 2010)

i know i know. harbor freight is hit or miss - and mostly miss. my vise now is a 6" one from lowes that isn't parrallel, and i think cost me like $25 or $30. this wasn't much more. it's larger, and seems heftier. heres the link.

http://www.harborfreight.com/10-inch-woodworking-vise-42494.html

my workbench is 4×4 and with a plywood top. so it's not like i'm going by the badass book of benches or anything. in fact here it is. http://lumberjocks.com/projects/30437 i have since added bench dog holes the line up with the cheap end vise. the vise isn't so hot for holding stuff, but it does work well enough w/ bench dawgs for planing.

i'm thinkhing this HF vise will go on the front.

ANYWAY - does anyone else have one of these vises? i know it's not the best, but seriously - $35? that's just a decent night at the bar.


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## jgreiner (Oct 23, 2010)

Reading the harbor freight reviews looks very favorable. One nice thing about harbor freight's website is they don't remove bad reviews unlike some other retail websites.

If harbor freight is near you, they have a 30 day return policy so you could try it out if you don't like it, return it.

I'd also ask if the vice counts as a hand tool, because they have a lifetime warranty on their hand tools.

-jeremy


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## Gregn (Mar 26, 2010)

I think if I was going to upgrade my vise. I would want one with the bench dog on it. I wish the vise I have now had one on it.


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## jgreiner (Oct 23, 2010)

Greg, just line the inside of your vice with a thick piece of wood and drill holes to hold bench dogs.


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## Gregn (Mar 26, 2010)

Jeremy, I do that, it would just be so much nicer to have one on the vise already. I have a bad habit of not putting the dog where I remember it when I need it. My bench is multi-purpose so I don't always keep the dogs in the holes.


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

I have one of these that I'm not too proud of: it racks badly, the handle is too short, and it doesn't close evenly even with nothing in it. I use my shopmade Moxon and like it a lot better.


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## longgone (May 5, 2009)

I have a HF woodworking vise but it is different from this one. It is larger and has a quick release lever. I paid somewhere around $60 for it several years ago. It is far from the best but it gets the job done. Hopefully I will find a better one on sale or used sometime…but until then it is OK for now…


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## ariip (May 9, 2016)

DONT BUY HARBOR FREIGHT VISES!!!

I asked in the store to a manager. I thought a vise would be considered a hand tool and that it would come with a lifetime warranty, but it does not. My 69 dollar biggest vise had the jaw edge fall off and I do not know where it is. I have not had it for more than a year will very little use. The vise is now useless. This is a piece that is welded on supposedly unless they glued it???!!!. I will never buy a replacement from them. Hopefully the vise from Northern tool or anywhere else reputable will not be anything like that.

Also I had an issue with the rotating feature. This was mentioned by someone else as well. No matter how hard you tightened the handles it would slip while using force on the vise.


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