Customer Reviews

Jorgensen 41012 Woodworkers Vise

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I was very disappointed when I opened up the box and inspected the vise. The castings were of poor quality, the front jaw was displaced about 3/16" to the left of the rear jaw when closed, and when viewed form the top the jaws were not parallel when closed (1/16" off). In addition, the quick open/close feature did not work well. When you consider the high cost (money) of this vise, it is just unacceptable. I have since returned it to Amazon.com for a refund.

I recently purchased this vise from Amazon and installed it on my woodworking bench. The machining is excellent, the fit and finish are great and the smooth jaws don't mar the wood it clamps.

I really like the quick-release feature and have found it invaluable for quickly adjusting the vise to the work at hand.

Installation was quick and easy and the vise included a template for drilling mounting holes.

I bought this vise originally from Amazon- they sent me two units and both arrived damaged in transit. Amazon would not send me another so I had to buy directly from the manufacturer after raising a stink with them. I finally got one shipped to me in one piece!

The vise itself is very solid and can grip tighter than I can ever imagine that I will need. The quick release mechanism is easy to use and very nice. But the problem I have is that it's not easy to flush mount this because the jaws are angled and not exactly parallel with the side of my bench that I'm mounting the vise on. I know that most vises are toed in just a tad bit so that the top hits first- but a very, very slight toe in should do the trick and this is much more than is needed. I wanted to hide the back jaw in back of my bench apron, but it will be difficult to do this. If I would have known this, I would have purchased a less expensive vise without a back jaw.

Overall, it is a good vise, but I would only recommend if you plan to surface mount it rather than trying to flush mount. Hopefully this makes sense! A picture is definitely worth a thousand words in this case!

When I first took it out of the box, I had to double-check that I was shipped the right vise. The casting of both halves was so mismatched, I thought it was a cheap knock-off. There was so much polyurethane on the wooden dowel handle that I couldn't fit the caps on without splitting them - I had to sand the finish off first.

The quick-release feature was fun the first couple of times I used it, but it quickly became a pain. A half turn back releases the outer jaw so it can be pulled out or pushed in. But it doesn't slide very easily and the half turn doesn't fully release the work. And, of course, continuing to turn out doesn't do anything because the gear mechanism has released. I eventually "fixed" it by drilling and tapping a threaded hole into the quick-release gear from the front while the gear is engaged. A screw in this hole will jam up against the inner jaw and prevent the quick-release gear from doing its job.

The Jorgensen 41012 vise I ordered was delivered in the manufacturer's original box without any packing or padding. Needless to say, the vise bounced around inside the too large box and the casting was broken. Amazon's return screen wasn't functioning and I could not get a return label. After a flurry of e-mails, I was told that they could not authorize a UPS pickup and they were mailing me a return label so I could take the vise to a UPS pickup site.

Meanwhile, I had ordered the smaller version of that vise on the premise that it was lighter and smaller and so wouldn't be damaged by shipping. It arrived similarly without any padding, in a damaged manufacturer's carton, and the bag containing the handle parts, screws and instructions was open. One of the end caps was crushed and most of the screws were gone. After scavenging a new end cap and screws from the vise to be returned, I convinced the UPS driver to take back the return item.

It is obvious that neither Amazon nor Jorgensen & company really care about delivering a product of this kind in good condition. The only way I would buy a Jorgensen product by mail order is if it was on a C.O.D. basis -- if you don't keep it, you don't pay. If this would not be do-able, I would buy from a more reputable competitor.

This vice is one of the best I have seen for the money spent. First the down side. The instructions that came with the vice throw them away they are useless. The template was so out of line and looked as if it was recopied 1000's of times. Both tips of the castings that supports the quick release broke off in shipping (will work fine with out them) and as for the the wooden handle the caps would not fit due to the urathane finish. Now for the upside. I filed the two small chips on the casting smooth and sprayed a little black paint on them and you could not tell there was anything wrong with it. After taking a few measurements I milled a peice of hard maple to place under the bench top so the vice would set flush with the top and installed the vice. About an inch of finish on the handle needed to be removed so that the caps could be fitted and glued. To finish the vice I milled two peices of soft maple and bolted them to the front and rear face plates. Total time spent was about 40 minutes with a coffee break. I look forward to a lifetime of use from this vice and don't see the little time spent in tweeking the minor flaws to be that big of a deal. I am plannig to add another bench to my shop and will buy this vice again.

This is a great peice of equipment. I am glad I bought it. The only problem was packaging. The first time they shipped me one it was damaged and parts were falling out of the broken box. The bottom of the vise had been chipped. They were prompt in sending the replacement. This time the packaging was in tact, but the same small point on the casting were damaged due to poor handling. This in no way affected the workings of the vise and was so small and located on the bottom as not to show. I did not send it back. I feel they would have been better off sending the vise disassembled. The package would have been smaller and the weight would not have been that much different. This would require folks to assemble the vise correctly and there is one tricky part (the part that allows it to be a quick release)has to be positioned correctly or the unit would appear to be normal but not work. Again great tool, poor packaging but they stood behind the product.

This is the best wood working vise that I have ever used, and I use it a LOT. It did not come with wooden jaws, but adding them was no problem as the jaw plates are predrilled. It is large enough to hold anything that a furniture-maker or hobbyist would need, and the slip screw makes working with it a breeze. I wish that I had owned this 20 years ago!

I purchased this vise when my trusty old Record finally died. Since I have quite a few tools made by Adjustable Clamp Co. (Jorgensen, Pony etc) which are great ,I figured this vise would be in the same league-WRONG!! Problems started from day 1. I was sure it was an optical illusion that the jaws seemed so misaligned and out of square and that a good installation would correct any percieved malady- WRONG AGAIN! The machining was so poor on this unit I had to shim both jaws to get this thing to clamp anything parallel. Acme screw was machined by a gorilla. The quick release is anything but unless you like fiddling around for the "sweet spot". Another wonderful feature of this baby is that caps on the handle love to fall off at the worst time. I finally got so irritated with them that I screwed them on and of course over time the cap split so I replaced it w/ a pipe.

I 'm sorry I waited so long to install this 'cause otherwise I would've returned it. Pretty much a boat anchor at this point. Boy do I miss my old Record.

I just installed my Jorgensen woodworking vise. It is a very heavy vise, I mean it has heft to it. I had been using a made in China cheapie and there is quite a bit of difference in the way it adjusts and how it grips your product for work. I find the quick release quite easy to use, a simply twist and pull (or push) and big adjustments are a breeze. When you place wood and tighten, my goodness, this vise has a real, real good hold on it. I am impressed and I recommend.