Bench Clamps Reviews

Buy this one, quickly, while you still can get a gen-yoo-wine, made-by-Brits-in-Sheffield vise for a Taiwanese price. The Record 52-1/2 is a far better device than expected for a little over a hundred bucks. It has tremendous capacity, is heckforstrong, and is fast-acting without mystical half-turn gymnastics. It has a nice, long-lasting blue paint finish, and decent metal finishes as well. You can tighten it up with a whomping mallet mash if you care to, and it will take it and smile back at you. The quick-release lever is a pure gem in operation.

This champion of a vise deserves a big, heavy bench to support it in the fashion in which it would like to become accustomed. Be aware that mounting procedures will affect your long-term enjoyment greatly. If your bench is edged, mounting Big Blue behind the edging gives you a seamless inside face; this is superior to recessing it into the bench side. You also should fabricate an outside jaw pad of hardwood. Magnetic pads are available for this vise, but they look crummy on a nice bench, can't be made from scraps and won't last as long as maple ones. A useful, plain-English installation guide is included.

Waxing the screw and guides is recommended. Don't use oil, grease or WD40, all of which will accumulate crud rapidly.

Drawbacks are few: you won't get the full jaw width after facing the jaws (you don't need it anyway); it weighs about an Imperial ton (only a disadvantage if your bench is lightish); and it will torque its works a bit if you rachet down hard with a piece of stock held vertically in one side. This last peccadillo is curable by the expedient of shimming the opposite side with a board of equal thickness. Final drawback is the dog, which is good hard steel -- just the thing to punch divots in your workpieces. Make a new one out of hardwood (takes 15 minutes or so if you're slow like me), and your troubles are over. Alternatively, you can use cauls between the dog and your workpieces.

The ONLY reason I'll never buy another Record 52-1/2 is that a guy really only needs one -- and I'll never wear this one out. Nice to see well-made gear out there.

As with the majority of equipment manufactured by Record, you will find attention to detail and excellent quality. The 52-1/2 does not disappoint. The thread design on the clamp is very beefy and will withstand as much pressure as you can muster without the possibility of striping out. This is something you want find on the Taiwanese copycats. The ratio of handle turn to clamp movement is excellent allowing for incremental adjustment of clamping pressure without the fear of "over doing it". The adjustable top "dog" is great when used in conjunction with bench "dogs" resulting in even great clamping width capacities. The quick release feature is very helpful in quickly adjusting the jaw width without having to crank your arm off.

As mentioned in an earlier review, careful attention should be paid to adequately mount the vice. I anchored the vise in a 2" x 4" laminated workbench by rabbiting the rear vice clamp into the bottom of the workbench and then secured it with �" x 2 �" lag bolts. I also attached a 12" long 2" x 4" to the front vice clamp. This gives me a wood-on-wood clamping surface to protect the surface of my projects.

This should be the first (and it will probably be the last) vise you consider or purchase.

This is a good, strong vise that is easy to tighten and loosen. The lever swivels very smoothly and is large enough to give you a good grip. The overall design is excellent. The way the mounting holes are positioned, you can mount the vise on the edge of your workbench so it has a fairly low profile. This means that the vise is very unobtrusive, staying out of the way, yet providing access when you need it. The inside of the mouth is smooth. However, I taped some padding on it to make sure it doesn't damage wood. If you're a woodworker, this is the best kind of vise to get.

Back-To-Back clamps are among the first things I grab when I'm prepping for a project. Can be used as hold-downs for sanding/finishing, holding pieces during assembly, or used as a straight edge for routing/cutting. I have a number of 36" and 50" lengths and continually wish I had a couple more.

Back-To-Back clamps are among the first things I grab when I'm prepping for a project. Can be used as hold-downs for sanding/finishing, holding pieces during assembly, or used as a straight edge for routing/cutting. I have a number of 36" and 50" lengths and continually wish I had a couple more.

I bought the T-50 50" Double Grip Bench Clamp with T-track for a large acrylic project. Cell cast acrylic sheets, 1/2 and 3/8" thickness, were cut with the T-50 as a guide for my circular saw. The T-50 is light for its size, is easy to allign and clamps well - lots of force and without losing my allignment. It held the acrylic well while the cuts were made - even 48" cuts while clamped on smooth acrylic edges. I was able to hold very close tolerances on all cuts, exceeding my expectations.

I have also used the T-50 on additional projects - including particle wood and plywood - usually as a router or saw guide. It has performed well on all occasions.

The tool arrived right on time, however the order was suppose to have been 2 inserts & clamps and what I received was the pack of 1 insert & 1 clamp. I was ready for extreme delays, and a big hassle in resolving the issue, especially since this was during the holidays. Well let me tell you...I sent one email to the address provided by amazon on my order page explaining the situation and within 3 hours there was an email saying sorry for the mess up and a new product was on its way. Now I call that "Good Business"

IRWIN clamps have GOT to be the BEST you can buy for your money. The tools are built solidly, and the alignment between screw and anvil never varies (as many do). By proffesion, I am a mechanical engineer and have been designing and overseeing manufacture of consumer products for over 25 years. I can tell you, that from this perspective, IRWIN has been my TOP CHOICE for woodworking products since the first time I purchased this clamp. I am now methodically replacing all of my shops clamps with IRWIN clamps. And NO, I do not work for IRWIN, and am in no way associated with this fine company. (but they could send some appreciation clamps this way if they like. heh). If you are looking to purchase clamps, the extra few dollars will be appreciated every time you turn that screw.

The Irwin sliding bar clamps with clutch lock are excellent. They do not bend/bow when tightened like my Bessey clamps of the same length do. Manufacturing quality is excellent. The grips are easier on the hands than the wooden grips of the Bessey clamps. I wish I could trade all my Bessey clamps for these Irwin clamps.

These toggle clamps and the other variations are just the ticket for jigs and custom clamping device's. Highly adjustable for almost any application, they have too many uses to list in a couple thousand words. I use them on sleds, fences, jigs for cutting miters on small pieces, hold downs for the chop saw and on the drill press, and on the bench to hold small pieces while I carve or sand profiles on them. Once you get a couple and use em, the idea's will flow.
Highly recommend.

Great way to secure stock to jigs...I improved mine by replacing the nut with a wing nut and slotted the 4 holes so that I could simply loosen the screws and move hold downs from jig to jig...

I Love this tool. I don't know how I have worked without it.

This is the best vice I have ever seen. The quick release works smoothly and is a must. The machine work and casting was expertly done. I recommend it to anyone that wants a heavy duty workworking vice. My first complaint is the shipping. When it arrived the box had a large hole in it(from being dropped I suppose). The handle is a solid steel bar but yet it was bent when it arrived. So either Record doesn't make their handles straight (doubtful) or somebody dropped it very hard. Anyway it still works fine but when you purchase a new tool it would be nice if it got to you with out being damaged. Also a template for installing it would have saved a lot of time.

The Record 53EX is a very heavy duty, well built vise. I like the quick release mechanism, the big metal handle, large size, and 15 inch capacity. But, an installation template would have been very helpful. Also, the screw holes for the user supplied face plates are not tapped.

If you're in the market for a wood working vice, then your search is over... this is it! My first experience with a Record vise was nearly 25 years ago, and that vise is still today going strong; serving in day-to-day work without stopping! The vice requires a 3-1/2" thick tabletop (its not listed in the specs, but you should know this before ordering), that shouldn't be a problem if you have a professional type bench, however if you're expecting to mount it to something less, you'll need to provide some kind of wood blocking. The quick release lever isn't on my original, and in my opinion adds unnecessary complexity to the screw mechanism, and probably isn't nearly as strong since the holding power is provided with the assist of a small spring metal leaf, (although I'm sure the engineers at Record have tested it and proved that it will outlast anything else on the market!) I would have been content with just a basic screw mechanism.

One peculiarity, the adjustable dog doesn't sit flush with the jaws in the down position (it projects about a 1/4" of an inch) and sometimes gets in the way. Whether this is by design or manufacturing flaw is unknown - on the original it sits flush. Obviously, 20 seconds with a cut-off saw was all it took to fix this!

The only other complaints are as other have noted as well.... it *really* could use a stronger box for shipping (this is no joke! mine was almost busting through the bottom of the box!); an installation template would have been nice; a little more oil on the exposed metal parts (the one I received had some light surface rust on the jaw edges and rail guides); the holes for attaching wood to the jaws aren't threaded, (that was easily rectified with a tap set); they should have included the mounting hardware (I used 3" long x 1/2" dia. lag screws); and including a metal bench stop (to go with the dog!) would have been a nice addition as too!.

Overall you will not find a better woodworking vise at any price!