Bought a new vice

At last someone who agrees with me

Would it realy have been too much trouble/cost to dress it up a little?

I've made a spinner handle for my vice using a redundant socket and it makes all the difference.

Depends on your attitude to tools maybe? I value them for their functionality rather than good looks, and believe that aesthetics are secondary in a workshop. To me it's the parallelism of the vice that matters, and I note that can't be measured by the most critical human eyeball.

There are ergonomic objections to fancy handles. Knurling should be avoided because it chews up skin, and high polish because it's slippery. The purpose of a handle is to provide a decent grip, and arguably that handle will do a good job.

I'm a dreadful cynic though. Granny taught me to never judge a book by it's cover, her point being the ease with which junk can be made to look smart with paint, putty and polish. Never mind a tool's appearance I say, how well does it work? All is well if I value its performance.

My attitude isn't for everyone. Many friends enjoy owning spotless workshops full of beautiful tools. More like museum collections than work places maybe, but that's fine by me - it's just a different take on Model Engineering. However, Far Eastern hobby tools don't fit well into collections because they're affordable. Don't buy them if your tools are also required to be objects of desire.

On the subject of handles, what does the team think of choppers?

I suspect the wide handle-bars and long forks are mostly added to boost the riders ego! Having the front wheel that far out means the bike is good at straight fast cruising, but less happy on bends, and noticeably unstable at slow-speeds. Excellent bragging rights arriving for a night out in a busy town centre, but a city courier wouldn't ride one professionally. Ridiculous bike for delivering Pizza's too!

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 04/06/2023 12:23:18

No, but a bit dissapointing concidering how nice the vice looks

Anyway i was always going to a spinner handle so no skin off my nise, just an observation

These days we tend to be a bit spoilt by how routine good finishes are on everything. But if excellent finish at mass production rates isn't your main business putting a really nice finish on relatively small numbers of items can be surprisingly expensive. So when the price-performance ratio gets tight, as it is for relatively inexpensive vices, its quite feasible that skipping the posh up and polish step could knock that vital £10 or £15 off the final sale price vastly improving the prospect of a sale. Most especially when your primary market has severely constrained budgets, such as hobby folk, permanently seeking ways to enable every £ to do the work of 5 or, preferably, 10.

Presumably there are reasons not to outsource the handles to "China Handles Inc" or other firms of that ilk who are set up to make nice finished ones inexpensively.

As mentioned previously I prefer the style that came with the two Vertex vices that I normally use :-

The handle finish has a slightly rough texture, enough to stop oily hands slipping but not so rough as to be uncomfortable. Whether intentional or just the way the process made them I know not.

The extension piece is essential because those vices are the screw operated "economy range" version of a hydraulic vice. The nut has three positions, as defined by a movable pin, exactly mimicking a common arrangement with hydraulic vices which generally have limited travel on the tightening device.

Clearly without the extension the handle will foul one the vice body at the two narrower opening settings. Combined with the relatively long vice body the extension ensures that I rarely have fouling issues unless working with the vice jaws aligned more or less across the bed. Socket set, extensions and UJ sort that. Were it to become a regular issue the other extension would get modified. Quickly.

Clive

Edited By Clive Foster on 04/06/2023 12:45:58

I've had the same handle as Clive shows on the right for 15yrs on my most used Vertex, I did think about smoothing it off a couple of times but it's not actually rough more non slip as Clive says. Besides I'd rather be making engines that tools

That type are also useful when you need two hands to hold the part while tightening the vice as you can use your belly on the handle to nip it up.

Completely unsure of t he connection between Harley choppers and vice handles but yes choppers like that were built for the wide open freeways of California, not dispatch couriering around London! Rigid rear frame with rigid mounted seat.is a literal pain the in the derriere, and back, and shoulders and neck etc. And two gallon gas tank gives a range of about 90 miles maximum between fill ups so no long distance cruiser. The long forks are all about style, the wide bars you need to control the long forks! That said, an American guy named Doug Wothke rode a very similar 1962 Harley rigid chopper around the world in 2009. But he did have a spring mounted seat and a 5 gallon gas tank. LINK

Well, my point is what makes a good handle, is controversial. Handle design is more difficult than it appears.

petro1head expected his new vice handle would be better finished. Not unreasonable, but another take suggests his handle is better than a pretty one. Then it turns out many prefer a crank-handle on their vice. There's conflict between function, looks, cost, and expectations.

Chopper bikes are, I think, an example of looks triumphing over function. In their arch endeavour to be matchless, they deliver a zero, OK rather than supreme, and their riders get into a tiz.

Door handles are more than matter of taste too. Never mind how they look, or how well made, but I believe one of these two types is illegal in Canada:

The separate hot and cold taps found on most British sinks and baths surprise the rest of the world. Why, foreigners wonder, do Brits prefer twiddling two awkward knobs to controlling flow and temperature with a single easily operated lever?

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 05/06/2023 09:58:59

Only one of those is a Handle Dave, the other being a Knob. Knob furniture is best suited to horizontal locks keeping the lever furniture for vertical "sash" locks as it is easy to hit your knuckles when using a knob on a short backset spindle.

Also can't remember the last time I fitted taps with handwheels

Edited By JasonB on 05/06/2023 10:11:04

I see this thread has decended into knobs and choppers

It seems lever handles were banned on outside doors because bears have learned to operate them. It’s possible Yogi might not be “smarter than the average bear”.
Mike

Edited By Mike Poole on 05/06/2023 10:36:20

I thought it was the knobs that had been banned as old and disabled people find them hard to use but there were worries about bears opening cabin doors.

Hi Dave, posh but fairly plain door knob you've shown there. A pair that I have, although they need a scrub-up are much more interesting, and being solid brass throughout, apart from a steel washer to hold the knob to the backplate, would look a lot more fancy I think. Each knob is approximately 70mm across the flats, the backplate is 78mm across the flats, and it is 70mm high and weights 440g, and you can turn it with a wet or slippery greasy hand.

Might clean them up someday, but I haven't found a door to put them on yet.

As regards to the vice handle, I do prefer those shown by Clive Foster, and have used many during my day jobs, and have got at least two like them in my garage, but neither are what you would call silky smooth finish on them, but they are not rough.

Regards Nick.

So in Canada they need to put a knob on the outside to keep the bears at bay, and a lever on the inside so the oldies can get out? I've seen cats that can jump up and open a lever door handle so I am sure bears could.

I think it was Germaine Greer who said many years ago that the only marital aid she and her husband used was Vaseline, on the doorknob to keep the kids out.

Edited By Hopper on 05/06/2023 12:00:55

Hi Hopper, on one of Billy Connolly's tapes that I still have somewhere, he talked about a door to door Vaseline salesman, who when he returned to a previous customer, the customer said it made the best nights he'd ever had, and bought a load more off him to put on the door knob, punchline was it keep the kids out of his & her bedroom.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 05/06/2023 12:38:21

Maybe it was Billy and not Germaine then. I could have got them confused...

Hi Hopper, found my tapes this morning and it's on his Atlantic Bridge album 1976 track 4, the title is Rentalaugh-The Vaseline Salesman.

Regards Nick.