I researched for months looking for a new vice for my, newly completed, Paul Sellers inspired workbench. I watched eBay trying to pick up an old, English made, Record vice but wasn’t jazzed about spending over $200 for a rusty project. Having owned and used my Wilton vice for the last five years, I wanted to try a “Record clone” quick-release vise like Paul suggests. I narrowed my vice down to this York vise, the current Record vise and the Eclipse. In a snippet I found online, Mr. Sellers cautioned against purchasing the current Record model because of problems he had experienced. To be fair, he also cautioned against the York vise because of problems he had experience with his woodworking class using these vises. That left me leaning towards the Eclipse but I kept thinking “is it really worth double the price?“ The reviews on the York were all over the board but overall, they seemed more positive than negative. I have no issue spending $200 on a vise that I can use for the next 20 years. Every single vise brand had a certain amount of negative reviews. I finally decided that if this vise showed up and looked horrible or the jaws didn’t align or the screw mechanism or quick release felt cheap then I would simply return it. Luckily, it passed the initial audition. I have been using the York vise almost daily for the last two weeks. The jaws are parallel and it locks up tightly. I really enjoy the quick release option as well as the ability to be able to back off the jaw a half turn, reposition the work piece, then snug up the handle. This is a total game changer for me! My Wilton vice is also considered a quick release vice, however, you cannot back off the jaw like you can with this style of vise. With the Wilton vise you have to turn the lever counter-clockwise one or two turns, reach down and grab the entire face and pull it back. Then you have to turn the handle clockwise a turn or two to reengage the turn screw. It’s 2-3 times as much work for every action performed. I see the wisdom in Paul recommending this type of vise. It’s so much more efficient, hands down. For now, I’m going to rate the vise as a solid 4. Time will tell if it will make it to a 4.5 or higher. Why only a four? In a word, machining. After receiving the vise I put it on some shop towels and degreased the entire main screw using mineral spirits, denatured alcohol and an old toothbrush. It comes well caked with grease and feels very smooth. However, that grease and sawdust will do nothing but harm overtime. Also, I had read a post from another York vise owner about the amount of metal shavings he found embedded in the factory grease that led to his cast iron vise nut wearing out early. After thoroughly degreasing, I coated the main screw and guide bars liberally with some paste wax, worked it in by operating the vise many times then buffed it with a clean towel. This allows you to see the machining of the main screw. As seen in my photos, there appears to be some galling on the threads. Either that or the machining tooling wasn’t as sharp as it should have been or the metal integrity wasn’t as high as it could be. I don’t know if this is par for the course or if this was possibly a bad batch of screws. Either way, the vice travels smoothly, locks up tightly and only time will tell how long the guts will last. Maybe overtime this roughness will disappear but I thought I should mention it because you won’t see it until you clean the grease off and I don’t think a lot of guys will take the time to clean the grease off. Last thoughts. Initially I was leaning towards a 10 inch version of this type of vise. Most of the 10 inch models open up 5+ inches more than the 9 inch versions. My Wilton vise opens up 5-6 inches more than my 9 inch York vice. In thinking about my past work, I realized that I had never opened my Wilton more than about 3/4 of its capacity. So going with the 9 inch model makes sense especially considering the price. Once you add vise jaws it has plenty of capacity for the majority of the work I will ever do. This completes my novel.
