10 MORE Bench Vise Tips, Tricks, & Hacks (Part 2)

After searching for a bench vise for years, restoring a small one, and even after building a few vises, I FINALLY found and bought myself a big bench vise.

Does the excitement of owning a new, proper vise* + crazy popularity of my Instructable, Top 10 Vise Hacks (100,000 views in 20 days!) = another compilation of tips, tricks, modifications, ideas, and hacks for your bench vise?

Let's get started!

The video below is a compilation of my favorite tips from both the first Instructable in this series which I have linked to above, and this I'ble. It includes tips and tricks that I haven't Included in this I'ble, and VISE-versa.

Please watch the video once you retain yourself and stop laughing from my awful puns :)

(Watch the YouTube video: LINK FOR MOBILE VIEWERS!)

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Step 1: Bearing Removal? Hammer Stuff Through the Space Between the Jaws!

So you want to remove a bearing from a rod, but don't own a bearing puller tool, or it simply just doesn't fit.

Open your vise jaws, and place the bearing over the jaws like I show in the second picture, and close it slowly until you reach the point where the rod can barely slide from side to side in the vise jaws. This is very important, since if you don't make sure that the inner race (inner part of the bearing) is what absorbs the pressure from the blow of the hammer, the bearing can break, making it useless if you actually want to keep the bearing like me. Then, to push the rod out of the bearing, I like to use a center punch and a hammer, and hammer slowly and carefully.

You can actually see me do this a few times in my video on how to salvage free bearings from stepper motors. I think I came up with this idea while filming that video, but I now realize you can use this trick for much more than removing bearings from shafts of motors. Taking apart speaker magnets to separate the ceramic magnet from the steel discs that can be used as a washer in other projects, putting gears on motors, and more!

Step 2: Denail Wood Faster!

Unless we're talking about a massive 72ft 2X4* that you need to lift on your own, I've found that a vise works way better than any type of locking pliers for remove nails and staples from wood, and especially in harder woods. It can hold onto a tiny headless brad nail with way more force, and you have more leverage for pulling it out. I don't have a perfect example of this since I've already de-nailed all of my lumber, so I had to put a nail myself in some scrap wood.

I placed the board upside down, on the vise, and tightened up the jaws so they held the top of the nail, in this case, the head of the nail. Then, I pushed down on the other end of the board, making the edge of the vise jaw the leverage point, yanking the nail right out of the piece of wood! I

*Free 3 month premium membership to Instructables for the first one to comment below about which "72ft 2X4" I'm referring to ;)

Step 3: How to Make Magnetic Wooden Soft Jaws

Soft jaws are a great addition to any bench vise, and especially if you're like me and work mostly with materials that are softer than the vise jaws. I like these way more than my previous homemade vise jaws.

A thin piece of scrap wood, magnets, a popsicle stick, and some glue is pretty much what you need for this. These will NOT move around on you, unless you decide not to use them, which in my case, I store them on the anvil (striking part) or my vise when they aren't needed :)

Watch the quick 1-minute video on how to make magnetic wooden soft jaws by clicking here

Step 4: Crack Open Nuts (Even Macadamias!)

Some nuts such as walnuts are easy to break open without any tools, however, some others, like Macadamia nuts are pretty much impossible to break open without any tools. I don't think you can even break them with a hammer!

A vise, in a nutshell, is way faster and has more control than locking pliers. Pun intended, end of step!

Step 5: A Simple Way to Mount a Bench Vise Onto Your Workbench

I still have not received the waterproof tarp thing that I bought to cover my workbench when it rains, since it isn't protected very well form the elements. I wanted to able to remove it in a minute, without fussing around with holding the bottom nut while twisting to remove the bolt... I wanted to make it drill powered!

I decided that I wanted to make threads in the workbench itself, and for that, I I had to make my own wood tap. Watch the quick 1:20 minute video on how to make a wood tap from a bolt by clicking here!

I originally intended on using the exact same type of 3/8" bolt for the tapping and for the securing to the workbench, since I wanted to tap the holes with a drill, and then wanted to use the same socket wrench. I later found out I didn't the right adapter to use it in my drill, so after drilling all four holes, I had to do it all by hand (I show this in the video). Oh well, it should arrive soon from eBay, just in time to do some strength tests, because these are way stronger than I expected :)

This bolt has not been hardened, and after tapping around ten holes*, I still can't feel that it's getting duller. If you have any information on how to harden a bolt like this, if it's even possible, I'm looking forward to reading your comment!

*Yes, four for the workbench, but I had to experiment and make a few tests to see which sized drill bit works best - and I hereby present to you that the 8.5mm drill bit is the winner for both softwoods (Pine) and hardwoods (Beech).

Step 6: Eliminate the Annoying Clanking Sound!

If you've ever tried to work quietly to not disturb others, you might know how awkward it is to try to turn the handle of a vise really quickly, so the rod stays in place and doesn't produce a pretty loud clanking sound when it falls.

Not anymore!

I originally thought of putting O-rings on the handle, but then found out I don't have any, so I decided to use some silicone spacers that I think I salvaged from a car stereo system. I think they were used to stop the PCB from rattling around from the vibrations of the car, but I'm not entirely sure. Problem solved, and I wish I thought of this earlier!

Step 7: Separate HDD Bases From Their Non-magnetic Backs

If you've ever taken apart a hard drive, you'll know they usually contain a few extremely strong neodymium magnets, which are really useful for all sorts of projects. This excellent idea* helps you to remove the backer piece from the magnet without harming its magnetic properties with heat, or breaking it, like I've done multiple times in the past.

On a side note, though, if you don't need to remove the backer piece, I wouldn't remove it. The magnet itself is pretty brittle, meaning that if it falls on a hard floor or attracts quickly to a thick piece of metal, it can break or even shatter which can be dangerous. With that said, if you need to make the magnet thinner, don't worry about it too much :)

*I actually saw this great idea for the first time here on Instructables, in the Instructable Custom Wood & Aluminum Magnets From a Hard Drive almost 2 years ago. I knew remembering Ben's name would come in handy eventually!

Step 8: How to Mount a Bolt or Threaded Rod in a Vise Without Destroying the Threads

This is sort of a different one. A little over a year ago, I published the Instructable How to Remove a Stuck Nut (without Stripping Threading), and had a few people, such as CDT1 complain that all I show is how to clamp a bolt or threaded rod in a vise, and a few others requesting a video. If so, that means that it should be in this Instructable!

I came across a few threaded rods that I wanted to keep for future projects, but some of them had hex-nuts that were stuck, and I wasn't able to un-screw them. I could have held easily removed it by holding onto the threaded rod with from one side with locking pliers, and and the nut with a wrench, but that would damage the threads, making that part of the threaded rod unusable.

I screwed on two hex-nuts on the other side of the threaded rod, and tightened them together with pliers, doing what is normally called a "jam nut". This needs to be tight, but there is no need to overtighten. I then clamped both of the hex-nuts in my vise Like I show in picture 2 (might be #3 for some mobile device users), held the nut tightly with locking pliers, and twisted it off. In the video, I actually held onto the nut with my vise, and used locking pliers to hold and twist the jammed nuts - but it doesn't really matter.

I then removed the jam nuts with pliers, and... Tadaa!

I did, later, after opening my Youtube channel, make a video on how to remove a stuck nut (without stripping threading), and you can click here to watch it.

Step 9: Release Locking Pliers That Are Stuck

If you've ever had to tighten your locking pliers (commonly known as vice grips) pretty much to death for a specific task, or if someone left them closed for too long, you might not be able to open them.

What do you do?

It's actually really simple!

You might've noticed that there is a part that is connected loosely to the moving handle of the locking pliers. It's called the release lever, and if you press on it hard enough with a vise, the pliers will spring back open. Do be careful though, because they will spring back extremely quickly and can break a finger. Been there, done that!

I̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶t̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶l̶o̶o̶k̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶v̶i̶d̶e̶o̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶"̶<̶"̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶"̶>̶"̶ ̶k̶e̶y̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶g̶o̶ ̶b̶a̶c̶k̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶t̶h̶ ̶b̶e̶t̶w̶e̶e̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶r̶a̶m̶e̶s̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶h̶a̶p̶p̶e̶n̶s̶ ̶s̶o̶ ̶f̶a̶s̶t̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶c̶a̶m̶e̶r̶a̶ ̶(̶2̶4̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶3̶0̶ ̶F̶P̶S̶,̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶s̶u̶r̶e̶)̶ ̶d̶o̶e̶s̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶c̶a̶t̶c̶h̶ ̶i̶t̶!̶ I ended up not including it in the video, but I have kept the footage and will probably make a video of this soon. It might end up on my second channel though.

Step 10: A Simple Way to Rust Proof a Bench Vise Tomporarily

Quick test - are you me!?

You received an unpainted vise that's in a fairly good condition.
You restored it, but left it unpainted since you thought it was unnecessary, because it's not worth the hassle and cost of primer and paint, etc.
Once a year you need to work on a metalworking project ( my homemade folding knife from a file!), where you use water as a coolant, and are afraid of having your vise rust.

Here's a simple tip! Coat the parts of a vise that you know are going to get wet with a thin coat of vaseline (easier to apply and/or remove than candlewax), and then wipe it off with some toilet paper (it's not as coarse as a paper towel). A very thin coat should be left on the metal, and since it's very thin, sawdust shouldn't stick to it.

I haven't tried car wax though.

If you liked this idea, you might want to check out Mikeasaurus' Instructable for even more Unusual Uses for Vaseline!

Step 11: DONE! | More Thoughts | Compilation Video!

Watch these tips and tricks in action, on Youtube!

Some more thoughts:

My new vise is a YOST 4", but I think it's OEM or whatever that means, since I saw the same vise by other companies and colors. I bought it on Amazon for <$50 and like it so far - it hasn't snapped in half like so many others :)

I already have a few ideas for part THREE of this series, so if you have any special tips, please leave them in the comments below!

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Introduction: 10 MORE Bench Vise Tips, Tricks, & Hacks (Part 2)