Community Question: What's the last thing you put in a vise?

[Sajeev]

No this isn't a rhetorical question, unless you don't own a vise and still want to participate. In that case, I was actually "in a vise" trying to get an appointment for the Takata airbag recall on my daily driver -- but seriously -- here's what I last had in my workbench's vise. 

Thank goodness for shop rags...

This is a steering wheel trim for a 1979 Continental Mark V, but it was used on a lot of 70s Ford products when ordered with cruise control. (And Econoline vans up until 1991.) And they all seem to crack/break over time, so I needed to put it in a vise to epoxy back together. 

The end result was a good one, and I sincerely thank my little vise for making this happen for me. 

So what was the last thing you put in a vise? 

[Rob1]

My BBC pushrod guide plate to repair my own foolishness see post a little ticking.R

[hyperv6]

I have several vises over my bad habits. I have one on each bench and have used them for many a project. 

Some clamping and holding but I also make use of the large anvil on one to form metal items for projects. 

the last thing I had in was the mower blades from my John Deere tonight. I spent time hand filing them to a sharp edge and the vise is a help in holding them. 

[NITRO450EXP]

Riding mower lower steering bushing (Unfortunately not a car part) drilled it out and pressed in an undersize bronze sleeve, then drilled to 5/8", to get it back into action.

Bushing had wallowed out so bad I lost steering teeth mesh, had no steering just clicking sounds as the teeth skipped.

Nitro

[NITRO450EXP]

Sajeev

Looks like your beer fridge is empty, take care of that Please !!

😋

Nitro

[Sajeev]

Not a beer fridge sadly, it's just a plastic cabinet. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of garage fridges, I'm too cheap to pay the extra electricity to keep a fridge cool in a steaming hot Texas garage. 🙂 

When I want a beer, I walk inside the air conditioning and get it LOL. 

[Rob1]

Lol Sajeev and a good point I solved that issue the shop has A/C best move summers are getting hotter due to all us old car guys I guess,on another note surfing the interweb i found a 82 Vette down your way that I think I need with the chance of some relaxing of travel restrictions I have family in the Houston area and thinking about a flight down turning into a ride back when I discussed this with my lovely wife a new use for the bench vise was mentioned it sounded painful that said its been awhile since I have seen that part of the family so iam awaiting a border relaxing and my second dose.Cheers R

[Sajeev]

Better make sure that 82 has good A/C, because you do not wanna drive that back home in this weather without it! 

[billyr]

Trying to clamp and glue  a couple of oddly shaped bits, my thumb was what ended up held tight.

[sego]

The aluminum core of a garage roll up screen. Was stripping it down for scrap. All totaled there was about 121 pounds of scrap aluminum in a roll up screen for a 16' garage door. Scrap yard paid me $83.40 for the various grades. 

[Historian]

My 1886 Winchester Deluxe 45-70 lever action rifle, to remove the front sight, last night.

[Vcdoorco4]

Great timing. I just had a lug nut get stuck in my socket. I always find new ways to make easy tasks hard. Anyway, had to clamp the socket into my vise so I could knock the nut out with a nail punch. Didn’t do the chrome coating much good…

[GRP_Photo]

I have two vises; one big Craftsman for iron and one Marples for woodworking. The last thing I clamped in the Craftsman was probably some steel stock I was cutting. The last thing I clamped in the Marples was one of the carburetors from my '71 Triumph T120. The wood jaws are easier on castings like that.

[dbloz-0928]

A chainsaw ( the entire saw ) , put bar in the jaws of vice and chain is very easy to sharpen

[MoparMarq]

1/2" flexible metal electrical conduit to cut to length for garage workbench power strip project.  Hacksaw works pretty good, but the dremel with a cutoff wheel makes a nicer cut.

[JSievers]

A piece of 1-1/2" PVC pipe cut to serve as a spacer on a Roman Tub Faucet sprayer mount.

[Jake]

Last things I had in my vice were some sheet metal trans cooler duct work that I had formed in a brake and needed to weld a diverter addition to it.  Too many things to hold and not enough hands.  Just before that I had used my vice to hold my 3/8" fuel line tubing bender tool while I shaped some complex bends for routing the 8 ft long fuel feed and return lines from the tank to the front of the chassis.  It has saved my bacon many times when I am working alone in the shop.

[TRdelux]

Two tamper proof screws for mounting a Mack truck Bulldog to the hood

of a display truck.  Cut the heads off and turned them into studs with

a die so the dog could be removed for vinyl wrapping.

[Tinkerah]

Last project in my vise (affectionately known as my Horizontal Press) was to flatten copper crush washers between ground parallel bars to reuse them on a banjo bolt fitting. Yes you can reuse them if you make them flat again.

[Sajeev]

I had no idea those were reusable, but that makes a lot of sense!