8 Australian Wood ReviewTOOLS & EQUIPMENTThis is a well packaged, beautifully
presented, wooden vice screw. All the
surfaces, and especially the handle, are
silky smooth to the touch. The threads
are cut without any blemishes, which I
expected of the main screw itself as it is
relatively easy to machine, but this was
also true of the internal thread of the
nut, which is not so easily achieved.Attention to detail is evident
everywhere. The end caps of the
handle are also attached with wooden
screw threads, and a rubber O-ring is
fitted at each end to cushion the sound
and the force when the handle drops
through the hub of the screw.The diameter of the main thread is three
inches (around 75mm), and the threaded
section is 19 inches or around 475mm,
long. The 2X in the name refers to this
extra large size, and does not mean that
you get two of them for the price.The main selling point of this screw is
that it is extremely fast, opening and
closing at the rate of one inch or about
25mm per turn of the handle. There are
two separate threads on the main screw,
with the second starting a half turntop to be flush with the leg it is to
be installed on.A well made brass garter in two halves
comes with the vice screw, and with
the necessary 14G steel screws. The
instructions for installing these are
clear and comprehensive, but provision
has also been made (a second square
section groove has been cut around
the screw near the one provided
for the brass garter) for installing
an invisible, wooden garter instead,
through a mortise cut into the side of
the bench leg.If you like the idea of a wooden vice
screw you will not find one better
than this.Robert Howard is a woodworker and
woodwork teacher who lives in Brisbane.
See http://www.roberthoward.com.auThe premium kit reviewed here costs
US$329. The basic 2X vice kit (screw and
nut) sells for US$239, while a standard
kit (screw, nut and handle) is US$275.Review vice supplied by
http://www.lakeerietoolworks.comafter the first. The pitch of each is one
inch so the second one is, in a sense, in
between the threads of the first one, and
both advance the screw at the same rate
of one inch per turn.It has been unusually humid here in
Brisbane for the past few weeks, but I
was pleased to see the nut has remained
comfortably free on the thread, which
eliminated one of my main concerns
with wooden threads, especially those
manufactured in a foreign country with a
very different climate.I found the installation instructions for
using this thread in a leg vice on the Lake
Erie website, and whilst these are quite
thorough, they did contain references
to a 2010 issue of Popular Woodwork
magazine, and another to one of
Christopher Schwarz’s books on making
workbenches. Luckily I have both of
these and found they mainly concerned
the design of other aspects of a leg vice,
such as the shape and dimensions of
the front jaw, and the installation of the
bottom parallel arm in the front jaw.Please note also that this type of
vice requires the edge of the benchLake Erie 2X Wood Vice Premium Kit
Reviewed by Robert HowardUS$ (^32)
9
The US made Lake Erie 2X Wooden vice is fast
to operate at 25mm per turn. There are two
separate threads on the main screw, with
the second starting a half turn after the
first. The supplied components are shown.