Ah! Rio Grande…(sigh!)…I have read every issue, cover to cover, ever since receiving my first one, They are just chock full of useful information about the tools, reference information,and pretty, pretty tools!
I gravitate toward resources who give a lot of detailed information up front, which helps me to figure out what questions I should be asking myself about the product and my needs, which then results in more confident, and smarter purchase decisions. @RioGrande never disappoints in this respect, and if I have a question, I feel very comfortable about picking up the phone and asking a question. Their sales and tech support experts are so nice! It is like having really smart jewelry friends just a phone call away…they are on my speed dial!
Their catalogs are reminiscent of when my family would receive the Sears Christmas Catalog in the mail when I was a young girl…I would pour over every page, making lists of all the things I wanted for Christmas…the list would get revised and grow longer and longer as the months went by…
Rio Grande catalogs are even better than the Sears Christmas catalogs.!..I don’t have to wait till Christmas (for most things!) and I am old enough to buy my own things!
The vertical bench vise used to be on my list, after tediously rigging a big strong vise to hold a small sinusoidal stake, but the price of the vertical vise was prohibitive.
Remarkably, a previously less than useful small adjustable vise could securely hold the small stake horizontally. It’s this one from Harbor Freight:
Initially the serrated jaws were covered with copper sheet, thus the most secure way to hold the stake was not between the jaws, but in the opening below the jaws.
Perhaps the reason it works is because I only use a tiny hammer on the small stake.
I actually deleted that part of my post…figured I was going off on a tangent!
Global industrial (workbench category) has great prices, and many sizes of 1 3/4" maple butcher block table tops (they have a thicker one too, and steel, etc…) and adjustable height heavy duty bench legs (all sold individually)
I got my first two bench setups there because they were one of the few places that offered a 48" width (and many more) instead of the more typical 60" width…
I am thinking of getting another one, and making a cutout…then making a gliding sweeps drawer below…then buying another top and cutting it up to make two 12" deep shelves for the top…and mounting my pin on the lower shelf…
my ideai is to have a big surface at elbow height, with the pin elevated above that…with space around the pin, and shelves above the pin for burs, tools etc…shallow…close to me…not above and to the back…
and eventually a steel top one for soldering and my kiln…!
I’l love to see the photo when you get it done. I like the idea of being able to customize the heights various things are. My bench is somehow uncomfortable to work at, although Ive never been able to pin down exactly how.
I have everything I could ever want in the way of tools and equipment. What I wish is that when my hands can no longer function as a silversmith that I can look back and feel proud that the quality of my work was never compromised.