Features
The FSV-4 Heavy Duty 4” comes with replaceable hardened steel main jaws and pipe jaws, specially grooved for a firmer grip. The main jaws have a maximum opening capacity of 4”, with a throat depth of 3”. There are a number of vises on the market that come with a slightly wider range, but this is generally sufficient for the majority of general use applications you will work on in your garage or in your shop. The 2″ pipe jaws are nice as well and are really well suited to the job.
The Yost FSV-4 also comes with a large anvil, perfect to be used as an additional work surface when you need to hammer on material. This will save you from banging away at your favorite workbench so you don’t have to beat it up.
The FSV-4 vise incorporates a covered screw design which prevents any unwanted contact from debris that can cause frequent wear. Unlike a vise with an uncovered screw, the Yost FSV-4 will require far less lubricating and general maintenance. It comes built with adjustable guide rails, allowing you to open and tighten the jaws in a smooth motion.
The FSV-4 Heavy Duty 4” can be mounted to your workbench through the 3 lugs built into the base of the vise. This is may be one less lug than the mounting structure you will find on most other vises, but it is still just as secure, and will obviously be faster to fix to your work surface, as you will have one less screw to fit. The Yost FSV-4 continues to impress with its 360 degrees rotating base, giving you complete control and taking away the dangers of having to adjust your body uncomfortably to get a job done, as you would with a vise that does not support this feature.
Build quality
The Yost FSV-4 Heavy Duty 4” has been manufactured from forged steel, which has a tensile strength of 90,000 psi. Simply put, this blows grey iron and ductile iron vises away. You can get some wicked clamp force out of this vise because you won’t have to worry about material failure like you would on a vise with lesser quality material. The vise is deceptively lightweight, weighing in at only 22 lbs, but by no means does this compromise the clamping force. It comes with a rather attractive and well applued red powder coated finish allowing the vise to withstand extreme weather and still maintain its good looks. The operating handle is finished off with black oxide, making it corrosion resistant. The overall design of the Yost FSV-4 guarantees durability and pretty much infinite life in your garage!
Value
The assumption based on the features and superior quality of the Yost FSV-4 Heavy Duty 4”, is that this vise is probably going to set us back a few hundred of our hard earned dollars. That is in fact true, should you wish to purchase the FSV-4 from the official Yost website. However, if you choose to be a little savvy and shop around, you will be able to grab yourself a great bargain. For example, you can purchase the Yost FSV-4 from Amazon.com for a pretty attractive price shipped! This vise represents extremely high value and gets our highest recommendation. It’s one of the best bench vises around.
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