There are literally thousands of uses for a woodworking vise when doing hobbyist woodwork. From compressing two planed pieces of wood together as you laminate them to holding a block of wood steady as you chisel, a woodworking vise is an indispensable tool to have at your disposal if you are serious about your craft. With tools being outsourced more and more commonly resulting in a looser grip on quality control from tool manufacturers, it can be tough to find the right tool for the job.
Fortunately, Yost makes this task easy with their Rapid Acting M7WW 7″ Rapid Action Woodworking Vise. Yost is a longstanding manufacturer of high quality bench vises and other clamping tools. Their Rapid Acting Woodworking Vise is right in line with their typical quality, which is to say that it’s very high!
Specifications
The specs on the Yost Rapid Action Woodworking Vise are standout, as you’d expect. The body of the vise is made using 30000psi ductile cast iron, which is plenty tough for woodworking projects. The jaws are 7 inches and open a total of 8 inches with a 3 inch throat depth. This is easily large enough to clamp onto 2×4’s and larger. Obviously, the most advertised feature (as the name implies) is the rapid action nut, which allows for quick opening and closure of the vise jaws. To actuate, you toggle a lever to disengage the nut which allows you to slide the jaws quickly back and forth before releasing the lever. This is outstanding because you don’t have to sit there and turn the screw a million times to clamp the vise jaws, which is particularly useful if you are working on material that varies largely in size.
Another notable feature is the screw on this vise, which is a departure from your typical lead screw. The threads on this vise’s screw feature a buttress thread which offers smoother, more refined motion in addition to withstanding more clamping force for its size relative to a standard lead screw. As for mounting, this vise has mounting provisions that allow you to mount the vise flush to your workbench (horizontally to the side as opposed to on top of it).
Build Quality
As with all tools made by Yost, the build quality on this vise is great! The fit and finish is nice, with the usual Yost blue powder coat which is evenly applied without runs. The hardware is chrome plated for corrosion resistance and looks pretty nice as well. Construction is good with no burrs or dross on the casting. Operation is seamless and smooth, as it should be. When it comes to build quality, there really isn’t anything bad to say about this vise.
Value
As far as value is concerned, the Yost Rapid Action Woodworking Vise is a professional caliber vise at a hobbyist price. It’s hard to argue against this vise from a value perspective, because for all of the convenient features and nice quality, the cost is really quite reasonable. As far as where to buy, Amazon’s shipped price is typically the pretty competitive (and shipping matters when shipping items that are over 20 pounds!). Overall, we think you’ll be extremely happy with this woodworking vise and give it a strong recommendation. You really can’t go wrong!
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