Vise advise

Just spent a few hours cleaning up my work shop.  It's amazing what you can do on a Saturday with no golf or skiing . Even my wife is impressed.  I don't think she thought I had it in me after 6 months of golf.

I now have my bench ready for tuning skis.  I have 3 mounts to do Sunday.

I need a good set of vises.  Anyone have any recommendations?

Only vices I have are drinking Laphroaig and occasional power ball ticket, so I can’t really help here.

I got Swix vices on end of season close out a few years ago- two sets; 2 for holding and two for extra support points so scraping wax won't bend the ski as much. They are sturdy and clamp to a lot of edges.

Go with the SWIX 149-50 three piece unit.  Great for the kids race skis and also the fatter skis as expands to 110mm.  Worth the cost for the stability of the ski.

I've seen a lot of good DIY stuff out there, that looks super easy to make. Usually a couple notched blocks of 2x4 or 2x6 and a couple pieces of rubber.

I asked a few guys who tune on the side.   Some for money , some for their race kids.      Consenses on the swix world cup.   40 mm to 110 mm.  Good grip and hold.   They said I can buy more expensive but no reason.   Said don't go cheaper .   The world cup model is or Appears to be the same six as the 149-50 just recommended.  I'm in shopping mode now.  So far $180 best price new.   Thinking not a big used market.

Still shopping,   found a "world cup, 2013 model" on Amazon for $161, same PSIA price.   However it is not the 149-50 as above.  It only opens to 85mm which would be fine, until I I get with everyone else and purchase a set of 90mm waists.    Not sure what Swix is calling World Cup now.    The used vice market is DRY, as in bone dry.   30 years from now our kids will see them in old skier estate sales......Decendents saying...what the heck is this contraption?  Bet we can get $5.00 for it.  

A few black friday sales out there,  World cup vise is $120      Free shipping.    

I like bench cookies for a lot of my ski work.

Just when I was about to order Race Place's catalog showed up in my mail. I bought the Jaws of the beast vise for $99. They make it themselves and cut out all the extra middle man margin.  I'm very happy with it so far on the 3 pair of skis i tuned.

Thier side file guide is sweet too

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I'm in the market for a new vise set too....my old Toko doesn't open up wide enough for either pair of my newest skis for waxing or flat filing.   And, as my forum name suggests, those same skis are mounted with tele binders, so no plate to grab onto either....

Any suggestions that are not stupid spendy (say >$150) would be welcome.   I've found lots of used on local buy and sell sites, but they're all similar to my current model.   As in old.   And skinny.  

BTW,  skis in question have 114 and 120 mm waists....my vice will barely hold my Sick birds with a 96mm waist.  

TD

I use one of these since we have both ski & boards - mix of metal and plastic parts. inexpensive and does the job, not  horrible, not great. I think you can just buy the center cinch clamp to work with your current vise...

https://tools4boards.com/store/product/0/product_id-178/category_id-207

I've had this one for 12 years:

http://www.reliableracing.com/detail.cfm?edp=10568780

Got it at Reliable Racing on closeout for a lot less than what Reliable Racing wants now. Works great, but not for that price.

Maybe I should buy more anorexic skis.......I tend to stay away from groomed slopes....my "skinny" skis don't feel a lot of love these days....

TD