Christmas comes early – new vise day, y’all
- This topic has 1 reply, 2 voices, and was last updated Dec 7, 2008 at 3:13 am by
.
-
Posts
-
Black Friday last week, Heather and I went out shopping at 5 AM. The crowds weren’t too terribly bad, and we ended up getting some pretty neat things for family on some pretty decent sales. While out, we found a couple of “can’t pass up” deals on things that Heather has wanted for a while, which we agreed would be her Christmas present this year.
Later Friday night, Heather said that what she wanted to get me for Christmas was a new vise, but she wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted, so I should just go ahead and order it. Well, Santa made an early trip today and dropped off my new vise – I give you the [font=Impact:32u32m5f]Dyna-King Barracuda Indexer![/font:32u32m5f]
Please excuse the messy desk. I’m not worthy of this thing. To quote my Brit High Performance Computing professor – “Bugger me sideways with a fishfork!” This vise is serious. I’ll be getting used to it for a while, but so far I’m very impressed. I’ve tied on hooks ranging from a 20 up to a 1/0 today, and they all held solidly. Hook access is spectacular. I’m still messing with how I want the vise friction and indexing set up, but I’m liking what I feel so far.
Up until now I’ve been tying on a PEAK. So how do they compare? To be honest, there is nothing whatsoever wrong with the PEAK, and in fact it is a pretty good contender. I may like the white base of the PEAK vise a bit better. Hook access on the Barracuda is better, and the Barracuda will hold the smaller (6 – 1/0) Mustad saltwater hooks I’m tying on more firmly than the PEAK does. The Barracuda allows you to align the hook axis with the axis of rotation – something you can’t do on the PEAK. The cam for the jaws actuates smoother on the Dyna-King, and there are no tools required (or e-clips!) to change the jaws on the Barracuda. One interesting thing is that the PEAK is much more compact – the hook is always over the white of the baseplate. On the Barracuda, the jaws are out past the base, and I’m having a hard time getting my body position right with respect to the vise at present.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.