The Lee Valley Large Front Handle Vise arrived today. Very fast shipping.

Well packed, arrived safely, nicely machined and I got right to work flipping the bench top over.

After an hour or so of studying the instructions and folding the template I decided to send it back.

* The throat depth without adding a shim is less than ideal, 3 1/4″.
* The shallow throat depth requires quite a wide set of jaws for most end grain work which brings racking forward from the back of my mind.
* The recommended minimum thickness of the front jaw is 1 5/8″; the only stock I have on hand that would laminate to that is rough sawn and I’m not going out in the snow to machine it.

I have done a good bit of business with Lee Valley over many years and their products and service are first rate. I feel guilty about sending it back but it’s just a lot of fuss for what should be a “Toaster”. I would have ordered their Groz Quick release, metal handle and all to save taking a refund but it’s out of stock and I need a vise. I just now ordered the 10″ Eclipse from Amazon. It’ll be here Sunday and take 20 minutes to install.