08-10-2013, 10:05 PM
The bench is one my late father built. It's got 2" thick oak, topped with a sheet of 1/2" high density particle board. The legs are 4x4", and the 40" x 72" workbench is firmly attached to the concrete wall behind it. Most definitely suitable for a vise like this. It makes the workbench and 5" Starrett vise at my home look like the "toy tools" that they are.
When I went to retrieve the vise today, I was adamant about getting as many details as possible about it. Ralph's daughter and son-in-law gave me a sales sheet showing all the tools that shop made, and this appears to be the biggest vise on the list. They told me that it was around 1990 that Raplh had made the patterns and began production. He himself had told me last weekend how he had bought various competitor products and made as many improvements as possible. I'd say he "hit a home run", as we say over here.
When I went to retrieve the vise today, I was adamant about getting as many details as possible about it. Ralph's daughter and son-in-law gave me a sales sheet showing all the tools that shop made, and this appears to be the biggest vise on the list. They told me that it was around 1990 that Raplh had made the patterns and began production. He himself had told me last weekend how he had bought various competitor products and made as many improvements as possible. I'd say he "hit a home run", as we say over here.