Review on Panavise 8103 PanaVise Standard Head by Michael Hughes

has been several Panavise in the course of the years and the products they make today are honestly as high quality as ever which is great to see in this day and age of production and the loss of so many businesses. They've managed to keep the price pretty stable over the past 25 years, which is pretty amazing. The finish and fairing itself are a bit smaller than before, but it's fairly minor. If you find a defect, just contact them and they will fix you. They're great for holding work in place, and they're strong and durable enough to actually do some of the work that causes many mini vises to slip. or move. Of course this is not a shop vise but light filing, rasping, tapping, sawing etc is easily possible with this vise although you may need/want to bolt the base to the work surface or use one of the optional shim plates on offer, it's heavy duty. This head is fortunately free of the play and play that is annoying and now accepted as usual on most imported vises, and is more versatile and less expensive than cheaper but decent machine/tool vises. I keep dreaming that one day Panavise will release a slightly larger head. A little more depth and opening power would be nice, as would some larger bolsters and maybe some "regular" diamond grip bolsters, maybe something like fluted types to hold round shanks and whatnot. Be that as it may, their jaw options are expensive and not outstanding. So unless someone makes a special one for it, you'll have to make your own if you want an improvement. The base nylon sponges are pretty strong but can scratch and are tough enough to scratch some materials if you're not careful, but they work well enough. It's not too difficult to glue leather or rubber to it if you'd like, and it's easy enough to add a groove or slot. The larger heavy-duty models aren't much different in this regard. Please Note: If you notice a cast flank at the top of the mounting bar as shown in the customer photos, simply pry it open with the utility knife blade and/or universal tool. , even a chisel. It breaks easily and cleanly and does not require filing or sanding. When I sold these products a few decades ago, some of the heads were the same as they are now. This is very easy to fix and will only take a few minutes of your time.