The Parrot Vise swivels a full 360° like most bench vises, but you can also pull it from its base and replace it on its side to hold things vertically. Shop Fox designed the vise so you only need to tighten the jaws to stop the vice from swiveling.
The jaws on the Parrot Vise measure 3-1/2″ wide by 2-1/8″ high, and they open to 5″. Holes in the jaws allow you to mount custom faces, or you can buy the optional rubber-lined tilting jaws.
You can find a Parrot Vise for $40 to $50.
Parrot Vise [Woodstock International]
Street Pricing [Google]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]
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17 Responses to The Shop Fox Parrot Vise
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What’s the wisdom of the crowd on this vice?
Given that I have to remove and re-mount it anyways due to a bench upgrade, is it worth replacing an old 4″ hobby vice with this one?
This is perfect, I’ve had this vise sitting in my bookmarks for a month now because I was considering getting it. Can’t wait to see what people think.
There are 3 reviews on the Amazon site, and all 3 like the product. I would be interested in hearing what folks here have to say, as well.
It certainly looks like it might be handy.
We have an old pattern maker’s vise (Emmert) in the corner of the woodworking shop that gets used for all sorts of oddball pieces.
I know that they make some reproductions like this one at Woodcraft:
http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=3516&refcode=05INFROO
but I don’t know how they compare.
I have a vice that I picked up at a garage sale that is exactly the same design at this vice. I would guess it to be from the 1950’s. Mine is green instead of blue. I’ve never gotten around to mounting it on a bench yet.
Usually having everything tighten down at once with a single knob is a bad thing, and you spend much time fighting the object as it flops around on multiple axes. Still waiting for someone who actually used it to chime in.
A vise is not a vice, unless one of your vices is vises.
anyone know if this is U.S. made?
From China.
I’m with blitzcat on the flopping thing. I had a rotating head vice that would tilt to one side as I was tightening unless the weight was balanced, which it almost never is. This might be handy for soldering, or something really small like that.
This is a handy vise, but I would not use it as my sole vise for very heavy work. The moving jaw has some up-and-down play (when upright) due to the locking mechanism for the base. Tightening the jaws presses down on the lever and bolt arrangement underneath the slide, in turn locking the swivel in place. The bolt will need periodic adjustment in order for the jaws to close perfectly parallel.
This vise (or at least the one I use) is made in Taiwan. It can be purchased from Grizzly as well.
We use this style vice for all of our gunstock work. They are the greatest. if it is tight enough to hold the stock it will lock it down where it will not swivel on you. I’m a huge fan of this product! We have several all around our shop! We put soft rubber grips on it so it will not bite into the wood.
Ditto on using the Parrot vice for gunsmithing; great for stocks and for holding tactical rifles for floating grip removal, barrel replacement, etc. Really like this vice.
Brownell’s has this vise for $300. They claim it’s USA made out of 60,000 tensile strength iron. If this is true it’s the only one like this that is USA made since the original one back in the 50’s that was made in Ohio. Parrott and Universal are all China clones that are pretty cheap. No parts are available for the clones but Brownell’s site claims to have parts although it says some parts are discontinued. I have read alot of reviews and alot have low reviews with broken and stripped parts early. makes me leary about buying this but I like the idea, but not for $300.
I have purchased this style vise from midwayusa.com for about 60$ it have been in use my be for about 5 yrs. It broke last night after I have over tightened it. After some internet searching they all seem to be made in China now and all had poor reviews which includes breakages. There was one manufacturing company in Ohio who made this style vise called versa vise and has since gone out of manufacturing. You can still find many on eBay and other various websites. But the price for old U.S. made products using steel from the U.S. is quite costly about 80-180$. Its a shame but if you need a reliable product buy a U.S. one
Thank you
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7hRQ3Bu4VA
Watch this
Ive used it for mostly gunsmithing, light work. It can break. I have broken mine from overtightening. However, it worked excellently during its service. Just dont overtighten or bang on it too hard. Its only cast iron, not steel.