Yost Clamp-on Vise Review

If you haven’t heard of Yost before, there are two things you need to know about them – they make great quality vises, and all but a few of their vises are made in the USA.

Mechanics, machinists, DIYers, and pro users will benefit from using large and sturdy bench vises, but what if you don’t have room on your bench? Or what if you work in a number of spots but don’t have the budget for multiple vises? Or need a small vise for on-the-go clamping needs?

Yost’s clamp-on vise (model 250) is a small vise that can be secured to the edge of your workbench, tool cart, work station, and even dimensional lumber. Don’t let its small size fool you – there’s plenty of strength packed into this compact and portable vise.

• 2.5″ jaws (width)
• 2.25″ maximum jaw opening
• 1.25″ throat depth
• sliding bar T-style screw handle
• small anvil
• v-jaws for gripping pipe and round stock
• made from gray iron
• MSRP $77

I have used the vise to grip a variety of materials over the past few months and found it to be quite more versatile than anticipated. It holds a objects up to ~2-1/2″ thick, and even provides a gentle but firm grip when holding finer materials. I wouldn’t use it to hold very easily scratched or delicate materials, at least not without non-marring pads or aluminum jaw caps.

The USA-made Yost clamp-on vise is several times the price of other clamp-on vises. I went back and forth between the Yost and a name-brand imported clamp-on vise for a couple of months to tell if there are any functional differences. There are.

Most notably, the Yost is smoother to operate, the finish is more durable, and the jaws are straighter, better machined, and perfectly aligned from day one. It’s hard to judge whether the Yost is worth the price premium over other brands’ imported vises, but it’s definitely a superior product.

The vise was not without its flaws – there was a bit of blue paint coating part of the inner jaws and the (optional) aluminum jaw caps required cleaning before they could be used.

Ultimately I can say that I’m fairly impressed with the Yost clamp-on vise. No, it’s not mind-blowingly stupendous, but it is built to a satisfyingly high level of quality. I definitely recommend Yost’s clamp-on vise, and wouldn’t hesitate to purchase any of Yost’s vises in the future.

Buy Now(via Amazon)

More Info (via Yost)

Thank you to Yost for providing the review sample unconditionally. Review samples are typically given away, donated, or retained for benchmark and comparison purposes.