Benchcrafted Crisscross Hardware

Benchcrafted Crisscross Hardware

The Benchcrafted Crisscross supports the weight of the vise hardware and the chop (the moving vise jaw), allowing the Crisscross to smoothly "float" in and out, making the vise far more pleasant to use and eliminating the need to manually adjust a parallel guide when changing workpiece thickness. The Crisscross can be used on any leg vise installation, including ones using traditional vise screws rather than ones made by Benchcrafted. If you installed a Benchcrafted Glide Vise before the Crisscross mechanism became available, you can possible upgrade your Glide Vise by using the Crisscross Retro.

Mounting

The Solo and Retro Crisscross use slightly different mounting systems. The Solo Crisscross has a slim body that mounts into a narrow mortise in the bench leg. It requires a precision drilled hole for the pivot pins. Benchcrafted strongly recommends using a drill press to drill this hole. Of course, that's not practical on an existing workbench. That's why Benchcrafted offers the Retro Crisscross which includes mounting brackets to simplify retrofit installations without the need for a drill press.

Which Crisscross should you choose? — If you can put your bench leg on a drill press to drill the mounting hole, get the Solo. If not, get the Retro.

Crisscross 14

The Crisscross 14 is a smaller version of the Solo Crisscross mechanism for use on benches shorter than 30". The mortise required is only 14-1/4" long - compared to 19-1/2" for the Solo & Retro. It is made from cold rolled steel. It can be used on taller benches, but is optimized for for benches under 30".