Rockwell RK9000 Jawhorse
by Rockwell
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List Price: Our Price: $169.99 You Save: $60.00 (26%) Availability: Usually ships in 3-4 business days Category: Tools See more product details |
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Rockwell RK9000 Jawhorse
Customer Review: Rockwell RK9000 Jawhorse.....a Workhorse!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
While the Rockwell RK9000 Jawhorse and attachments available won't win the awards for the cheapest priced versions of such equipment on the market, I like the construction techniques used for them and the flexibility that they offer. Initially I too was slightly mislead by the claim of "all metal construction" and found several plastic pieces used in the construction of the Jawhorse upon arrival, but figured that I'd save my comments for later on after having some experience with the Jawhorse. Thus far, the Jawhorse has definitely lived up to my expectations I had for it, and the uses it can provide are basically limited by your imagination. And, my concerns about the plastic components on the Jawhorse were calmed down significantly when I read a reply in this commentary section from one of the Jawhorse designers who explained what types of plastics were used and why plastic was chosen for the few specific items that are indeed of plastic construction (yep, Rockwell is following the feedback here!).
Another attachment that might be of use for Rockwell to consider to develop to add to the accessory line would be a jackscrew lifting and supporting system which could be stabilized with the Jawhorse. Think about those times where you are needing to lift and hold a heavy item such as mounting overhead cabinets, putting newer televisions on wall mounts, or numerous other times where you need to both lift a relatively heavy item and stabilize it long enough to attach it permanently (or semi-permanently) and you just don't have enough hands or strength to maintain your elevated position, support the heavy object, and attach the object where it is going to be mounted at all at one time (and sometimes a second person will only get in the way of the attempt). The jackscrew support system would allow you to slowly lift the item into position, while the Jawhorse provides the stability to keep things from toppling, and then your hands are free long enough to make the attachment with nails, screws, bolts, or whatever hardware is needed to fix the heavy object where it's going......and in the case of a TV set positioned high on a wall mount, the same jackscrew system could be used to lower the set at a later date if it needs to come down for maintenance purposes. Yes, such an attachment would be a specialty item, but I can quickly thing of several times I could have dearly used such an adjustable vertical support system with the stability provided of the Jawhorse.
Customer Review: A very worthy tool and I recommend the plywood jaw as well
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a well made, solid workplace tool, worthy of all its positive reviews. Setup and operation are both simple and intuitive. Basically, a ratcheting jaw (similar to the old car jack style) is used to provide clamping action. The jaw can be reversed on its slide so you can clamp wide items or close it completely, plus the jaw faces are surfaced with hard rubber pads and are wide and rigid enough to clamp items vertically. The ratchet is operated by a foot pedal. When pressed down at full clamp, you push a conveniently located switch on the front to lock the ratchet in place. Easily released catches allow the unit to be folded compactly for storage. For some reason a roller is built in for towing it around when folded up, which I find to be basically about as useful as your appendix although it might be useful for those with some kind of restricted motion issue. The third leg is easy to seat for making use of the unit, and easily pulls clear of its seat to pivot as needed when closing up the unit (it also serves as a tow bar for towing a closed up unit on its roller). It has a clamp down screw with a plastic encased turn down that will hold it tight if you turn hard enough. It's not critical that it be turned tight, but is advisable.
I also purchase a companion piece, the Rockwell Jawhorse RK9109 Plywood Jaw Accessory Attachment, and for my purposes it's been well worth it. It's simply a replacement jaw for the one that comes with the Jawhorse, but in contrast provides a significantly wider opening. It's too long to be reversed, so you still need both jaws. Sliding a jaw on or off the unit is quite easy, so that's not an issue with using it. To fully support something as big as a 4x8 sheet of plywood, you need to add outriggers or use some other means to support the overhang (hardly surprising). The accessory comes with 2 clamps appropriate for producing outriggers from 2x2 or 2x4 stock (think in terms of the outriggers as being an 8' piece with legs clamped to each end ... the outriggers' cross piece sits inside the clamp's jaws to support the plywood's overhang).
Customer Review: great tool
Summary: 5 Stars
I just want to chime in with the others and state that this tool is terrific, especially for anyone that works alone. I bought several of the attachments as well and all of them work as advertised. I like the first one that I bought so much that I bought another one to use them both for plywood and paneling and other large objects. It is really a joy to use.
My only complaint is minor, in that when the tool is folded up and you use the roller to move it around, the legs and foot pedal will not stay in the folded position. That's a minor nitpick because I can use a bungee cord to secure them quickly and easily.
EDIT: 2/4/10 - I've had my 2 units set up on a daily basis for the past 3 months while doing an extensive remodeling project. These things are the greatest, especially for anyone that works alone, as I do. I frequently have them set up with the plywood jaw accessory Rockwell Jawhorse RK9109 Plywood Jaw Accessory Attachment to cut 4 x 8' sheets of paneling and plywood. I put several 8' 2 x 4"s across between the 2 horses and make the rip cuts anywhere that I want, between the jaws. Cross cuts are easily done simply by extending the panel beyond the 2 x 4's or by removing the 2 x 4's and simply clamping the piece using the 2 horses.
Planing is really easy with the 2 jawhorses as well. The clamps are styled after normal woodworking vises, so it's easy to plane board edges full length. The lack of bench dog type clamping ability is a little more of a hassle for planing the sides of boards, full length, but it can be done with auxiliary clamping or carefully setting and clamping the board at the very top of the jaws, with the surface to be planed/sanded above the top of the jaws. Thin stock can be more of a problem.
You don't need 2 jawhorses to do what I describe. You can do mostly the same things that I describe with only one jawhorse and by using standard saw horses set to the same height as auxiliary support. I like having 2 jawhorses because of the added capability the 2nd one brings.
Customer Review: Mighty handy
Summary: 4 Stars
I must not get any of the channels this thing is advertised on because I'd never heard of it until I got this month's Woodcraft flyer in the mail. At first I thought it seemed a little silly, but after thinking about it for a couple of days, I realized that it could help me out quite a bit in my garage full of wildly sloping and cracked concrete which no sawhorse can ever really balance on.
Overall, I like it quite a bit. It will very firmly hold 36" wide boards up to about 6' in length without additional supports--any longer and you probably will have enough leverage to tip it. The complaints regarding the plastic parts are pretty unwarranted. Most power tools out there have a plastic switch on them somewhere and this one isn't going to break any more readily than those. The wheel is clearly meant for toting from one side of the house to the other, not across highways, so who cares if it's not a big hunk of urethane? The yellow locking nut for the third leg on the other hand probably should be re-thought. It never really locks all that well no matter how much you tighten it, and sliding the unit forward while lifting it up slightly can and will result in the whole thing collapsing on you as that back leg comes unseated and flips back. A little metal peg tethered by a chain would make more sense to me--just slide it through the holes when you want it to stay put and it ain't goin' nowhere.
I have also found that there are many times when I am unable to release the clamp with the foot pedal. Maybe I just don't weigh enough for it, but more often than not I have to really jump on the thing to get it to click and relax. This is probably not particularly safe.
Although it seems to be overpriced by about 79 smackers, I do think it's great for folks with tiny garages who like to do a lot of different things. Pair it up with a Kreg jig to join a hunk of sacrificial wood perpendicular to the edge of your stock and you can even use it to make your rip cuts with a circular saw. Now if only it had a place to hang said saw from its rafter hook...
Customer Review: Fantastic vise
Summary: 5 Stars
I am a contractor and whether at home or on a job I do a lot of work alone. The Jawhorse is a very versitle, strong and stowable vise. It is however, heavy. The best feature of the Jawhorse is that you can use both hands to hold and position your work while clamping. That is because you use your foot to tighten the clamp. I wouldn't really use it as a sawhorse (as other reviewers suggested)unless it was the only thing around and I certainly wouldn't buy two of them for that purpose (as most sawhorses are used in pairs). But I would suggest purchasing a pair of Stanley Fat Max sawhorses (see my Amazon review). I own several pairs of these lightweight ergonomic sawhorses and together w/the Jawhorse, they make the most versitle workstation imaginable! Also, some parts are plastic and some others a little flimsy looking but that doesn't bother me. Plastics have come of age and if you use the tool as intended and respect it, my guess is that I and you will have many years of satisfaction.
I purchased the plywood and the log accessories and if I did more welding, I probably would have bought the welding jig as well. As other reviewers have written it should have come standard w/the plywood accessory.
The Work table and the miter saw accessories you can make yourself easily enough and I don't see any purpose to the 'Saddle Bags'.
Pros:
Very stable and storng tripod design
Strong and powerful 'hands free' vise
If you purchase this vise, do yourself a favor and buy a pair of the Fat Max Sawhorses as well
Cons:
Heavy and pricey (but not unreasonable in either respect)
All steel construction means it WILL rust if left to the weather (cover it outside)
You can't level it. It would have been easy enough to make the third leg telescope for working on a slope
Note:
If you lay out the [...] bucks for the Jawhorse and Log Jaw accessory to cut firewood, your crazy. And anyone witnessing you cutting your firewood in this fashion will know this to be true:-)