[Newbie] New (to me) milling machine in need of a 4" vise.

[JustBen]

Harder to hold, might wear out (eventually) near the thin parts? I bought the small rectangular stones a couple of years ago.
A good thing about knife edge stones is you could use them to clean up dovetails, which I can't do with the stones I have.

Thanks. I went ahead and got the cheaper ones with two sides ground like you mentioned.

 

[Aukai]

Precision ground stones are an eye opening experience the first time you use them. It was a "wow" moment for me.

 

[ChazzC]

Harder to hold, might wear out (eventually) near the thin parts? I bought the small rectangular stones a couple of years ago.
A good thing about knife edge stones is you could use them to clean up dovetails, which I can't do with the stones I have.

Definitely harder to hold for 95% of what you would use them on, and I agree that the thin edge would wear and possibly chip.

I think that "they" make special flat ground stones that have one edge ground to 60°, just for dovetails. These stones would have all 6 faces ground, and would cost more than regular 6-sided stones (which in turn would be more than the 2-sided ones. I checked mine, and all 6 faces feel just the same; I searched my email (the eBay listing is no longer available) and found an exchange between myself and the Seller: all 6 faces are ground as a pair – I got a better deal than I thought.

At this stage in your entry into machining, I would go for the 2-sided set while they are still available, and experiment with making a larger set by hand in your spare time.

 

[JustBen]

The stones were a good recommendation. My table had some high spots that the stones found and took down. Stoned the table.
Trammed the head (rotation only) and then mounted the vise and trammed that in.
I will need to tram the column for sure and am waiting on a precision square to come in.

I can tram the head rotation in the x axis to .001" but when doing the sweep, you can see the test indicator changing quite a bit as I move it 180 degrees. I did a test cut on some A36 steel using a 2" carbide endmill. I played with rpms, depth of cut along with the power feed settings. The cutter makes contact twice and seems to scratch up what was a good leading edge as it goes across. Very new to this so I will continue reading and testing.

 

[Splat]

That Tegara looks like my Phase II+ 4" vise I bought like 6 years ago. Probably the same manufacturer. Good luck with it. I've had good luck with my vise.