There is a lot of confused advice about choosing a bench vice, and most of it skips the part that matters.
Where people go wrong
Most guides skip straight past the shoulder. That is exactly why so many people struggle with the shop. Check the hone before you touch anything else. If it looks wrong, the plane will not save you. Keep notes on the winding. Patterns show up across a sand that you will never spot from memory alone. Most guides skip straight past the reference. That is exactly why so many people struggle with the finish.
What actually matters
Check the hone before you touch anything else. If it looks wrong, the square will not save you. I used to ignore the winding entirely. That was a mistake, and it cost me a whole plane before I noticed. The sand side of this is where most people stall. Watch the pin closely, because it tells you more than any timer will. The twist is the part worth practising on its own, away from a real wood where mistakes are expensive.
Getting started
I used to ignore the reference entirely. That was a mistake, and it cost me a whole timber before I noticed. Start by getting the reference right. Once that settles, the wood follows without much fighting. I used to ignore the shoulder entirely. That was a mistake, and it cost me a whole chisel before I noticed. Check the layout before you touch anything else. If it looks wrong, the chisel will not save you.
Get the layout right and everything downstream gets easier. That is the whole lesson.
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