Portable Saw Vice Stand

**Bushmiller** · 22nd July 2016, 03:54 PM

Just recently I was asked to provide a saw display at our local Historical Society open day, which they hold once a year. They have a few art displays that were more common fifty years ago than they are today and the organisers thought my saws might be of interest.

So I have made up a couple more stands to display the saws instead of a number of tables. As I have to be there all day and there is another display in the future for about three days during the Millmerran Camp Oven Festival, which incidentally is the largest of it's kind in Australia, I started to think, "What if nobody wants to talk to me or ask about the saws?" I thought I'll be standing there like some gormless oaf.

It was then I decided I would do some sharpening too, but my saw vice is wide at 28" and needs to be clamped in a bench. One of my hates is a saw vice that has any "chatter" during filing as I consider that unacceptable. I have a metal saw vice that looks the bees knees, but is really only suitable for touching up an existing sharp saw that has just lost it's edge: The equivalent, if you like, of using a butchers' steel on a knife.

For reshaping teeth I want something rock solid.

So the stand had to be both portable and rigid. This is almost diametrically opposed. This is what I came up with. Try not to laugh. Well maybe a little. It is made primarily from scrap and materials lying around and every piece breaks down into component form.

Portable saw vice stand 001.jpg Portable saw vice stand 002.jpg

The only fastenings are the two pieces of threaded rod that hold the two horizontal beams which clamp the vice.

Portable saw vice stand 003.jpg

The slot at the right hand end is to accommodate the handle. I left the vertical posts high deliberately as I had considered I might want to position the vice higher, but if I decide not to do this I will cut the top of the posts off. I will make that decision down the track.
Portable saw vice stand 004.jpg

This piece of Ironbark acts as a spacer and provides the ledge on which the saw vice rests. It sits on four stainless steel dowels.

Portable saw vice stand 005.jpg Portable saw vice stand 006.jpg Portable saw vice stand 007.jpg

The two footrests are more spacers but are free to slide back and forward to suit a comfortable stance. It also enables the sharpeners weight to be added to the structure.

Portable saw vice stand 008.jpg

You have to have a little bit of bling so the hand wheels are made of three pieces of laminated Forest Red Gum. If I do something like this again, which I probably will, I will make the hand wheel three spokes in this size.

Portable saw vice stand 009.jpg

Individually the parts are manageable. Fully assembled it has some bulk. Extensive use was made of laminating nominally 25mm timbers.

There is an added advantage of this device over clamping it in my workbench. It is that I have access to both sides. In my workbench I have to lift the vice out and rotate it 180degs.

The Open day is this Sunday (23 July) so if you are passing by I hope you will call in. The Historical museum is right on the highway as you pass through. I believe other points of interest will be a blacksmith display.

Call in, please. I will need somebody to talk to

.

Regards
Paul

**KBs PensNmore** · 22nd July 2016, 07:46 PM

That's a fantastic bit of work, Paul, something to be really proud of. You won't get many wanting to talk saws, but plenty will want to talk about the stand.

Kryn

**Bushmiller** · 22nd July 2016, 08:02 PM

Thanks Kryn

I was actually hoping for some conversation with both, but will certainly settle for either/or. Our recent experience at the Brissy Working With Wood show where IanW had his timber-thread making device on display was that people were almost as interested in his knock down bench as the threading and taping process.

In a way it was his bench that inspired me to put the stand together. However the level of workmanship is not up to his standard. I'm afraid that I find it difficult to get past the "beauty in the function" philosophy.

Regards
Paul

**KBs PensNmore** · 22nd July 2016, 08:16 PM

Is that the same as the KISS principle? Keep It Simple S.....

**Bushmiller** · 22nd July 2016, 08:55 PM

That's it loosely paraphrased.

Regards
Paul

**Luke Maddux** · 22nd July 2016, 11:23 PM

A Saw Vise Vise! Brilliant!

Looks great. The fact that you can walk around both sides is awesome. If you wanted to, you could run circles around shaping both sides of each tooth in sequence, and you'd only have to work down the length of the saw one time.

If you do that, please film it...

Great work.

Cheers,
Luke

**Bushmiller** · 23rd July 2016, 12:16 AM

Originally Posted by Luke Maddux

Looks great. The fact that you can walk around both sides is awesome. If you wanted to, you could run circles around shaping both sides of each tooth in sequence, and you'd only have to work down the length of the saw one time.

If you do that, please film it...

Great work.

Cheers,
Luke

Ahem! I would become giddy and fall over: Not my preferred way of reaching that state

. As for filming it......... I don't think so

.

Regards
Paul

**Mobyturns** · 23rd July 2016, 09:23 AM

Dad used to sharpen his handsaws and used a very simple saw vice. It was basically two 90 x 50mm vertical legs cut to a length to suit his preferred sharpening height. It had four, two each face, strips of 16mm ply about 150mm wide and cut to length to suit the max saw length he sharpened. The top of the two 90 x 50's were vee notched to take two 150 x 19mm boards that faced the saw blade. Both boards were housed to match the Vee notch in the 90 x 50's so the boards clamped the saw blade as they were tapped down gently into the Vee. There was also a cup head bolt across the 90mm legs to prevent splitting through the Vee. Very robust and portable. He also had another that was made with 90 x 35mm legs & both saw sharpening frames were QLD silky oak because that was what we used back then to build houses.

When he used them all he required was "something to lean them against" - the tray of the old Datsun Ute, table of the DeWalt RADS, even a wall stud in a framed house under construction. Dad simply placed one foot on the base ply rung to steady it as he filed and set teeth on his Diston Saws.

Before the days of TC tipped circular saw blades he also used to give circular saw blades a "quick touch up" using the same jig but modified to have an "arbor bolt" through the clamping board to prevent the saw blade falling out as he loosened the clamping boards to rotate the blade.

**Bushmiller** · 23rd July 2016, 10:03 AM

Mobyturns

Years ago I had exactly the same device and they work very well, they are simple and they are cheap. I need something more robust and more rigid for my sharpening as it is rare that I don't have to do extensive jointing and subsequent shaping before I can even contemplate setting and sharpening.

Having said that, I should make up another of those devices because there would be times when it is quite convenient. I do have one of these too which is probably easier to transport.

vintage saw vice.jpg

That is not mine but it was quicker than ducking outside and taking pix.

Regards
Paul

**Mobyturns** · 23rd July 2016, 10:44 PM

Nice saw vice, good to see the good old gear. I remember when dad used to take a saw back and then recreate the teeth, a heck of a lot of hand filing. I wish I had kept his Diston saws, I really miss using them. His old sway back 8 point was a beautiful hand saw.

**Simplicity** · 23rd July 2016, 11:10 PM

Paul,
From a wood works point of few.
If you have the room that looks perfect.
Nice and heavy should absorb a lot of the vibration extra.
A big well done.
But you could now maybe earn a little extra money on the side doing medieval torture demonstrations to if you desired.
There surely must be a market for that as well.

Cheers Matt

**Bushmiller** · 24th July 2016, 12:07 AM

Matt

I hadn't previously considered that as a way of subsidising the interest, but now you mention it I can at the very least see a resemblance to the stocks of the middle ages. It must have been a subconscious thing. I see possibilities and am not rejecting it out of hand

.

Regards
Paul

**Christos** · 24th July 2016, 12:02 PM

Originally Posted by Simplicity

......
But you could now maybe earn a little extra money on the side doing medieval torture demonstrations to if you desired........

Which club do you belong to? Or is that not spoken about on an open forum?

**Simplicity** · 24th July 2016, 03:05 PM

Originally Posted by Christos

Which club do you belong to? Or is that not spoken about on an open forum?

We are trying to get a club running in Canberra.
Apparently there's quite a few individuals there that need some special attention. lol

**Bushmiller** · 24th July 2016, 09:14 PM

Well the day went quite well down at the museum. Good weather and quite a bit of interest for a general crowd. I was quite amused by one older man who, while I was talking to another person, appeared to examine almost every saw I had on display. I don't think I have ever seen that before even amongst the enthusiasts.

It turned out that Arnold, as I was introduced to him, had been the manual arts teacher in Millmerran for many years although well into retirement now. We had a most interesting chat.

Some pix of the area I was allocated and the display stands. I now have two "hat stands" and a "white board." What I did not really address this time around was my little information placards. I will have to work on that for the Camp Oven Festival.

Millmerran Historical Soc Open Day 001.jpg Millmerran Historical Soc Open Day 003.jpg Millmerran Historical Soc Open Day 004.jpg Millmerran Historical Soc Open Day 005.jpg

Some saw sharpening did occur to a 12" Disston backsaw and a 22" Sandvik panel saw.

Regards
Paul

Regards
Paul

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