Thread: Saw vice version 2.0

Looks good - BTW I fixed your pic rotation.

Here's my home made version, with long bevelled jaws made from a piece of left over Jarrah skirting.
The main benefit of the long bevel is thAT IT allows the full stroke of a file to be used.

The frame is blue gum
Sawvice4.jpg

It has two sets of jaw tensioning points - the two tap bodies shown above and two tap handles shown below.

Sawvice1.jpg

I even made an indexer for it to cut new teeth of virtually any TPI.
STS4.jpg

Mountain Ash, I like the vice. I should make one like that for my back saws. They don't fit in my big one properly.

Also I like the creative order on your bench. Makes me feel like I am not the only one ;-) and I see you are also using the wooden hold fasts...

BobL, the hardware on your vice is just awesome. Love it!

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To save a few cricked necks, I re-arranged your bench, MA.
saw vice 2.jpg

I started out with a similar style of saw vise, but it has a couple of limitations, imo. To get a good working height (very important for saw-sharpening, especially when the old looking-gear starts failing!), the jaws need to be deep, and you lose a lot of mechanical advantage from the clamping vise. I'd guess you need to cinch your leg-vice up very hard to get a good grip on a saw. It's also hard to get enough room between the saw-vice jaws to fit the handle in far enough to clamp up that last 50mm worth of teeth. With my version, I would end up clamping short bits of wood on the free part to stop it screeching & vibrating when filed.

Eventually, I bit the bullet and made an old-style 'bird-mouth' vice. It wasn't half as difficult as I expected, & I can see how the chippies of my dad's generation could whip these up (plus a pair of saw-horses) from any available scrap, in no time at at all. handsaw vise.jpg

This one is made to fit in my front-vice, obviously, whereas the job-site models were made longer so they could be leaned against something convenient where the light was good. Put one foot against the bottom, & file away.

I think this style has a couple of things going for it - the hardwood jaws have more damping effect than the ply jaws I used (I think I used 1/2 inch, which was woefully inadequate). I planed a slight crown to each jaw so they grip the saw very firmly along he full length when tapped home - there's no screeching as you file. The other advantage is that the ends can be shaped & tapered to fit over most of the handle & grip those last few cm of teeth above (below?) the handle.

There are plenty of how-to's for making similar versions on the web, though I reckon some of them make the process seem more complicated than it is. The angles for the bird's mouths in the stiles and the complementary rebates in the jaws have to match fairly accurately, but the actual angles don't seem to be super critical - I just guessed them from my dim memories of watching the old-pot make one, & they hold very well.

Cheers,

Originally Posted by BobL

Here's my home made version, with long bevelled jaws made from a piece of left over Jarrah skirting.
The main benefit of the long bevel is thAT IT allows the full stroke of a file to be used.

The frame is blue gum
Sawvice4.jpg

It has two sets of jaw tensioning points - the two tap bodies shown above and two tap handles shown below.

Sawvice1.jpg

I even made an indexer for it to cut new teeth of virtually any TPI.
STS4.jpg

BobL, can you share more detail on your indexer? How it's made and how it works?

I have a saw which needs new teeth and am thinking some day making a saw from scratch.

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Originally Posted by Cklett

BobL, can you share more detail on your indexer? How it's made and how it works?
I have a saw which needs new teeth and am thinking some day making a saw from scratch.

I made and posted about this in 2006 but all the pics are gone.

I'll just post the pics and see if you can work it out.
STS4.jpg STS.jpg STS1.jpg STS5file.jpg STS5.jpg

The hard (PTFE) teflon angled block has a slot in it and is connected to an all thread rod driven by the capstan along the top of the blade.
Turning the capstan by set number of part and/or whole turns, reproducibly repositions the teflon block ensuring consistency tooth spacing.
It works really well and fast.

It's buried somewhere under then house - haven't used it for 12? years or so. If I can find it I can drag it out and take some more pics. If was made using files and a hacksaw in teh days before I had any MW gear. Theses days I could produce a much tidier appartus.

Hi Bob, Ian and CK. Bob I love the tap handles, is the vice handle also made up from plumbing parts too? Is that saw a Disston? Thanks CK, I was thinking about tidying up but I'm glad you picked up on my "creativity". I always take longer to have a "sticky beak" at others photos of their work shops. I think the wooden holdfasts are actually spacers I made to match the height of my bench hook. I morticed and wedged dowel into them to locate them in the dog holes on my bench but they are in holdfast holes on the bench apron. Ian it was hard to crank the leg vise up enough. I tried forcing the bottom out of parallel to add more pressure at the top and this helped but I need to improve it. I could have pushed the saw in further, each jaw is 19 x 19. It was nice to sharpen bigger teeth than usual . Rake angle was already 18° and fleam 20°. Thanks to you and Bob for fixing up my picture, I dont know how to.

Oh well, from this view they looked exactly as the wooden hold fast I made for myself.

Anyway, instead of forcing the leg vise out of parallel, could you not just glue a small strip of wood just underneath the cleat you have at the front of the saw vise? That way the jaw of the leg vise will mainly apply pressure at that spot and so closes the saw vice more. I think just a 3mm thick and 10mm or 15mm wide strip. It's just an thought, but maybe that would maybe pinch the saw vise better.

Unless I misunderstood something.

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Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

Hi Bob, Ian and CK. Bob I love the tap handles, is the vice handle also made up from plumbing parts too?

Yes it was but has since been replaced by a gnarly curved sheoak branch.

Is that saw a Disston?

Yes - its one of many from FILs stash.

Thanks to you and Bob for fixing up my picture, I dont know how to.

I import the pictures into a photo processing program, delete the image EXIF info, and then save "save as".
Probably to techy for most people but it works for me.

Now I want to see that, Bob. CK, I am interested in the wooden hold fast idea, have you posted about it? Great idea about the extra strip too. Makes a lot of sense. I will try that on the weekend.

Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

Now I want to see that, Bob. CK, I am interested in the wooden hold fast idea, have you posted about it? Great idea about the extra strip too. Makes a lot of sense. I will try that on the weekend.

Here is a picture of mine between my creative chaos ;-) You can see how easy it was to mistake your spacer for these.




But the idea for me came from here:
Wooden Holdfasts - Experiment - YouTube

I just adapted it a little to safe shaping efforts. They work ok. Probably not as good as good forged ones. But they are easy to make and a good use for scraps.

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Hi CK. They are virtually identical! Nice to see another creative bench

Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

....... CK, I am interested in the wooden hold fast idea, have you posted about it?.....

These things get buried within threads, but there was a lot of discussion and different ideas for wooden holdfasts in this thread, starting at post #44....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

These things get buried within threads, but there was a lot of discussion and different ideas for wooden holdfasts in this thread, starting at post #44....

Cheers,

Ian, thanks for the cross reference. That was a great read for today.

On the other hand, now I have more things on my list of projects I want to.....

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Originally Posted by Cklett

.......On the other hand, now I have more things on my list of projects I want to.....

Sorry about that,Ck, but they say it's better to wear out than rust out.

Just helping to keep you active....

Cheers,