My Saw Vice

**homesy135** · 26th June 2013, 11:31 PM

I’ve been promising myself a saw vice and decided to build one today. I found a post by Dominic Greco, with a lot of photos, describing the construction of his saw vice:

Shop built saw vise (long))

I liked this style as it is clamps to a bench utilizing the bench vice and has two legs so the bench vice doesn’t wrack. My version is similar to Dominic’s and holds the saw plate very securely.

The front legs have a 200mm gap between them so they easily fit over the bench vice screw and guides. The saw vice jaws are 500mm wide and are lined with pine strips to clamp the saw plate. These strips create a void on the lower portion of the jaws to allow for the metal stiffening strip on tenon and dovetail saws (backsaws). The jaws are clamped by screw action using two 5/16” bolts and a couple of knobs with matching 5/16” nuts. The bolts are T-track bolts with the roughly oval shaped heads recessed into the rear legs to stop them rotating (see photo). The holes for the bolts are 3/8” to allow for a bit or wriggle room. The long legs that are clamped into the vice are 450mm long and the shorter rear legs are 300mm long. The vice is constructed in two halves and joined with a couple of butt hinges.

After fitting the butt hinges, the rear jaw was 1mm to 2mm lower than the front jaw. This was despite having the jaws mated correctly and clamped and the site of hinge installation level. To compensate for this difference I installed thin spacers under the hinge leaves attaching to the rear jaw frame (these spacers are evident in the photo). This had the effect of lifting the rear jaw to meet the front jaw. In his build, Dominic used piano hinge to join the two halves. Perhaps piano hinge is the way to go?

The vice was sanded smooth to remove pencil marks and splinters. The edges were broken to make it more pleasing to handle.

(I’m nearly there accumulating all the equipment I’ll need to sharpen my saws!)

Saw Vice Mounted in Bench Vice.jpg Saw Vice - Front View.jpg Saw Vice - Rear View.jpg

**Bushmiller** · 27th June 2013, 12:14 AM

Nice one Homesy

I will store that one away in my mind

.

Regards
Paul

**TobyC** · 27th June 2013, 03:27 AM

Nice!

This is Dom's website with that and more.http://www.tgiag.com/how-to-articles.html

This is what he said about that vise, WoodNet Forums: Which saw vise should I get?

Toby

**IanW** · 27th June 2013, 07:35 AM

Nicely done, Homesy. I note you've shaped the jaws to very narrow ends. Mine is a bit blunt and fouls the handles of some saws and I've been meaning to cut it out more, but have been a bit hesitant in case I cut out too much and make the ends a bit too flexible. Let us know how yours performs, & it may give me the courage to take up the bowsaw.....

Cheers,

**Bushmiller** · 27th June 2013, 09:33 AM

I once had a similar device to Homesy's saw vice, but there were no tightening screws. It relied on a "vee" in the two uprights and and tapered lap joints in the jaws. To grip the saw the two vice jaws were just tapped down into the vee. It was tall enough to stand on the floor and be clamped to any bench or suitable table.

The jaws were the same shape as Homesy's. It has long since met it's demise.

Regards
Paul

**rwbuild** · 27th June 2013, 11:24 AM

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

I once had a similar device to Homesy's saw vice, but there were no tightening screws. It relied on a "vee" in the two uprights and and tapered lap joints in the jaws. To grip the saw the two vice jaws were just tapped down into the vee. It was tall enough to stand on the floor and be clamped to any bench or suitable table.

The jaws were the same shape as Homesy's. It has long since met it's demise.

Regards
Paul

No that brings back memories of my apprenticeship and learning the art of saw sharpening

**IanW** · 28th June 2013, 09:06 AM

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

I once had a similar device to Homesy's saw vice, but there were no tightening screws. It relied on a "vee" in the two uprights and and tapered lap joints in the jaws. To grip the saw the two vice jaws were just tapped down into the vee. It was tall enough to stand on the floor and be clamped to any bench or suitable table.

The jaws were the same shape as Homesy's. It has long since met it's demise.

Regards
Paul

Paul, you have described the 'standard' saw clamp used by virtually every chippie in my dad's day. The old pot could knock one up in what seemed like a few minutes. Took me a bit longer to make mine (top one in pic) but it works on the same principal. I've given it short legs to fit in the front vise on my bench:

saw vises.jpg

It takes a few seconds to sit the saw in the jaws & tap them down firmly. When one side is done, the saw vise is flipped around for side 2.

Cheers,

**homesy135** · 29th June 2013, 03:55 PM

Thank you for your kind comments, photos and further information.

Thread: My Saw Vice

Thread Tools

Search Thread

My Saw Vice

Similar Threads

Shaper vice and milling vice

Tail vice/End vice

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions