Thread: Home-built vises Part 1

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

Have been following this very interesting thread from afar, and then nothing for two months, and I am in withdrawal.

Have you made any more progress, Ian?

A couple of thoughts, suggestions, questions:

• Is it worth adding some metal reinforcing at the points where you whack the ducks, as is sometimes donee with wooden planes?
• the spotted gum in your ducks is probably harder then the timber in your work bench. Does this mean that the dog hole is damaged rather than the duck neck? I would have thought that the holdfast shaft was more expendable than part of the bench?

Graeme - my sincere apologies for leaving you in suspenders!

Actually, I wish I had been hibernating (been a terrible cold winter up here in the sub-tropics! ) but in fact, have been distracted by a horrible, boring, endless task (painting the house! ). However, I have used my prototypes ducks enough to have a good idea of their capabilities.

I actually 'tested' one to destruction early on, and it took what seemed to me an excessive amount of effort to bust it, so I thought I had the design pretty right. However, over time, another developed a split on the end where I bash to release it. The wood I used was very splitty stuff - I'd just grabbed the first bit of hardwood scrap on the pile, (I don't know what it is, but it might be Cadegai, which is far from a tough wood). I wasn't sure wooden hold-downs were practical, anyway, so I didn't want to spend a lot of time & effort on them. However, to my surprise, they are very practical, and I have been more than happy with their capabilities. For what I need them to do, they are, well, just ducky!

So, a month or two back, when making the bench for my brother, I did a production run of 4 new ducks. For the production model, I selected my wood much more carefully. This time it's Spotted Gum, which is renowned for its toughness, and I placed the stem a bit further from the end, to give them plenty of meat where they get bashed. I also rounded that end up more so there were no corners to mis-hit & start splits. I'm sure you could destroy them if challenged, but it would take far more force than you'd need to hold all but a mad bull down.

I am more than satisfied with the current model. Being a wooden clamp user, I like the broad wooden surface of these hold-downs, that doesn't mark surfaces, and they have all the holding power I could wish for. I was most worried in the beginning about the 3/4" stems, but in the event, they seem well up to the task. I don't think there will be much of a problem with the stems damaging the benchtop wood, because my bench is made from Hard Maple (i.e., Acer sp., not Qld stuff), which is a very tough customer, so they will work it out between themselves. In any case, wooden stems have to be kinder to bench top material than metal. Finally, even these 'fancier' ducks take very little time to make, & cost nothing but a few minutes of time, so if I do break one or two in use, I won't be too upset - even the ones that are a couple of months old have earned their keep already.

I'm not able to do it for a day or two, but I'll get a pic of the new model and post it, along with its vital dimensions, so if you want to make some, you can start with something that works, and go on from there....
Cheers,

Thank you Ian for yet another very thoughtful and well considered post.

Certainly agree that the timber ducks must be gentler on the bench than steel holdfasts, also gentler on the ears when whacking them!

Will give the ducks a try - probably with spotted gum or Tas blue gum (E Globulus). Thanks again.

Fair Winds

Graeme

Graeme - I think I'm losing the plot. I'd forgotten I had already done the update on my ducks - see post #102 on the previous page, it'll give the vital statistics of my second lot.....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

Graeme - I think I'm losing the plot. I'd forgotten I had already done the update on my ducks - see post #102 on the previous page, it'll give the vital statistics of my second lot.....

Cheers,

No, Ian, you are certainly not losing the plot.

I read post 102 as a progress report on a work in progress - you have pretty well answered my wonderings.

Cheers

Graeme

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

......I read post 102 as a progress report on a work in progress -

Well, Graeme, I'm sure they are a work in progress. Being the sort of fiddler I am, I'll probably decide to try modifications of some sort, before I leave the shed for good (which I hope won't be 'til I shed the mortal coil for good! ).

Some nifty old methods have been rediscovered these last 30 or so years as more & more folks play with hand tools. And with magazines & the internet, they soon get around. Our forbears made some crude tools & aids out of necessity, but it's amazing how well some work. My 'ducks' are perhaps a bit fancier than a crotch cut from a sapling, but they are still very simple & easily made things, & so far, they are doing exactly what I wanted them to do, so I'm really pleased with them, and very thankful to Matt & Paul for bringing them to our attention!

Cheers,

There's been some fairly extreme quackery cropped up here

Some recent tail-vice stuff ...

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/wo...es-id-like-try





and

http://lumberjocks.com/projects/98982


Kiefer Vice Ver 2.0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1McU9Sf0c-s

Kiefer Vice Ver 3.0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohzaslhpWTs

CAD/SketchUp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeBGoLyEsvo