Vises #2: Mini High Vise - test and fettle

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This is part 2 in a 7 part series: Vises

So, first thing to do is chisel the slot in the right chop.

And that's about all that's needed for a working vise.

Just need to add some jaws to it.
Grab a scrap of beech

Cut out spaces for the jaws in the chops

Square up the jaw blanks

Use the vice to hold the jaw while I plane in the slots in the jaw to hold round pieces, I'll leave the other jaw flat and just face it with leather.
The vise works well anyway, I wasn't sure if I'd get some twisting but everything is staying square.

And glue the jaws in place

And that's a working vise - anything after this point is just making it look a little less ugly.
I'll do that tomorrow after the glue has fully dried.

14 Comments

It’s High Vise mania around here these days! Nice job Mike. 

Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".

That was fast!

Chicken/egg senario, Does it take a vise to build a vise?
Monkey see monkey do Ryan :)
We had a run on turning saws a while back, you see something and think That's a great idea

Certainly makes it easier Splint, although I think I could start with a couple of wedges and work my way up to one if I needed to. 
Nice, Mike! Now do it again, but start from a piece of firewood?

May you have the day you deserve!

I do remember the turning saw run..made one myself as a result!! Good stuff…

Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".

 Dave Polaschek
 Nice, Mike! Now do it again, but start from a piece of firewood? 
It'd be nicer made from firewood - all the firewood around here is silver birch :)

If (well, OK, when) I make another one like this, I'm making the bottom screw the same thread as the top, threading the bottom opposing chop and putting a handle on it so I can spin it like a parallel clamp. It was about half way through the build when I thought Hang on this is just a parallel clamp with 1 long arm and some bling, The garter and jaws are a nice touch, but it's just the extended bottom of the chop that makes this much better to use than a clamp.
It's a good prototype for what will work and not work in the full size version, but for this style that clamps in a face vise I've spotted enough things while building it that means I'll be doing a new one in 6 months or so.

RyanGi
I do remember the turning saw run..made one myself as a result!! Good stuff… 
If I remember right, Dave started that one off.
Nice vise Mike, it'll do the intended job quite well, therefore I don't see any need to make them "less ugly".
Nicely done Mike, and quick too. I have a 1" thread and a 5/8" thread on mine. the lower thread sets the chops parallel. 

Main Street to the Mountains

Thanks Steve and Tom

Eric - I mean make it more like a parallel clamp so it can be spun to clamp width, but extend one of the chops so it can be clamped and add some jaws. This kind of thing.


The lower one on mine slides in the rear chop and is epoxied into the front chop.

Main Street to the Mountains

Same on the one I just made here - definitely the way to go for a full size one.

But for a mini one that mounts in a vise I think twin screw for speed of adjustment might be the way to go, you just spin the entire vise like bike pedals - I thought I'd be able to easily find a video showing it, but apparently not.

I have a screw clamp that I use every now and then.

Main Street to the Mountains

From the other guy,

Cheap and woodwortking in the same sentenc is an oxymoron!