bill_clancy
Member
I have one like Randy's, and really like it. It lets me hold a blade solidly in almost any position, but adjusts quickly and easily when needed.
Knifemaker's Vise....
- Thread starter Dana Acker
- Start date
MTBob
Well-Known Member
I thought I'd add to this discussion, not to just show another vice, but rather to show other design approaches. Since I've never built a knife vice, I mostly copied ideas and concepts from others with some modifications...for better or worse. I may have built a pipe-in-a-pipe type vice, but I didn't have the right size pipe in the shop... and that lead me down this path.
I've departed from the more common designs by:
1) allowing rotation of the vice with a steel mandrel inserted in a pipe in the rear of the rectangular vice that includes a machined grove to capture the assembly - this approach allows me to use the vice base as a receiving tube mechanism for whatever kind of vice I want to build in the future,
2) creating a vertical adjustment with a friction plate below the rotating mandrel - the red detachable handle is lengthened to add friction force to the vertical rotation.
3) adding a rear tube sized to fit in the 2" hitch receiver tube on my welding bench, if I ever want to mount it there and gain more rotation flexibility (I haven't found a need for that and may remove that rear tube).
This is the rotation mechanism. The groove in the mandrel insert keeps the vice from falling out when it's rotated.
This shows the vertical friction plate in detail, with the long rmoveable extension handle. I added the handle after finding that my downward pressure on a knife mounted in the vice was too much for a conventional short T-bolt lock. The T-bolts mounting the vice to the bench are simply lag screws with strap iron welded on.
For sure, this isn't the "ideal" vice. I will likely increase the size of the rectangular tube to accommodate knife handles. To do that I'll likely just make vice assembly insert to fit into the adjustable receiver mounted on the bench. And I may cut slots in the sides of the tube vice like I see with so many other vices.
What I really like is being able to lower the vice to a comfortable angle while sitting in a chair.
I've departed from the more common designs by:
1) allowing rotation of the vice with a steel mandrel inserted in a pipe in the rear of the rectangular vice that includes a machined grove to capture the assembly - this approach allows me to use the vice base as a receiving tube mechanism for whatever kind of vice I want to build in the future,
2) creating a vertical adjustment with a friction plate below the rotating mandrel - the red detachable handle is lengthened to add friction force to the vertical rotation.
3) adding a rear tube sized to fit in the 2" hitch receiver tube on my welding bench, if I ever want to mount it there and gain more rotation flexibility (I haven't found a need for that and may remove that rear tube).
This is the rotation mechanism. The groove in the mandrel insert keeps the vice from falling out when it's rotated.
This shows the vertical friction plate in detail, with the long rmoveable extension handle. I added the handle after finding that my downward pressure on a knife mounted in the vice was too much for a conventional short T-bolt lock. The T-bolts mounting the vice to the bench are simply lag screws with strap iron welded on.
For sure, this isn't the "ideal" vice. I will likely increase the size of the rectangular tube to accommodate knife handles. To do that I'll likely just make vice assembly insert to fit into the adjustable receiver mounted on the bench. And I may cut slots in the sides of the tube vice like I see with so many other vices.
What I really like is being able to lower the vice to a comfortable angle while sitting in a chair.
