bench vise question.

R

redd1981

Joined
Oct 4, 2011
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Has anyone ever seen or know any company that makes a bench style vise where the jaws open up and down instead of side to side. Im just looking for a better/easier way to clamp my knives down while I file the bevels.

I searched google under alot of different wordings of what Im looking for and the only thing I can find seems to the ones that swivel but they dont look very solid.

HELP!! :D
 
Wayne Goddard, Bob Loveless (I think), and many others have simply fabricated a vertical mounting bracket out of thick angle iron and then mounted a Wilton or other nice vice at a 90 degree angle. Works great.
 
I dont know of any but then again I am just starting knifemaking so wait for another answer before you make any decisions lol, But you could take a piece of 2x4 or something similar and nail it or screw it down with a foot or so sticking out off your work bench. Then clamp your knife to that and it is a half decent surface to file on.
 
There are vises that can rotate 360 so whatever you clamp can be positioned any way you like. Unfortunately all the ones that I have seen are made in china.
 
I'm a big fan of Nick Wheeler's Tutorials. In one, he saws a slit in a 2x4 and slides the blade in and clamps it down. This allows him to work on the handle. In another tutorial, he hot glues the blade to the edge of a 2x4 and this allows him to draw file. If you will look up a few of his tutorials, you will learn a bunch. He's a great teacher.
 
Anthony Chaney said:
I'm a big fan of Nick Wheeler's Tutorials. In one, he saws a slit in a 2x4 and slides the blade in and clamps it down. This allows him to work on the handle. In another tutorial, he hot glues the blade to the edge of a 2x4 and this allows him to draw file. If you will look up a few of his tutorials, you will learn a bunch. He's a great teacher.
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I think those are in the same tut. It's what I'm using now to get back in to things. but yeah, all in all a great tutorial on scale making... I've seen some images here of some setups that look relatively inexpensive to make that, well frankly it works for those who have gobs of experience and turn out great knives, so it should work for me ;)
 
redd1981 said:
Iv seen the swivel vises I just dont understand why they dont make solid bench vises that are designed for the jaws to open vertically.
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Click to expand...

Why not just mount your vise vertically on the wall or a post instead of mounting it horizontally on a bench?
 
Spalted said:
Why not just mount your vise vertically on the wall or a post instead of mounting it horizontally on a bench?
Click to expand...

I didn't post about doing that because it seemed obvious. In industry, that is what they do with vises that need to open on a different plane.

Mount it vertically on a 6X6" corner post, with the handle above the bench top. That will place the jaws opening vertically parallel to the x axis. You can rotate the vise 90° on its base plate ( handle sticking off end), and have the jaws open sideways parallel to the y axis.

PS - Harbor Freight is your friend :)
 
I would question how much torque the Chinese roto vises would take. The casting details are not listed but they most likely not 60000 psi. Would if you are reasonable with them, they hold work out quite well.
 
you canalso clamp a machine vice vertically in a bench vise. I think there is a picture in one of Nicks tutorials.
 
I use a 2"x2" wooden beam. I clamp it to my workbench and clamp the knife to the beam.
 
Going over some suggestions and back to your original post, regardless of type of vise you settle on, I would also highly recommend placing your blade on top of some wood/metal when draw filing/sanding/etc. Not only is a free standing blade super dangerous (wanna see my scar?), even if you don't stick yourself or someone else, it is also tremendously inefficient. The blade will flex under pressure leading to a lot of wasted energy as well as some possibly uneven filing/sanding out toward the tip.
 
I would have thought that everyone had a regular knife vise. You will find a lot if you google "knife vice".

I agree that they can be very dangerous, just about like anything else related to making knives.

The two Master Smiths that I've trained under both have two knife vices. They are pretty easy to make.

I understand John Frankl's concerns. If you move your knife vise back so that the knife is held over your workbench instead of over the floor, it's not quite as dangerous, and it doesn't hamper your usage at all.

Also, you really only need one piece of 2x4 to fit tightly between the bench and the blade, and you are going to be as sturdy as your bench is. The distance between the off side of the blade and your bench is the same, if you turn your knife over in the knife vise, instead of rotating the vise.

Hope that makes sense.
 
Lots of great advice. I've never mounted one vertically, but I think I'm going to since I'll have so much bench space in the new shop (not sure how many years you're allowed to call your shop, "new" ;) :D ).

Normally, I would be the first to recommend the rotating head vise that Brian posted a link to. I've been really vocal about how handy they are, especially with a simple little fixture for holding knives while doing handle work. However, Angi and I recently went into a HF and I looked at those vises because I want another one. The new version is so cheap and crappy looking, I don't feel like I can recommend it. :grumpy: :foot:

I bought mine in 1996 for $35!!! And I'm sure it is at least twice the weight of the new version.

So if you can find an older one on CL or ebay, that would probably be your best bet.

When I bought my lathe and 9X42 mill, there was a small welding table there with a rotating head vise that had 6.5" wide jaws, and weighed about 120#. It was a Ridgid made vise, made in the 60's. I damn near begged the guy to sell it to me, but he never did for some reason (he wasn't using it, it had been his Grand-FIL's!).

For a high quality vise, your best luck these days is going to be CL, an estate sale, or something like a fab/welding shop being auctioned off.
 
IMG_20121125_194659-small.jpg


That's a piece of angle bracket cut and slightly shaped.
There's a piece of craft foam btw the bracket (knife board) and the blade to prevent slipping.
Most any sort of adjustable clamp will work to secure the knife to the board.
 
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