Gerard's Vice Trick

[Gerard Scanlan]

For longer than I care to remember I have been frustrated vice bars that get in the way of my hand sawing.
Today, while sawing, it occurred to me how to rectify this problem once and for all. Since I have never seen this described anywhere else I thought I would share it with the world of woodworking.

So to stop the tightening bar on a vice from sliding down at an angle and getting in the way of your hand saw all you have to do is to stick a magnet to the bar (see picture). A rare earth magnet is best because it is small. I already have a couple of magnets stuck to my vice with the idea that they might come in handy. I hope you find this as helpful as I have this afternoon. Necessity is certainly the mother of invention. Hopefully my next brainwave won't take several decades to emerge. #-o



It would be nice to think that I am the first to have invented it. No doubt some one will tell me that it was invented shortly after the discovery of the magnet. But who knows.

 

[sunnybob]

Youve confused me.

The bar will automatically fall down, out of the way of the wood held above the handle. More details needed to explain how your tightening bar stays up by itself, and why you dont want it to fall please.

 

[Gerard Scanlan]

Hello Bob,
As you rip down a longer piece of wood you pass the turning point of the tightening bar and depending on width of the work piece the tightening bar is at a different angle each time. Often the tightening bar gets in the way of your hand. Now you can push it out of the way without it slipping back down.

 

[sunnybob]

Nope, still not getting a clear picture. Surely wherever the bar ends up (unless it is exactly at 1/4 past 9), the upper end slides down. I just cant visualise the position of the saw for the bar to hit your hand if the bar falls downwards. Are you left handed? I think I could see that being a problem
Admittedly, I have never ripped a long piece of wood by hand, so my ignorance needs to be taken into account.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I've heard of elastic bands being used.

 

[Gerard Scanlan]

Hi Phil,

Yes that is another way to accomplish the same thing. I would probably have tried that if I had seen described somewhere. The only problem with elastic bands is that they perish after a while. A magnet just sits there sliding to wherever you put it on the bar for as long as you want.

 

[oakmitre]

I can't believe I didn't think of doing this.

I've just put a very strong rare earth magnet next to the hole where the turning bar goes through.

It is strong enough to keep the bar in a vertical position.

The number of times I have pushed the bar out the way of the right hand side up to the left hand side ( from 4 o'clock to 10 o'clock on the clock face ) !!

Thanks for the tip.

 

[Gerard Scanlan]

Hi Oakmitre,

Brilliant I have saved another woodworking soul. I don't think it is surprising that you had not thought of this. It has taken me more than 30 years to discover it #-o

 

[ED65]

That's a neat solution to the problem Gerard. Like you I've not seen it described before.

I expect that it won't take long before we see this method immortalised in the tips page of a magazine, without due credit. And because these pages recycle tips in an endless loop you can expect it to resurface every 5-10 years thereafter!

 

[sunnybob]

In all honesty, I am still trying to understand this tip.
It seems that the vice bar stays up and gets in the way, but surely the bar will fall under its own weight?
Does anyone have video or drawings to help my poor underdeveloped brain understand?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

He trying to prevent it falling.

 

[Bm101]

The magnet's just a brake on the bar Bob, stops it dropping down through the hole and keeps it out the way. Neat idea.

 

[sunnybob]

But this is that part that my brain cant understand. why DONT you want the bar to fall? If youre sawing wood, why would you want the bar to stay up and get in the way?
I dont ever recall being at such a loss as to understand a problem

 

[Bm101]

If your vice is on the face mounted on the left of your bench in this case and you are cutting to the left of the vice. That's the way I'm seeing it at least Bob. Or just any time you need to keep the bar out the way wherever the vice is. You can move the magnet anyway to keep the bar wherever.

 

[sunnybob]

Lets see if I can walk myself through this.
The normal wood working vice is on the front of the bench.
You put a long plank in the vice and tighten.
See, this where I go blank. On my vice, and every other vice I have ever used, the bar falls down by itself out of the way.
Then you use the saw to cut the wood down its centre length. yes?

But then, if I am reading this correctly, on gerard's vice, he WANTS the bar to stay up, and uses a magnet to keep it up. But then says he uses the magnet to keep it out of the way.

It still does not compute.

 

[Myfordman]

You are not alone Bob. I can't see why this is needed either but I don't use hand tools unless desperate.
I acquired a vice when setting up my shop because I thought I'd need one but so far have not found the need to even fit it in the last six years.

 

[Biliphuster]

Imagine the vice at the left end of the bench. You put a long board in the vice with one foot sticking out to the left, out into space. The vice handle happens to be angled at about 8 o'clock, so sticking out left and down a bit. If you are sawing with gusto to remove the 11.5 inches sticking out, finishing the cut may mean the saw bursting out of the bottom of the cut, traveling downwards and thwacking the vice handle. If the board is very wide and held low in the vice you may even hit the handle before coming out of the cut. Sliding the vice handle through the boss and holding it there so it points to 2 o'clock rather than 8 o'clock will fix this problem.

At least that's my understanding.

 

[sunnybob]

I think youve supplied the missing info.

So this tip only works if the vice is at the extreme left end of the bench, and you want to cut down through the wood, close to the end of the bench.
By george, I think I've got it.
No wonder it made no sense to me. I'm right handed and my under bench vice is in the middle of the bench, and my engineers vice is at the right hand end. And I also (mistakenly it appears) though he was cutting ALONG the boards length, rather than across, which is why I couldnt work out the need to have the bar above the table.

Thanks for that, we can move on now.

 

[deema]

I might be wrong buy a very useful truck for Left handed people where I can see this problem occurring...,,when my youngest son pops his head into the workshop and takes up a saw I start looking for my saw file. He always uses the 'wrong side of the vice' as he is a leftie.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Eric The Viking]

The answer for us lefties is simply to put the vice at the right hand end of the bench, as mine is set up.

It works very well, and the vice is about 4" inboard (left) of the bench corner. But I rip parallel to the jaws - I can't imagine doing it across the bench. And the front edge of my bench is about 4"x4", with an overhang for clamping both flat on top and to the front.

I have the elastic bands on the Tommy bar, sometimes (they perish), to avoid pinched fingers.

I can see it might be useful to have two magnets, to hold the bar central for some operations, but if you have a quick-release vice, even this is a bit unnecessary.

E.