Misunderstood tool.

[bugbear]

I'm sure many car boot hounds have seen one of these, lying in a "mixed" box of tools.

It's not clear how useful they are. Indeed, I bought one (it was only a quid), took it home, fixed it on my bench next to my Record #52, and tried to work out ... what on earth it was for. Useless!

Enlightening eventually came from old Stanley adverts for an earlier model.

Here's the great grand uncles of the 702:

in particular the usage diagrams:

Completely unlike any other vise I'm aware of, but quite handy looking.

Sadly, many people seem to have forgotten this, since Stanley later bought out the larger,
stronger 5702:

This has nice conventional guide rails, which make it quite impossible to use the 5702 in the "beam held on the bench top" mode.

It looks like Lee Valley have been reading old catalogues though...

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.a ... 9,41665&ap

BugBear

 

[soulboy]

Nice one BB, I too have one of these gathering dust and not realising it's uses .
chris

 

[MMUK]

Oooh, I have three of those in the loft. Time to get them un-dusted then I think :mrgreen:

 

[baldpate]

This has nice conventional guide rails, which make it quite impossible to use the 5702 in the "beam held on the bench top" mode.

If you have a 5702, don't despair : clamp it to end of the bench as you would a 702, and use a flat plank > 1" thick to raise the workpiece sufficiently to clear the screw.

 

[Vann]

I've been keeping an eye out for one of those for a while - let one slip through my fingers just last week #-o

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =666501674

Damned good price too ($15 = ~£7.50)

Cheers, Vann.

 

[Vann]

This one didn't get away

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =671163980

The build quality doesn't seem that good, but I guess it will do the job...

Thanks for the nudge Bugbear.

Cheers, Vann.

 

[marcus]

I seem to remember that we used these when I was at college to hold the shaft of an oar while we were shaping the front and back of the blade. The vise was attached to the end of the bench so the oar could lay flat and immobilised on the bench top for working.