Saw vice design requirements

[GLFaria]

I am in the process of building a much needed wooden saw vice. No big deal, but there is a design detail which I have some doubts about.

I have never seen a saw vise in real life so looked for pictures and articles in the net. Some (mainly the metal ones?) have a hollow on the center part of the jaws, so the blade is only gripped at the ends. Others (mainly the wooden ones?) do not have a hollow, and the blade is supported by the full length of the jaws.

I can understand, up to a point, the reason for a hollow - if the jaws are not perfectly flat, better to have a hollow rather than jaws that do not grip the blade uniformly. But this seems to defeat one of the purposes of the vise, which is to reduce vibrations when the blade is being filed.

So, should I make that hollow on the jaws or not? What if I line the jaws with a strip of soft leather?

Any advice will be much appreciated.

 

[Bod]

Wooden jaws have more "give" in them, than metal cast iron ones.
Lining with leather would be nice, but my wooden jaws are fine without.
Make your jaws meet at the top, first, rather than the whole faces together, this means the saw is held firmly were it needs to be.

Bod

 

[MIGNAL]

The wooden version that I made has sprung jaws, made from spanish Cedar. The type of wood doesn't really matter but Cedar is relatively soft. I simply planed an incredibly tiny 'scoop' in the length of each jaw. I put a couple of hinges at the bottom so that it closes like a book. It works well providing the saw plate is held low in the vice.

 

[GLFaria]

Bod, MIGNAL, tanks for your advice.
I am making mine from a very soft pine, will have to take that into account. I also will use a hinge - an old bit of piano hinge I had lying around - but for the time being closure will probably be through a couple of cramps. I will improve on that later, if the vise works ok.

 

[pedder]

I wouldn't like any soft thing near my blades. Hard and tight is the best for a saw vise.

Cheers Pedder

 

[Yorkshire Sam]

I made a saw vice recently based on several designs on the net. The recommendation was for the jaws to be hardwood. I made mine from some recycled maple and the jaws are just flat without any kind of rebate, groove or shoulder. I find this works great and I get no movement or chattering at all when sharpening even 24 inch panel saws. The design is quite simple and fits into the vice for holding but the actual gripping is done with the two bolts on the legs. I am sure some of the more experienced could have made a much better job but this does the job for me.

 

[AndyT]

I think if Alf was still posting on here, she would have posted a link to this by now - a scanned article from a 1920s Woodworker article, for a design very similar to Sam's:

http://www.cornishworkshop.co.uk/wwsawvice.html

I should also mention Roy Underhill's programme, for a design with a cunning rotating cam

http://video.unctv.org/video/2365021480/

as also available on Peter Follansbee's blog

http://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/2013/12/17/saw-vise-part-two/

 

[GLFaria]

Thank you both.
You must understand one has to do with what one has available, and it happens the wood most easily available for me (both to get at and to pay...) is soft white pine. It would actually be less expensive, and probably easier, to make the vise out of aluminium profiles, but aluminium profiles ... #-o . I'll see how well this one works - incorporating as much of your advices as possible.

AndyT, Peter Follansbee's design and work is an inspiration - as any new apprach I look at. No way I may grow a beard like that, though - my wife would never let me in again...

 

[AndyT]

I've just checked my old cast iron vice and it is curved just enough for the tips to pinch first but it clamps tight enough all the way along as it tightens up. No name on it. It could be late 19th or early 20th century.

 

[Yorkshire Sam]

Just to add something I have found about the saw vice that I made ( see my earlier posting on this thread for the pictures)
I sloped the jaws and left a small 'flat' along the length of the jaws as was recommended by most. But I have found since that this flat can hinder with smaller saws. So I shaved the jaws so the slope is steeper and runs from the jaws down eliminating the flat.
This I found much handier. I also find that for me I have to have it quite high in the vice to make it easier to see exactly what I am doing.
I am going to make another of these vices and incorporate these changes. I modded the present one and it works much better but adding some height is not so easy.