Blade Vise Problem

O

oldwolf

Joined
Dec 29, 2002
Messages
617
I have one of those Blade Vises made from a 2" pipe with 2 pieces of wood/leather inside. It seems to be designed for flat stock. If I put a beveled blade in it it won't hold it still. Keeps sliding one way or the other. I've added a piece of additional leather above and below to keep from marring the edges, but there must be a better way to fix this. Any mods or am I using it wrong:confused:
 
I've been thinking about this for a bit, have you tried some UHMW. I've been wondering if you could mold a hot blade or tang into it (after the first tempering cycle or before heat treat). Another solution might be to replace the wood with something softer like rubber or or cork. I was thinking about building a vise for myself, let me know what you figure out.

Good luck,
nathan
 
Now that you mention it maybe a piece of soft rubber like a piece of mouse pad or similar. I just thought some knifemaker had run into the same problem and had solved it. The way it is now it's really useless for a longer beveled blade. A smaller blade seems to work a bit better as there's not so much weight pulling against it. A sword is impossible.
 
i made a knife vise that you mount to your bench. you hold the knife by the tang with a piece of flat stock under it. heres a pic. i did a tutorial on how to make it about a month or two ago.

KnifeVise2.jpg


see if that will help you better. it can be made for under $10.
 
oldwolf, I posted another topic asking about knife vises. One of the vises I mentioned is made by Crescent Knife Works and is probably the best, and unfortunately, the most expensive I've found. It relies on nylon jaws to hold the knife. One jaw is moveable and clamps the blade against the other jaw which is fixed in place.

item.66.big.4.jpg
 
That's like what I have minus the Cue Balls and Nylon. Will experiment with some rubber insers and if that doesn't work perhaps forming some alternative wood inserts to better fit a beveled blade.
J.McDonald - This vise works fine on flat tangs. Just having problems with the blade end.
 
might I suggest a couple small brass,iron wood or nylon wedges. A pass through the bandsaw and a bit on the belt and you would have it
 
For what it's worth, that nylon is UHMW. You should be able to buy some at LeeValley. On it's own it doesn't have a lot of give, but it can be hot formed and ground/sanded to shape.
 
Thanks guys, I think some shaped nylon is the way to go. I'll get a couple pieces at Lee Valley and experiment. Foam rubber the right density would work, but might be hard to come by and the nylon will hold up better.
 
I filed a slightly tapered groove in my jig (same one as shown) that the spine goes along. It gets enough grip on the spine to hold the blade tight. Here is how I did it:
Take out the jaws. Using a hacksaw, saw two lines down both jaws one about 1/2" from the edge and the other about 1" from the edge (same side of the center).The two jaws should mate with the lines matching.The saw lines are just 1/16" deep,I just held them and put them against my metal cutting band saw blade, but a hand held hack saw or back saw will be fine.Take a flat file, and file each line so it creates a tapered channel. The outer taper goes from the outer cut to the inner cut. The inner cut is tapered in about 1/2". These are just very shallow angled places for the spine to sit and grip the blade on the bevel.A bigger blades spine is placed on the outer channel, a smaller one on the inner channel. Now your vise will hold any blade very securely.

This is a bit hard to describe, but the effect is somewhat like what vinyl siding looks like on a house side....Step,angle,step,angle.

You only want these two steps. The flat surface on the rest will hold any flat tangs.

Hope this helps - Stacy
 
ok i have to tell what i use for a blade holding vise .. a Jorgensen wood clamp,it is easy to hold a wedge shape .i just clamp the clamp to the bench with a "C" clamp and move it to whatever angle i need
 
Stacey,
Thanks for that fix. Sounds like a good one.
Pinoy, The jorgensen Clamp sounds like it should make a good bevel holder also. Might be a good work around till I get my Nylon shaped as per Stacys fix.

Ken
 
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