Andrew Holley
Well-known member
With the recent addition of some great carvers to site, I thought I would post up my new homemade carving vise.
I started carving about three years ago, when I got started I thought I had enough woodworking tools to make decoys. One of the first things I realized was, I didn't have a good way to hold the decoy while working on it.
I started trying to hold the decoy in my existing vise. No additional cost outlay, but could never get the block in a comfortable working position.
This evolved into screwing a 4" by 4" block to the bottom of the block, then I was able to reposition the it, but had no room to work on the bottom.
My next idea was to pick up a 1/2" piece of pipe and a flange.
For a couple bucks I was able to rotate the decoy to work on all sides and raise it high enough to work on the bottom.
Then after looking at several styles on the internet and complaining about how much a nice vise costs, I decided I could make one. I took Friday afternoon off and came up with this:
Here is a picture of the individual parts:
Started out with a piece of 1/2" aluminum and a ball for a trailer hitch. Cut away the extra material on the ball on a lathe and a some work on a drill press and it was done.
Here it is mounted to my bench. I made a "receiver" and bolt the vise with it with some threaded knobs (only had one in the junk drawer, will pick up a couple more tomorrow).
I am now able to complete rotate the and turn it sideways and work on it in several different positions with min. effort.
With the bolts tighened I can really "wrench" on a block with a draw knife or rasp and it doesn't move. And when I am done working on decoys I can unbolt the four knobs and put it away and have complete use of the bench.
I started carving about three years ago, when I got started I thought I had enough woodworking tools to make decoys. One of the first things I realized was, I didn't have a good way to hold the decoy while working on it.
I started trying to hold the decoy in my existing vise. No additional cost outlay, but could never get the block in a comfortable working position.
This evolved into screwing a 4" by 4" block to the bottom of the block, then I was able to reposition the it, but had no room to work on the bottom.
My next idea was to pick up a 1/2" piece of pipe and a flange.
For a couple bucks I was able to rotate the decoy to work on all sides and raise it high enough to work on the bottom.
Then after looking at several styles on the internet and complaining about how much a nice vise costs, I decided I could make one. I took Friday afternoon off and came up with this:
Here is a picture of the individual parts:
Started out with a piece of 1/2" aluminum and a ball for a trailer hitch. Cut away the extra material on the ball on a lathe and a some work on a drill press and it was done.
Here it is mounted to my bench. I made a "receiver" and bolt the vise with it with some threaded knobs (only had one in the junk drawer, will pick up a couple more tomorrow).
I am now able to complete rotate the and turn it sideways and work on it in several different positions with min. effort.
With the bolts tighened I can really "wrench" on a block with a draw knife or rasp and it doesn't move. And when I am done working on decoys I can unbolt the four knobs and put it away and have complete use of the bench.
