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Author Topic: Benchtop vise question  (Read 7499 times)

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Offline Isleepu

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Benchtop vise question
« on: July 09, 2015, 05:47:28 pm »
I have been shooting a bow since I was 9 years old. Always wheels until last year when I picked up my first longbow. Got my first selfbow about 2 months ago and I want to learn to build them. I need a vise. Do I get a benchtop multipurpose vise or a traditional, side mount, woodworking vise?

Side note, does anyone else find the Post "Verification" section of this website completely absurd? I love this site but, posting is not user friendly.   
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Offline huisme

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Re: Benchtop vise question
« Reply #1 on: July 09, 2015, 05:49:54 pm »
Verification goes away after a little while. Had to deal with it setting up the 2015 trade officiator account ;)

I built my first few dozen bows without using a vice or clamps (except for on jigs), they're a very useful tool but a bit of a luxury.
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Offline Isleepu

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Re: Benchtop vise question
« Reply #2 on: July 09, 2015, 06:01:00 pm »
Glad to know that the verification goes away.
I guess what I should have asked is, does either type of vise hold an advantage over the other? My thinking is that a multipurpose benchtop vise will be more versatile than a traditional side mount woodworking vise. 
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Offline DC

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Re: Benchtop vise question
« Reply #3 on: July 09, 2015, 06:20:27 pm »
I think the benchtop would be better just from an access point of view. Trying to use a drawknife or scraper on a side mount would just be asking for barked knuckles. But, I have never used a sidemount. I have a good Record 4" vice but if I had to do it again I would get a swiveling benchtop vise. Hopefully they are better than they used to be. Twenty five years ago (when I bought mine) the locking devise on any swivel vise I saw was crap. If they work properly I can see the swivel being very handy.
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Offline PEARL DRUMS

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Re: Benchtop vise question
« Reply #4 on: July 09, 2015, 07:06:37 pm »
A Stave Press is all you need if you can have one.
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Offline bubby

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Re: Benchtop vise question
« Reply #5 on: July 09, 2015, 07:18:13 pm »
Chris is right I've been fighting this with differant vices untill i built a stave press, wish i had wayyyyyy sooner
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Offline H Rhodes

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Re: Benchtop vise question
« Reply #6 on: July 09, 2015, 07:47:05 pm »
I like a bench vise mounted on a post in the ground.  It helps me to be able to work on a stave from either side. 
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Offline Marc St Louis

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Re: Benchtop vise question
« Reply #7 on: July 09, 2015, 08:01:33 pm »
Quote from: Isleepu on July 09, 2015, 05:47:28 pm
Side note, does anyone else find the Post "Verification" section of this website completely absurd? I love this site but, posting is not user friendly.

You wouldn't think that if YOU had to deal with the multitude of spammers, usually from non English speaking countries, that have tried to register an account here in the last year or so
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Offline Pat B

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Re: Benchtop vise question
« Reply #8 on: July 09, 2015, 08:14:31 pm »
Like Marc said we ha to deal with a rash of spammers.
 I have a bench mounted vice from Lowe's. I went through 3 of the smaller red ones so I bought this bigger silver colored one. Ideally you should mount a vice for bow building on a post so you can work all around the bow. Mine isn't. With my set up you have to be aware of limb thickness evenness because one side is against the bench.
  I have a Stave Master. A bit expensive but the best bow bench this old guy ever used.
  Start out buying what you can afford. You don't have to have anything fancy to build bows.
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Offline osage outlaw

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Re: Benchtop vise question
« Reply #9 on: July 09, 2015, 08:34:34 pm »
Keep an eye on your local craigslist site for a used bench vise.  It will work fine for anything you need to do.  Make sure you get one that is a decent size.  It doesn't have to be huge, just big enough to hold a stave solid.  The one I'm using now is a pretty good sized vise that I got off of CL for $30.  If you really get into building bows you could make or buy a stave press if you wanted. 
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Offline Aries

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Re: Benchtop vise question
« Reply #10 on: July 09, 2015, 08:39:04 pm »
When I build my shop at my  new house I'm going to make a stave press from 6 inch square tubing, and mount that sucker on a post.

 I have been stuck using a little 4 inch carpenters vice on my work bench while I'm living in this appartment, that thing scoots and moves all over the place. I think the little vice is really only good for after you have your stave down to the final dimensions.
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Offline DC

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Re: Benchtop vise question
« Reply #11 on: July 09, 2015, 08:53:54 pm »
Remember that a vice is only as solid as what it's mounted to.
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Offline wizardgoat

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Re: Benchtop vise question
« Reply #12 on: July 09, 2015, 09:11:26 pm »
I've been working off of a bench top vice and it's ok for most things, but when your really hogging off wood it'll sometimes come loose and you have to keep adjusting it.
After using a stave press at Marshall I realized I need to up my game. Is there a build ago for one of those bow bench things anywhere? The kind where you straddle a bench and pinch the stave with a foot lever? Can't be that hard to make
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Offline Drewster

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Re: Benchtop vise question
« Reply #13 on: July 09, 2015, 09:50:43 pm »
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Drew - Boone, NC

Offline JW_Halverson

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Re: Benchtop vise question
« Reply #14 on: July 09, 2015, 10:42:01 pm »
I have busted the bottoms out of two swiveling vices.  Do NOT go cheap if you have to buy a swiveling version. 

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