Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Isleepu on July 09, 2015, 05:47:28 pm
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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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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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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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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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A Stave Press is all you need if you can have one.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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Remember that a vice is only as solid as what it's mounted to.
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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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Wizard, check out this tread.......http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php?topic=49081.0
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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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Get a 5" or 6" heavy AMERICAN made vise, older flea market vises are almost always American made, bigger is better if you have a place to mount one.
I broke at least 2 possibly 3 Chinese vises before I spent about twice the money for a good American made vise that I have had for at least 10 years.
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Start out buying what you can afford. You don't have to have anything fancy to build bows.
Agree.
But I too was sooooo impressed with those stave presses used at Marshall.
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I built my stave press if you can weld it's not that hard
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I have busted the bottoms out of two swiveling vices. Do NOT go cheap if you have to buy a swiveling version.
+1
The kinds of forces exerted on a swiveling bench vice can destroy a cheaply made one in short order. I think I went through three before I learned that lesson. I have a stave press now, and I love it.
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Good bench top for me, to many folks use my stave press and have 2 broken, it is really all in what you get use to and I am use to the bench top. :)
Pappy
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bench top vice with a '3rd hand' moveable support that you can clamp further along the bench with a G clamp.
A couple of good pics of what I mean on this post:-
http://bowyersdiary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/starting-and-finishing.html (http://bowyersdiary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/starting-and-finishing.html)
I keep a piece of old carpet over the vice jaws for conveinence, I also have soft jaws (but that's more to do with my age ::) ;))
Del
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I've used em all and nothing beats a stave press.....if ya get one just be mindful of keeping the top plate that's on a swivel level and it'll last ya a long time. I use diff thickness shims at times to keep it level. If ya don't the walls holding around the ball swivel will wanna stretch,tear,and eventually break and come off. I've been using mine hard for a few years now and its still holding up nicely.
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What Chris said. Stave presses break when the inside plate gets cranked on with an uneven load. You cant apply 1-2 tons of pressure on an un-even ball screw and think it will stay put. Shim up the opposing side and your good for a long time. Most everybody who owns one has that same piece of hardwood wedged in there every where they go. I got mine from Cody and his are much. much more robust than the store bought type. He ring welds a washer over the ball end, aint nuttin' coming free there.
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My personal favorite is a blacksmith post vise. I like em so much I have 3 now. Watch craigslist.
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If you are the main one using them the stave press is a great vice, I had all the shims hanging on the post I mounted my 2 on ,but as I said some people just don't know and hard to watch especially at the Classic ??? :o and the both broke where Good Chris and Bad Chris said they would. If I was the only one using it I would defiantly get another. :)
Pappy
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I have found a support post is very important when you use a bench mounted vise. You can see mine in the picture. I use the support post for supporting the end of a stave when heat bending, general wood removal and can drawknife a stave hard enough to rattle stuff off my workbench without having the stave get loose in my vise.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/ekrewson/bow%20making/RDstart-1.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/ekrewson/media/bow%20making/RDstart-1.jpg.html)
I have posted these vise jaw pads before but will again for those who haven't seen them. Easy to make and easy to remove.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/ekrewson/bow%20making/newvisejaws.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/ekrewson/media/bow%20making/newvisejaws.jpg.html)
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I use a woodworker's vice and drop in a piece of leather to line it. I used to support the other end to, like Eric.
Now I have a dedicated bench for bows.
Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/bowbench.html
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I have been using a pattern makers vise, sometimes referred to as a gun stock carving vise, for quite a few years. It mounts on the work bench through a center bolt at a good height and you can swivel it around.