Replies

1. 
   davcefai | Jul 25, 2009 06:47am | #1

   Assuming that it is out of guarantee you may well find that you can sort it out by dismantling, cleaning and lubing it.

   I've done this with an old Record vice, there's a thread somewhwere here with photos but I don't know whether yours is built similarly.

1. 
   dantt | Jul 25, 2009 07:54am | #3

   I did do all of that. It seems like the spring and pin in the half nut are not in the proper position.  I do not  think it is pushing the half nut properly, not enough of the half nut is engaging the lead screw. The lead screw is in very good conditon, and the half nut thread is in good condton.. So that is not the problem.  I think it is the fit (how well it was made) is  the problem.  The half nut does not engage the lead screw properly. Yes it is out of warrenty. However, I bought it  in store. There is a Rockler near me.  It is off the bench and I am going there tomorrow.

   Daniel

1. 
   davcefai | Jul 25, 2009 12:44pm | #8

   Without knowing how the vise is built it is difficult to make suggestions but might it be possible to insert a spacer somewhere to increase the pressure on the half-nut?

2. 
   roc | Jul 25, 2009 07:22am | #2

   If you want to do hand work; dovetails, motise and tennon etc. build a bench with built in wooden vises

   http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/Workshop/WorkshopPDF.aspx?id=2129

   I mucked about for years with all manner of iron vises Record is good and other half fast contrivances.

   The Klausz bench is the GOOD STUFF. Just do it !

   roc

   PS: the Record

   http://www.woodcraft.com/product.aspx?ProductID=147941&FamilyID=4939

   is OK but the rails get in the way holding stuff vertically and you can make big wooden jaws for it but then you need a compensating thing on one side to off set the racking so best to just build the shoulder vise on the Klausz. You can get by for a while with a quick job and later make a nice one.

   Buy the way that last link looks like a Record but doesn't say. I payed much more in the ninties and I had talked the store down because it didn't have the dog. I didn't want the dog but he didn't know that.

   PPS: click on the yellow file icons bellow to get pics of my baby.

   Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )

   Edited 7/25/2009 12:23 am by roc

   Edited 7/25/2009 12:33 am by roc

   Edited 7/25/2009 12:36 am by roc

   
   

   ---

   Edited 7/25/2009 8:51 pm by roc

   
1. 
   dantt | Jul 25, 2009 08:10am | #4

   Roc,

   My fantisy is to have some of what you mentioned. Right now I need a commercialy made "side vise''.  Maybe you gave me an idea to make my own vise; but that will be way in the future. Hope I live that long. Im on my way to look at your lnks.

   Thanks

   Daniel

   A side bar. Check out the next issue of FWW.  There is a Daniel that submitted a "Methods of Work" idea.

2. 
   dantt | Jul 25, 2009 08:45am | #5

   Yeah, Roc, Very nice  wood work in those attachments. What kind of wood do you think  he used (the one that has the low angle plane) I  like those vises. However, I'm thinking toward the the Wilton. My wife is complaining that the only things I make are for my shop. Work bench, tool cabinets, saw fictures, etc. I'll be divorced if I start making a vise.

   Daniel.

    

1. 
   roc | Jul 25, 2009 12:10pm | #7

   >What kind of wood do you think he used (the one that has the low angle plane)Well I am a little confused at your question but I will answer it both ways:• Klausz used in the base second and third class red oak, white ash and beach. For the top he used quarter sawn maple with plywood splines and tool tray. I think it says in the Workbench Book what the shoulder vise jaw is made of but too lazy to get up and look. No low angle plane that I can see.• The photo I posted of my personal bench has a low angle plane along with a mess of shavings and two other planes. If this is what you ask about the whole bench is made of purple heart. I did not choose it for the color or look. I chose purple heart because it is very heavy, strong, stiff, resists dings and is relatively inexpensive. Did I say easy to work ? No. I DID NOT say easy to work. Some of the strongest wood in existence and about half the price of most of the others of equal or better strength. The figure and iridescence were pleasant surprises. There is no finish on the wood. I just hand planed it and used it. The wood oozes just a tiny amount of goo from the pores and so the surface is not as slick as maple would be. It sounds nasty but I am talking microscopic amounts of goo. Turned out to be just right !> the only things I make are for my shop. Work bench, tool cabinets, saw fictures, etc. Are we supposed to make anything else ? Now you tell me ! Hummm can't imagine what . . . and yet some where in the deep dark recesses of my mind it does seem I had an idea of making some thing besides tools for tools and storage for tools and guides for tools. Nah . . . must have been something I dreamed the other night.rocGive me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )Edited 7/25/2009 5:15 am by roc

   Edited 7/25/2009 5:19 am by roc

3. 
   9619 | Jul 25, 2009 03:46pm | #11

   Roc,
   I know it is in bad taste to compliment someone on Knots, but I'll do it anyway. I enjoyed your two messages on vices and benches. I perused all of your photos and then I read Klausz's article. Very entertaining and educational. That is a clever little vice you made for dovetailing. You should send that into FWW and see if it wins you a prize. You have amassed an amazing amount of detail on woodworking which you actually use. YOu don't just theorize. Wow, you are a strange dude. You actually do woodworking too. I like that. The purpleheart bench is very cool. Other than making a Chippendale highboy, I have never figured out what to do with purpleheart. Now I know. Klausz is a man to be listened to. He may have ten times the experience of most professional woodworkers his age. He is living proof that skill is what is important, and that it is acquired, not by reading Knots like I do, but by actual experience. Anyway, you made my morning. Thank you.
   MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot. 

1. 
   roc | Jul 26, 2009 03:44am | #12

   Hi Mel,Hey thanks for the kind words. I won't tell any one if you don't.I enjoy all this old time woodworking and exploring various aspects. It is important to me to have someone, a whole group here at Knots as it turns out, who cares about this stuff to give and take about it all.>Klausz is a man to be listened toI think so. I believe he is at least a third or fourth generation fine woodworker so that helps. His father was very stern and made him work hard for his woodworker's apprenticeship. I am both jealous and relieved I didn't have to go through that my self.TTFNrocGive me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )

   Edited 7/25/2009 8:48 pm by roc

1. 
   9619 | Jul 26, 2009 03:58am | #13

   Roc,
   I just posted a message in General Discussion, which says that I just purchased a Sjobergs Elite 2000 workbench, and read that the FWW review of the bench said that they are a bit disappointed in the low luster appearance. I read that Frank Klausz and Andy Rae recommend finishing a bench with Waterlox. The Sjobergs bench was finished with some sort of oil finish that the manufacturor gives no information on. My guess is that it is linseed oil and possibly something else added. I would like to put Waterlox on the bench, and surely will test things out on the back of a leg first. But first I would like to find out if anyone has any experience with this. Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions.? If I made my bench from scratch, I wouldn't have this issue. But I decided to bite the bullet and get a proper workbench because I have a long list of things to build that I have made promises on. Given your experience with benches, I sure would like your thoughts.
   Thanks,
   Mel
   PS the vices on the Sjobergs Elite 2000 are pretty nice. FWW found that they didn't rack. I'll let you know what I find after I get the thing setup.Measure your output in smiles per board foot. 

1. 
   roc | Jul 26, 2009 04:58am | #14

   Well let me say this about that. I would assume that the top is not flat and will need to be planed flat once it is acclimated to your shop. I am not saying this is not a top quality bench. I don't know but will assume it is.All I am saying is it was probably made far away from your shop and even if absolutely flat ( ok as good as needed ) when it was made then it might still change when introduced into a new environment.Big breath. So I say plane all that questionable stuff off and put on what you like. If it were just linseed oil then may just finish over that with a bit of surface prep to break down the surface tension but we don't really know what sort of goop they mixed up do we.>have a long list of things to build and so want to build them instead of spending a whole bunch of time making a bench.Very wise. Having done the opposite I can say you are on the right track. Takes a ton of time to make a bench like yours/mine.Of coarse if you want to do this " Right " you would cut a slab of purple heart about an inch thick to fit the top of your bench and laminate it onto your new bench. The advantages are many :• I find it needs no finish. Just the right texture/not too slick/rich color.
   • Quite hard and fairly dent proof
   • And finally : it is Purple heart ! What can be better than that ! ? !: )I have been threatening to do the same with my PH bench but put on a one inch layer of zebra wood. Can you just imagine ! ? ! Wooooh Sexxxy ! ? !: )I am only half kidding. Does that frighten you ?rocGive me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )

   Edited 7/25/2009 10:00 pm by roc

3. 
   roc | Jul 25, 2009 10:28am | #6

   OK I am into taking pics to night so here are a bunch.

   The Record vise as you can see in the "close up" has no dog. I never felt I needed one. I bought it just down the street from my engine machining job using part of the first pay check. It was the finest quick acting metal vise I could find. I was already familiar with it because I bought one for my girl friend the wood worker way back in the day when I had no interest in wood working.

   The Emerets were out of my realm for several reasons though you may want to investigate those. Are a few hundred dollars and you said up to $200 so maybe not.

   The soft vise jaws are bass wood. Some people like hard maple. In my view this puts dents in your work and keeps the jaws from getting dents. I think is should be the other way around. The jaw should distort before the work gets marred. The little dowels fit snug in the holes in the vise. I like to be able to quickly remove the jaws to use the vise as a light duty metal working vise so I like the hard metal to metal contact for that.

   Note the spacer (all thread ) for correcting for racking. I drilled the vise and added that. There is a hex nut in a snug hole in the wooden jaw. I just turn the allthread in until it makes contact and then tighten the vise. Super easy to remove; just quick open the jaws and remove the all thread with the nut from out of the hole in the soft jaw.

   Ok the next pics are of my quickO dickO shoulder vise until I could make the Klausz.

   Simplicity . . . just a bighashed clamp and a long wooden jaw (s) that fit snug on to the clamp jaw pad. That is a twelve inch ruler in the Simplicity pic. I made small Minijaws that come in handy.

   I put it through the side of a small Japanese style planing beam. Some times I used it in the side of a full eight foot Japanese style planing beam clamped in my two Workmates. Worked pretty darn well and super versatile and portable ! ! !

   I filed the paint off the handle to prevent blisters and for better grip. If the handle sticks out too far on the Front make a new handle with a sliding handle like the other vises or put the handle to the rear as shown in Clean Front photo. Which ever other end is simply on the Backside of the beam.

   On a table that tis the right hight for heavy planing it is nice to have the vise raised up a bit higher on the mini planing beam clamped on top of the bench so it is still useful even though I have the Klausz.

   I realize this is not what you ask for but keep in mind I made this and the Klausz after I bought the Record because it wasn't cutting it for me.

   BUT the Record vise is all pretty blue and has nice metal parts and slides open and shut quick and well. BUT is just not what is needed for dovetailing, drawer making, carcass panel work, door work.

   It might be sort of ok for form making or kind of ok for carving. It is a vise that does every thing but nothing well. IMO

   I won't sell it . . . I like looking at it . . . it is a ( theee) classic modern wood working vise. BUT see paragraphs above.

   roc

   Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )

   Edited 7/25/2009 3:35 am by roc

   Edited 7/25/2009 3:38 am by roc

   Edited 7/25/2009 3:43 am by roc

   Edited 7/25/2009 3:55 am by roc

   Edited 7/25/2009 4:15 am by roc

   
   

   ---

   Edited 7/25/2009 5:22 am by roc

   
4. 
   RonK | Jul 25, 2009 01:54pm | #9

   I have the 9" version of the following Lee Valley vise and overall I am happy with it.

   http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=49980&cat=1,41659

    

   I have also had an opportunity to use and Anant record type copy and based on somewhat limited experience it also seems to work fine

   http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000JRBLY8

5. 
   RMillard | Jul 25, 2009 02:16pm | #10

   Dan,

   I have a Wilton fast acting vise with a pivoting face that I have been using every day for at least 10 years and it works very well and I believe it is in the same price range as the Rockler. Once in a while it gets an annoying squeak where the handle turns inside the front jaw that oil doesn't quickly solve, and if I clamp too hard, the rapid nut sticks and I have to apply a little up pressure to release it.

    http://www.wiltontool.com/Products.aspx?Part=63144&cat=1646773

   I also have the wooden magnetic jaw covers which are handy.

   Rob Millard
   http://www.americanfederalperiod.com 

6. 
   Jfrostjr | Jul 26, 2009 04:32pm | #15

   Take a look at the Jorgenson 4 x 10 vise. I have had mine for ten years without a hint of trouble and, at times, I really apply the pressure.

   I have faced mine with magnetic pads (you know, like the fridge magnets); these are faced with felt from a fabric store. I have never marred a workpiece. The vises are available from many sites. Try Google.

   Frosty

   "I sometimes think we consider the good fortune of the early bird and overlook the bad fortune of the early worm." FDR - 1922

1. 
   dantt | Jul 26, 2009 11:28pm | #16

   Thanks for the help everyone. I should have read the most recent issue of FWW. There is an article on vises. I bought the Jorgenson. It was rated the best. It was on sale at Woodcraft for $142.00.  This thing is "beefy" and has a very large and impressive half nut.  If anyone is thinking of spending $100.00 to $130.00, spend the extra money for this one. It makes my Rockler look like a kids toy. My only complaint is the handle. I took the handle off the Rockler and used it. So if anyone wants a good handle, buy the Rockler. If you want a good vise buy the Jorgenson.

   Dan