OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

265504 Claudio DeLorenzi <admin@d...> 2018‑03‑19 Re: Ball-joint saw vises; expertise wanted.
I've got a ball joint one, maybe 8" across,  but if I recall it doesn't
have a makers mark.  Oh, and it's spray painted silver. I remember walking
into the flowershop where I bought it.  The owner was using it to clamp his
order sheets.  I made him an offer, and came home with it.  It holds OK,
but like all small saw vices it vibrates during the cut (even if you line
the jaws with rubber).
 I paid $50 for it, maybe 15 years ago.  It's in storage with about 20
other ones.  If there is any interest, I can dig them out of the pile and
take some pics.
By the way, when I'm in a hurry and just want to touch up, I kerf a strip
of 3/4 by 1 1/2" soft pine, and clamp the blade in my woodworking vise.
That works quite well (no vibration) and it doesn't take up any storage and
the price is right.  Also, you can draw some helpful guidelines across the
top with your bevel square to help you file true. I use magnifiers, and I
only do one stroke per tooth per each pass ,  after a light jointing
(jointing-- single stroke of a 10 in smooth cut mill file... makes a tiny
shiny flat across the tippy top of each tooth, easy to see under
magnification).
  I try to fight the urge to keep going on the high ones with a wider
flat...for me, it's better to skip the low ones on the subsequent passes.
I can't get too far off if I only do one stroke on each tooth per pass,
because I find it much easier to judge tooth height  once the adjacent
teeth are all shiny.
Cheers
Claudio

Recent Bios FAQ