A Home-Made Vise #1

While making a box I had some dovetailing to do, and as there was no vise on the bench I rigged up a substitute. I secured a board 3/4 in. thick, 3 in. wide and 20 in. long and bored a 1/2-in. hole through it, 1 in. from each end. The board was then attached to the bench with two screws passing through washers and the two holes in the board into the bench top. The screws should be of a length suitable to take in the piece to be worked. --Contributed by A. M. Rice, Syracuse, New York.

Illustration: Vise on Bench

A Home-Made Vise #2

Cut two pieces of wood in the shape shown in the sketch and bore a 3/8-in. hole through both of for a common carriage bolt. Fasten one of the pieces to the edge of the bench with a large wood screw and attach the other piece to the first one with a piece of leather nailed across the bottom of both pieces. The nut on the carriage bolt may be tightened with a wrench,

Details Of A Home-Made Bench Vise

Details of a Home-Made Bench Vise or, better still, a key filed out of a piece of soft steel to fit the nut. The edges of the jaws are faced with sheet metal which can be copper or steel suitable for the work it is intended to hold.

A Home-Made Hand Vise

A very useful little hand vise can easily be made from a hinge and a bolt carrying a wing nut. Get a fast joint hinge about 2 in. or more long and a bolt about 1/2 in. long that will fit the holes in the hinge. Put the bolt through the middle hole of the hinge and replace the nut as shown in the drawing. With this device any small object may be firmly held by simply placing it between the sides of the hinge and tightening the nut.

Illustration: Hand Vise Made from a Hinge

Home-Made Vise

An ordinary monkey wrench that has been discarded is used in making this vise. The wrench is supported by two L-shaped pieces of iron fastened with a rivet through the end jaw, and these in turn are bolted or screwed to the bench. The handle end is held down with a staple. The inside jaw is used in clamping and is operated with the thumb screw of the wrench. Two holes bored through the thumb piece will greatly facilitate setting up the jaws tightly by using a small rod in the holes as a lever.

Illustration: A Swivel Bench Vise

The vise may be made into a swing vise if the wrench is mounted on a board which is swung on a bolt at one end and held with a pin at the other as shown in the illustration. Various holes bored in the bench on an arc will permit the board to be set at any angle. --Contributed' by Harry S. Moody, Newburyport. Mass.

Home-Made Hand Vise

A vise for holding small articles while filing can be made as shown in the illustration. The vise consists of three pieces of wood, two for the jaws and one a wedge. The hinge for connecting the two jaws is made of four small screw eyes, two in each jaw. When locating the place for the screw eyes, place the two in one jaw so they will fit between the two of the other jaw. Put a nail through the eyes when the jaws are matched together and they are ready for the wedge in clamping the article to be filed. --Contributed by John G. Buxton, Redondo Beach, Calif.

Homemade Carpenter's Vise

The sketch shows an easily made, quick-working wood vise that has proved very satisfactory. The usual screw is replaced by an open bar held on one end by a wedge-shaped block, and the excess taken up on the other end by an eccentric lever. The wedge is worked by a string passing through the top of the bench and should be weighted on the other end to facilitate the automatic downward movement.

The capacity of the vise, of course, depends on the size and shape of the wedge-shaped block. --Contributed by J.H. Cruger, Cape May City, N.J.