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Here are some in progress photos of a vise I am cobbling together out of bits and bobs I have laying about the shop. I still need to make a base for it and tighten things up a bit. With the swiveling jaws turned one way it will open about 5 1/2 inches, and when swiveled around the other way it opens about a foot.

Interesting. IIIRC, the Padma made one with swiveling jaws and posted pics, but I can't find it.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

The Padma made some cool looking things. I always enjoyed seeing his creations. The way he would carve things made them seem very organic.
I don't remember seeing his vise.
The most organic thing about the one I'm making is all the bore holes made by beetle larva. I had a nice stash of curly maple that has been eaten up by the borers. I'll get what use I can out of it. At some point I will toast the beetle larva - not with champagne, but a few hundred degrees in the oven.

Slightly off topic, but what ever became of the Padma? I know he left the forum some time back, but is he still around and doing his thing? He definitely marched to a different drummer, but his posts were always interesting.

Dave

Padma Samchuk is on Facebook. Search the name and you will find him.

Seems like he was asked to leave several forums (fora?). Last I saw of him was on the Kit Guitar Forum where he was so far advanced from the members that it was a poor fit. He did not last there long IIRC

Ed M

Padma always found a use for bondo...

Just to finish things up, a few more pics of the finished vise.
I mounted the vise on a pine board that I can clamp on my bench. Aside from being an easier solution I actually think this makes it more versatile as to how and where I can use it. I "Dyed" (oxidized) the surface with potassium permanganate and brushed on a couple to coats of Endurovar to keep the bugs at bay.
I made some "mittens" for the jaw faces. I made them with part of the mat left over from my sander pad rebuilds. They slip over the aluminium jaw faces and can be installed or removed as desired. They are double sided because the jaws are double sided. Also notice the bolts are recessed into the blocks to allow the use of the "back side" of the jaws. This doubles the capacity of the vice and allows wider objects to be clamped.
The vise required very little fabrication of parts. Most parts can be sourced from your local hardware store. I used stuff that I had laying around the shop, except for the two nuts and a couple of washers that went with the 1/2 inch bolts. The jaws were from a piece of 1/2 inch thick aluminium plate I cut into 4 pieces on the table saw using an old diablo blade, raising the blade a little at a time (do not use abrasive blades to cut Al. - the Al. clogs the abrasive blade and and it can heat up and "explode").
Press screws are available on Amazon (the screws I have are shorter):
https://www.amazon.com/Pony-Tools-6712- ... B007ID85KY
if you don't want to buy one you can make one from a large C clamp:
https://www.lumberjocks.com/shipwright/blog/40173
Overall it was a fun project and I am happy with the results. Since I have enough "left overs" I may build another one to have at the house.

Nice one Clay!

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Nice job!

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

This works


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Cool!