Mainspring Vise

[weum817]

I was going to buy the deluxe or better mainspring vise on Track of the Wolf, but they are still out of stock. Has anyone used their cheaper one, does it work just as good? Thanks William

 

[wattlebuster]

I have both. Yes it works but is a tad harder to turn due to the grip of the screw being smaller but is not that big a deal if you have a small set of pliers. Or at least thats what I used on the smaller screw

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
If your locks are right handed, I urge you to go to www.tcurran.com and click on tools. Tom designed what is likely the best main, frizzen, and sear spring vise going but he only has right-handed versions currently. You can also call Barbie Chambers to see if they have the same vise in stock. They are partnering with Tom. The cheaper spring vise from TOW will work fine but Toms design is more versatile for all of the lock springs.

dave

 

[Artificer]

I have an incurable Vice for mainspring, frizzen spring and other hand vises. I own both originals and reproductions. As many Civil War and Flintlock Muskets as I have had to take apart over the years to do repair and trigger jobs - I have a definite preference for the "deluxe" versions where the sliding arm and hook are adjustable.

Looks like Brownells has the Track Of the Wolf Adjustable vise you want. http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-...inspring-tools/mainspring-vise-prod22889.aspx

Gus

 

[Vaino]

I use a mainspring vise that I bought for a few bucks years ago and it's worked for many locks...no need to go fancy.

I don't use it for compressing frizzen springs....duct tape on the frizzen spring and a small "Vise Grip" does the job.

Never broke either spring using the above......Fred

 

[hawkeye2]

A few years back Track had some inexpensive mainspring vises, $5.00 special, and I bought 2. They do what is required of them and I guess you can't ask for any more than that. I occasionally have a need to have 2 springs off at the same time and they are handy for that. I have one of the same basic pattern but better quality which if I remember is a copy of the US 1855 vise and is a little easier to use. I have one of the fancy (read expensive) vises that the stud on the pivoting lower jaw broke off about the 3rd. or 4th. time I used it and I never sent it back or tried to repair it. I just went to Track's site and enlarged the photo of the $16.00 vise and it looks identical to the 2 that I bought from them for $5.00. If that's so I would pass on it and buy a better one elsewhere.

 

[Capt. Jas.]

If you don't have a vise, my suggestion is to take Dave Person's advice and get the one from Tom Curran

 

[weum817]

I forgot to mention that I have left hand locks, Sorry.

 

[weum817]

Thanks guys, I think I'm going to buy the one Artificer found at brownells.

 

[Artificer]

Dave,

If anyone would know the answer to this, it would be you. Have you tried using the Tom Curran tool on Brown Bess, Charleville and/or U.S. M1795 ”“ 1840 Flintlock Musket Frizzen Springs?

It took me a while to find a spring clamp/cramp/vise of an unusual design that does a really nice job on these very large frizzen springs. Unfortunately, I don’t remember where I got it years ago. It is something like a regular mainspring vise, but without the sliding bar and the size of the thumb screw is larger than normal. It is part of a somewhat long bar with an upswept tail on the end. Sorry I do not have the ability to post pictures.

Gus

 

[dave_person]

Hi Gus,
Well, I have a Pedersoli Bess lock in my lap from a Bess I have to refurbish this week. Works great and will even compress the sear spring on a Bess lock.

dave

 

[Artificer]

Very interesting, Dave. Thank you.

At the 1996 World Championships at Wedgnock, UK - I had been looking at the following frizzen spring clamp/vise for a few years and finally purchased it from Peter Dyson in person. It is a very nicely made tool, but it won't work for the really large Military lock frizzen springs.
http://dixiegunworks.com/product_info.php?products_id=2784

For a bit less then what I paid for that tool, then, one could buy Tom's tool today and have an excellent "all around" spring clamp. Sure, one can't use it at a living history unless one goes inside a tent, but other than that it is a very intriguing tool and looks like a GREAT value.

Gus

 

[dave_person]

Hi Gus,
I also have Dyson's vise. It used to be the only vise that worked on frizzen springs on a couple of 17th century locks I own. I place the vise perpendicular to the plate and hook the little notch on the lockplate and then turn the screw to compress the frizzen spring. Tom's vise replaces it nicely except for living history events.

dave

 

[weum817]

Does anyone have any pics of what originals look like, just for the heck of it?

 

[Artificer]

Does anyone have any pics of what originals look like, just for the heck of it?

Unfortunately, when my old Computer crashed I lost links to some extravagant 17th and 18th century examples and cannot find them now.

Peter Dyson offered a couple of this time period examples during the Arms Faire at the 1996 World Championships at Wedgnock,UK. Both were highly engraved and filed exquisitely. I fell in love with the more expensive one that was made to compress mainsprings on the top and frizzen springs on the bottom in a most ingenious way.

OK, let’s see what I have been able to dig up.

Sometimes instead of a threaded screw vise, they used a modification of a “Slideing Tong” as shown in the following link, however these were more on the order of 16th and early 17th tools for this purpose. http://davistownmuseum.org/bioStubs.htm

BTW, anyone interested in 18th century Hand Tools for Metal Work of all Sorts cannot do better than getting a copy of “A Catalogue of Tools for Watch and Clock Makers” by John Wyke of Liverpool. The engraved plates in the link above came from this book. Below is just one link to a copy, though they can be found for less. https://www.amazon.com/Catalogue-Tools-Watch-Clock-Makers/dp/0813907519


This plate is an Engraving from Diderot’s Encyclopedia circa 1751- 72. Scroll down to and enlarge “fig. 31” as that was an extremely simple spring cramp/clamp/vise. (I can see this was the pattern for the Frizzen Spring Vise I own and described above, as mine is very similar to this one.) Variations of the “Flutter By” wings on the knob of the screw were VERY common at least throughout the early 19th century as well. http://artflx.uchicago.edu/images/encyclopedie/V18/plate_18_9_4.jpeg

If you would like to see more pages of Diderot’s Encyclopedia, here is an online source. http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/did/

Sorry this one is a Reproduction, but I could not find an original one of its like. Scroll down to “Mainspring/Hammer Spring Vise ”“ Large” in the following link. This was a VERY common style by the late 18th/Early 19th century with both the hook and sliding bar being adjustable, though it goes back to the early/mid 18th century at least. http://najecki.com/repro/musket/Vise.html

Here is a link to an Original M1855 Mainspring Clamp. GONE is any sort of decoration or refinement, but they got the job done. BTW, the cheaper mainspring Vise that Track of the Wolf sells is a copy of this vise. http://www.horsesoldier.com/products/firearms/19001

Gus

 

[weum817]

Awesome Gus ! Thanks

 

[M. De Land]

Yeah, a small pair of needle nose vice-grips and leather patch to pad the jaws is all I have ever used.They are universal as to handing and completely adjustable.

 

[Tinker2]

Awesome Gus ! Thanks

Yes, thanks :hatsoff:






William

 

[Obi-Wan Cannoli]

I have seen Hershel House use nothing but a pair of old vice grips for a mainspring vice in one of his dvd series.

That being said, the man obviously knows what he is doing, and I do not know what complications could arise from using this method. Therefore, I just use this:
http://www.logcabinshop.com/catalog.php?path=185_19&product_id=24436

It has served me well.

 

[M. De Land]

What I have found is that a small pair of needle nose vice grips with a leather jaw pad will adjust and adapt to any spring where as a vice is usually more spring specific although there is some cross over.
Also the small narrow jaws of the Vice grip will get springs into tight corners and small recesses that a vice cannot.