STOCK CLAMP

[Zonie]

A recient post about making a gun vise work stand got me thinking. My first thought was I really don't have room for a full standing gunvise because of all the other stuff I have laying around.
I do have a small workbench though so I built a vise that could be clamped to the top of it.

Below are some pictures of what I came up with.
It's small enough to store out of the way but strong enough for what I want to do.

It is made out of a commercial wooden clamp that cost me $20, a few (nonmatching) pieces of wood that were laying around, some dry-wall screws and some leather scraps for padding.
The red side gusset is screwed to the base and the side of the clamp to provide extra support. (I have forgotten what kind of African wood it is but it was left over from a furniture project).

Here it is, clamped to my bench with my latest project in it's jaws. The clamp only needs a couple of small C clamps to secure it to the bench.

As you can see, I'm using my drill press to support the forend. When I come up with another $20 for another clamp, I may build another one to take the drill presses place. This would give better clamping and support.

 

[paulvallandigham]

I would think that all you need for the other end would be a notched board, that has a liner in the notch to cradle the other end of the stock. It could be gusseted to a perpendicular base for clamping, as you have done with your wooden parallel clamps. If you rout a groove in the gusset, you can have some adjustment for the height of the cradle, too.

 

[jgunn286]

I like the drillpress as a support..It's my favorite price-free! :rotf:

 

Super Zonie, I've seen a couple done like that, before and got a pick somewhere, but that's as good as any. If ya got a drill press vise I would just use that with soft jaws. The variable height makes it very versatile, and the best part is the price. :winking: I almost wish we had a sub catagory in building for tools and tips. When I sent out the parts lists, for the other one, I challenged guys to post add-ons, and improvements. Anything we can do to share and make this hobby more fun and easy, I'm all for. For instance a tip I got from Bookie, was to file little notches in your thimbles, so to keep their placement correct, after they have been drilled, ie front thimble one notch, second one two notches, and so on, or you can slide them on a dowel in order each time you pull them. Simple tip, but I was saying nasties each time I tried to refit them, cause before that I was just dropping them into a plastic tub for safekeeping. Great job Zonie, keep the ideaers coming. Hey, wait a minute, that cussin gun in the clamp's got a rock in it, what gives? :rotf: Bill

 

[mbw907]

I agree about having a separate category for gadgets and such. Zonie and a lot of you guys have posted things on here that I had to hit the "print" button on and start a scrapbook for myself. That could be a great moneymaker project sometime for a worthy cause, a "forum's best" of tips and handy shop gadgets all put into a paperback. I'd buy one in a second for my bookshelf. Keep 'em coming. I like all the tips and project ideas. :v

 

[anvil1231]

This is great Zonie I have thinking about somthing for holding hawk handles instead of my regular vise I think this may work Thanks for posting. Anvil

 

[fatboy]

Zonie thats right smart thinkin like it !!

 

[MSW]

hey wow- clever gadget!... gotta make me one of those... when i do, should i make the little piece of red colored wood perpendicular to the axis of the clamp screws, or does yours provide enough stability as is?

thanks for sharing your great idea!

msw

 

[Zonie]

MSW: So far I've used the clamp to hold my latest project for reshaping the top and bottom of the butt. The stock is a Pecatonica River Pre-carve for a Vernor (Buck County) and it has extra wood which needed to be removed to make the shape more like one of the rifles shown in Shumways Rifles of Colonial America.

To remove the wood I used a Surform plane and a rotary drum sander. Both of these, especially the plane put quite a load on the clamp perpendicular to the screw axis. The clamp took this load without flexing or "giving" so I would say another brace perpendicular to the screws is not needed.
Of course, being a old "Mr. Overdesign" at heart, I will say adding another block to take the loads in that direction couldn't hurt a thing.

Zonie.

 

[Vaino]

I'm not altogether satisfied w/ my present clamping but using a Starret 5" toolmakers vise does supply a very rigid setup for a very "hard hand". Seeing I mainly build from blanks, how rigid would this "vise" be for a lot of wood removal? I think this "vise" would work just fine for a lot of the work, but seeing my bench has limited space like a lot of benches, it would entail interchanging the 2 vises because the Starret is needed for metal forming of pipes, PBox lids and MCaps. Thought of installing a modified "Grizzly" type vise but was told it's not meant to be an "all purpose" vise because of the lack of rigidity. I'm always looking for different clamping arrangements and for some of the work this "vise" would seem to be "very handy" and possibly could be used w/ a smaller self-standing walk around bench. Will have to look into using it......Fred

 

[rkmeyer]

Your shop is entirely to clean. Your idea with the wood clamps is great.
Dusty

 

[Allan Gray]

I like it! :shocked2: I see one of those in my future. I'm sick of taping scrap wood blocks to my metal vice jaws. Those Jorgensen clamps sure are an under-rated tool, you can do so much with them.

That red wood you mentioned looks like Paduak,(sp?) A.K.A. Vermillion, Am I right??

 

[flashpanner]

First off, Zonie has way more good ideas and brains than any one person should posess! :grin:
Here's my 2 cents worth. The wood used is all from discarded oak pallets. I scrounged then from work (I work for a soft drink company)Many pallets are available from other sources. I ask before taking. The base is from a spool that large tubing came on. I was to be discarded, i procured. It is really nice, birch 1" thin plys plywood. Hardware was discards as well. All free stuff. hope pics tell the story

 

[maypo59]

Looks good, love the fact that it's recycled. Now you need to make some handles for the tightening operation, just cut them out, relive them a bit in the back, center drill for the nut and bolt, set your nut in there with some JB or epoxy, and then you won't need to resort to that one size almost fits everything wrench you got laying there.

I am glad to see these ideas on benches, I have one, but it's made of plastic and aluminium, ok for the garands and AR's and such, but I have been contemplating something nicer and longer for my next build. Thanks for the ideas.

 

[Birddog6]

Zonie, that work area is WAY to neat & clean. One like that gives no challenge in finding tools or parts :hmm: and also leaves the impression you are precise & know what you are doing....... and I don't want to confuse anyone on those thoughts of me ! :rotf:

Now a total disaster like mine gives LOTS of challenge, cause it is a challenge to find anything ya need when ya need it !! :rotf: And sometimes it is quite rewarding when you find something you lost 6 mo ago & had to go buy it again cause you couldn't find it, so now you have 2 of them !! :grin: :grin: :hmm:

Anyway, I like your vice idea, for having a small area to work. Looks like it would work quite well.

This is where I build mine. The vice on the right has 2 pieces of Teflon over the jaws & then 2 pieces of leather over that for padding. The leathers can be just flipped out if needed. The left larger vice is just padded with some latigo leather, and easily removed by slipping off the rubberband loop & flip the leather off. Same vice is used for clamping barrels & removing breechplugs & etc. Then just slip the leather back on & ya are good to go.

:thumbsup:

 

[kansas_volunteer]

I've found one of these gunstock makers vises quite handy for a lot of things, although a bit more expensive than a pair of Zonie's great inventions, which I intend to duplicate.
[url] http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=3961[/url]

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

This is where I build mine.

Dayum Birddog, now where'd you get a picture of my bench setup? Oh, wait a minute, my build is left-handed, as my barrel points the other way :wink: !

 

[CZMark]

That looks like my bench after I've cleaned her up a bit.

Zonie has a great idea there, I'm going to make one of those.

 

[Birddog6]

Hey !!! :cursing: That IS cleaned up ! :rotf: That is as clean as it gets !! :grin:

 

[Jim-Iowa]

Hey !!! :cursing: That IS cleaned up ! :rotf: That is as clean as it gets !! :grin:

Well Yeah dadgumit! Was'nt it Einstein that said
" If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind. Does that mean a clean and organized desk is the sign if an empty mind"?
Seems like it should apply to a workbench too?