This started with Richard’s request at the picnic for more Corporate status members and Matt figured out that a post here from me was missing.
I grew up on a hundred acre family farm in the Capital District of NY. From my early teens, I fixed whatever was broken, mostly tractors, autos, and auto-electrical stuff. Also worked as a John Deere mechanic. My woodworking at that time was making firewood and rough carpentry. In 1959, I received a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Union College. First job was with Bendix Radio in Towson, MD. Next job at IBM lasted for 1/3 century. We moved from Kingston, NY to Raleigh, NC in 1968. Both of our sons are NC natives.
Some 15+ years ago I built the Ruobo workbench from Schwarz’s first workbench book. This bench had a leg vise with an ordinary 1” threaded rod for the screw and a modified coupler nut. Didn’t work super well but I saved it anyway.
That was the start of my interest in wooden vise designs. For Triangle Woodworkers Association, I have led two leg vise workshops plus a Moxon vise and a portable vise workshop. For NCWW, I have led two tall vise workshops with an X-cross mechanism and am finishing up Basic Face Vise plans for an inexpensive vise. In Resources, there are plans of mine for a small Moxon vise, a white paper on vise design, and instructions plus drawings from the Tall vise workshops.
And a couple more vise designs are rattling around in my head…
I grew up on a hundred acre family farm in the Capital District of NY. From my early teens, I fixed whatever was broken, mostly tractors, autos, and auto-electrical stuff. Also worked as a John Deere mechanic. My woodworking at that time was making firewood and rough carpentry. In 1959, I received a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Union College. First job was with Bendix Radio in Towson, MD. Next job at IBM lasted for 1/3 century. We moved from Kingston, NY to Raleigh, NC in 1968. Both of our sons are NC natives.
Some 15+ years ago I built the Ruobo workbench from Schwarz’s first workbench book. This bench had a leg vise with an ordinary 1” threaded rod for the screw and a modified coupler nut. Didn’t work super well but I saved it anyway.
That was the start of my interest in wooden vise designs. For Triangle Woodworkers Association, I have led two leg vise workshops plus a Moxon vise and a portable vise workshop. For NCWW, I have led two tall vise workshops with an X-cross mechanism and am finishing up Basic Face Vise plans for an inexpensive vise. In Resources, there are plans of mine for a small Moxon vise, a white paper on vise design, and instructions plus drawings from the Tall vise workshops.
And a couple more vise designs are rattling around in my head…
