doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Stockmaking June 2018

Steven,

I am wondering your thoughts on the use of a traditional vise like the one being used in your photos. When i say traditional, i mean one with parallel fixed jaws that then are padded with leather or wood.

There are machinist vises made with one pivoting jaw that allows the holding of a tapered object. And then there are pattern makers vises (which I prefer to use) that have each wood and rubber backed jaw pivoting independently, allowing the holding of pretty much any shape put into it securely. A big help when things start getting fully shaped.

I am surprised when i see photos out of different smith�s shops to see how many are using traditional vises like initially mentioned above. Do you see an actual benefit to that style of vise, or is it just a function of working with what was always available?

I was introduced to Wilton machinist vices at Trinidad State and that is what I have always used. I have bought used Wilton's on ebay as I needed them, rebuilt or repainted them when outfitting a new work station. To me they are the best general purpose vice ever made.

My shop now has 7 Wilton vices (?) from 1 1/2" to 4 1/2". To me they are the finest vices in the world and the most generally useful. I teach other subjects and do other work than stockmaking. I have a large swivel base Kurt vise on the Bridgeport.


I am not aware of any quality swivel jaw vice currently manufactured, nor the pivoting jaw "machinist" vise you mention or the "pattern makers" vise? My Pal Jerry Fisher uses an antique Parker vise with a swivel jaw that must weigh a hundred pounds(?) I bought the 4" Wilton on my workbench new about 30 years ago as a present to myself when I built the workbench it's bolted to. I believe it cost about $300 then.

It seems like we had a very long thread on bench vices here years ago(?)Maybe you might start another and introduce the vice you use? Vices are one of my vises. I've lost track of how many are in my workshop??

Very cool to see guys interested in carving a stock by hand from a blank and just as cool to see an instructor who is passionate about teaching it. Thanks for the pictures and the narratives, Steven.

Craig Libhart

See here an example of the patternmakers vise that i mentioned.

http://www.mprime.com/Emmert/knockoffs.htm

Day 5 of Stockmaking the fellows got lots more accomplished. Eric pretty much finished shaped his Martini except installing the buttplate as there is not enough time in class to do that and shape the stock.






Joe continued patiently inletting his Mauser mainly with small chisels and scrapers.





Irl took off masses of walnut and ebony rounding the forend, shaping the buttstock and blending the two ends towards the middle. Irl had never done any stockwork prior to this class!



Lots of sawdust ended up on the floor!

Four happy fellows after a long week of crafting custom gun stocks!

Steven, a couple months ago, you got your knickers all in a knot over a post about rocky mtn bill's politics appearing in the DIY Gunsmithing forum. You felt it was totally inappropriate, even though Bill frequently posts his political thoughts in the main double shotgun forum.

So please tell us how this annual tradition of selling spots in your stock-making classes is in any way appropriate for this forum? Isn't this intended as a way for you to generate income? It isn't like there is any sharing of useful information going on other than your copyrighted photos. It sure isn't contributing anything pertaining to the intended content of this sub-forum. Shouldn't this kind of thread go in the For Sale section, like when you sell rasps? Or can we expect that you will also sell wood rasps in this forum as well, to further take advantage of Dave?

I know you won't see this since you are ignoring me, but I'll take a shot anyway in the interest of confronting hypocrisy.

I forgot to mention, we drilled the through-bolt hole for the Martini in class. The same way that I always do it, halfway from each end on the lathe. The quarter-flute deep hole drill runs straight and true and when we ran it all the way through the hole was right down the middle with no binding at all.


It came out perfectly and we counter bored it with this bench made, floating pilot counter bore.

It gets a bit tense when drilling so no one thought to get any pictures.
That was the first time we ever drilled a through-bolt hole in class and everyone as impressed. I know I always am!

I also forgot to mention that most of the sawdust was generated using Liogier hand-stitched wood rasps. Made in France, finest kind! They make short work of even the hardest walnut!
Note the gloved hands, These Babies are SHARP!

Keith, since you've brought me up again, I'll chime in to say that Steven's post regarding tools and stock-making classes are precisely what this site is for. If it weren't for people like Steven who teaches the skills involved in making fine guns, that knowledge would become rarer and rarer. If this forum can't tolerate the possibility that full-time gunmakers need to make their skills available, then we really ought to give it up and take up golf. Just the photos from Steven's shop contain a wealth of useful information for anyone with eyes and interest. It's just one more sample of your short-sighted self importance. Face it; no one here gives a shit for your sour pronouncements.