O Galoots:
A couple of weeks ago they finished taking down Fred, the 20" live oak that was
endangering our gas lines, electric cables, and roof. R.I.P. The foreman of the
tree guys brought by his saw vise to show me, inherited and cherished though not
used much in his professional work.
I would have fallen in love, except that it was another's It was tall over the
bench, clamped on. And there was a universal ball joint. I drooled for a while,
and we talked and I showed some of my stuff, and then he had to go on to his
next job, taking the vise with him.
I have a perfectly adequate vice, no frills but clamp-on and everything works. I
have used it three times (my go-to saw is a bowsaw, with a Japanese-toothed
blade, gets the best of both worlds). But this one... I love the socket joint. I
want one. But even more I want to know more about them.
A bit of time on line and I was able to determine that there are at least two
brands, the Disston #1 and the Sargeant #105. Apparently an E.C. Stearns as
well. I found a good article on experience with saw vises by The NorseWoodsmith,
and a good comparison at Blackburn Tools. They seem unenthusiastic about ball-
joint saw vises (not rigid enough). But I still want more information. Can
anybody talk about them? Is there a significant difference between the Disston
and Sargent? What are the drawbacks and advantages? Does anyone love them or
hate them?
Its the ball-joint vises that I'm lusting for. I undrstand the advantage of the
big 15" Wentworth, and the Grammercy copied from it, but I have nowhere to
install one, so that's a frost. I understand the advantages of maaking your own
from wood, but I have nowhere to keep a full-size freestanding one, and I don't
want a saw vise that clamps in my bench vise and sprays steel filings all over
my woodworkiing area. I notice that everyone seems to like the Disston #3, but
they don't say enough about why they like it for me to understand. What I want
to know about (well, honestly, want to purchase wisely eventually) is the ball-
vise variants.
Tom Conroy
Berkeley