Gramercy saw vise & combo filling

[Mike Holbrook]

I was planing to make a wood saw vise. I started thinking about it and watched my new DVD on sharpening hand saws by Tom Law. I think I am coming around to the idea that a metal vise may just work better and hold up better. Since I think hand sharpening saws is a very real skill set I would like to have a good tool I can learn to do the job right with.

I believe I just saw a picture of the Gramercy Vise in another post and I figure a few posters here will be familiar with this vise and have opinions on it.

I also just bought a Gramercy Sash saw and I have been impressed with how well the combo filing method used on it has worked. I am also hoping to get a little discussion going on combo methods people use to file their saws.

[Pat Zabrocki]

Mike,
that was my post with the Grammercy saw vise. It is a very good vise. I actually have two. After seeing Archaya's (sp?) setup with the two vises end to end I decided to get another. I haven't had time to put them together yet but I have a bunch of backsaws on the horizon for now so I'm in no hurry. Can't go wrong with the Grammercy vise.
cheers
Pat

[Jared McMahon]

I have the Gramercy vise as well. I haven't used any other vises, either wood or metal, so factor that in however you will, but the Gramercy one is very nice. It's rock-solid, big enough to minimize shifting even full-sized saws, and angled steeply enough to stay out of your way while adding slope. My one and only issue is that when I first got it, I ran my hand over the tops of the jaws and one of the edges sliced open my finger. But don't let my small blood sacrifice to the sharpening gods stop you, it's well worth the money.

[Tony Shea]

I also think I am going to pick one of these up in the near future. Up till then I have always use two peices of wood clamped together in my vice. That works but isn't perfect.

Do the jaws have a consistant pressure all along the plate of the saw (no small gaps anywhere)? Is the clamping mechanism simple and effective? And it seems as though it's made of stamped steel. Is it as tough as the old solid cast models of yester year? My thought proccess of stamped steel goods always generates a picture of an AK47. These things are truely junk, yet function in the worst of conditions.

[Jared McMahon]

Do the jaws have a consistant pressure all along the plate of the saw (no small gaps anywhere)? Is the clamping mechanism simple and effective? And it seems as though it's made of stamped steel. Is it as tough as the old solid cast models of yester year? My thought proccess of stamped steel goods always generates a picture of an AK47. These things are truely junk, yet function in the worst of conditions.

The jaws have a slight spring joint to them (at least mine does), the ends close up before the middle. I haven't candled the fit but I've never noticed any gaps or wiggle room anywhere at all on saws, either longer or shorter than the jaw width. The cam is simple and strong; refer to this blog post (http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/Merchant/merchant.mvc?Screen=NEXT&StoreCode=toolstore&nextpage=/extra/blogpage.html&BlogID=130) from Joel where he talks about the Wentworth vise.

As to the steel and the manufacturing process, I don't feel confident speaking to those points, that's a weak area in my knowledge.

[Tony Zaffuto]

I have one and it is very well made. As a point of reference, I own a manufacturing plant, complete with machine shop and fabrication shop. The vise "could" be considered "stamped", but the construction is more akin to bending in a large press brake. Parts are precision made and is well worth the money.

[Jim Matthews]

I got to see this thing in action at the CVWWS open house, last Fall.

There were several cast iron saw vises for sale, but the Grammercy vise was being used by Matt Cianci (http://thesawblog.com/)on an endless stream of saw sharpenings.
After struggling with my homebuilt vise for six months, I bought one of my own. It's solid, expensive, and worth the money.

I mounted mine on a plywood backer and fix that in my Moxxon vise for use. It gets things up high enough that I don't need to bend over to see my work.
I use a flashlight and magnifying glass to examine the work as I progress.

I would be interested to know what Zahid uses, his sharpening prowess far exceeds my own.

[fred mcclure]

i have one and have been using it for a couple years now. i used to use a homemade version and glad i bought the metal one. i was going to buy an antique one, but after some posts i saw, decided to go with the modern day one. i dont think you can go wrong with it.

[John McPhail]

I have one, mounted to a dovetailed "L" bracket of 2x12 fir, which I clamp to my bench top basically permanently with C clamps. The vise is great, no problems at all, works as advertised and is solid.

I intended to paint it but ended up just using it as is, and I just wipe it down and keep it oiled once in a while.

[Jack Curtis]

All this talk about Moxon and Grammercy saw vises and raised benchtops has me real jealous. To the point I'm thinking of building a special raised bench, maybe 40" tall, 3' by 4', with a Moxon on the 4' side, saw vise on 3' (I have one that's much like the Grammercy), and I haven't figured out what to put on the other 3', maybe a carving station.

[Niels Cosman]

Love mine. It's a great little vise ideally suited for joinery saws. Highly recommended!

[Jim Matthews]

All this talk about Moxon and Grammercy saw vises and raised benchtops has me real jealous.

My Grammercy vise cost more than my bench and Moxxon hardware, altogether.
It's worth paying good money for something I can't fabricate.

The side benefit of the Moxxon vise is that it extends my "reach" on the bench without further cluttering my cramped little shop.
I read Derek Cohen's (http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/MoxonDovetailVise.html)treatise on this and it fit neatly with my work flow.

FYI - I built the prototype with pipeclamps and will retrofit with Benchcrafted hardware, which is (surprisingly) competitive on price with what I can source myself.

[Shlomo Hoffmann]

I was planing to make a wood saw vise.... I think I am coming around to the idea that a metal vise may just work better and hold up better...

Just wondering what made you think so... Home-made wood vises have several advantages... They can be made from just about any decent wood material and can made to any size, form and shape, even to a point of holding the whole length of a saw for a single sharpening pass per side without the need for re-positioning per same side. I have around 3 metal saw vices of various makers and configurations, but still consider making one of my own based on the above ...

I have recently seen a set of pics of a visit by another WW'er to the latest Lie-Nielsen open house (June 11?). The saw vise they used there was made of wood, presumably a local concoction...

[Michael Fross]

Just sharpened a rip saw on my Grammercy vice today. Easy to use and holds the saw very securely. It does mount quite differently than a traditional saw vice, but I think once you determine how to set it up in your situation, it's great. I have a vintage saw vice and have not even looked at it since I got the Grammercy.

(But I also pre-ordered it and got a good deal :o)

Michael

[Mike Holbrook]

Yeea real life experience! The reason I started rethinking the wooden vise was a fairly simple matter of what I think are some physical limitations of the materials. Tom Law had a bunch of vises, nothing made of wood. Well used metal vises, even with beveled edges, show the scars of countless file marks. Certainly wood with beveled edges is going to take some sort of punishment from saw teeth being filed so close to the relatively tender edges.