Saw Vise

[Robert Rozaieski]

Hi all. A question for those folks here far more versed in metal than I. I picked up a vintage Sargent saw vise a few months ago and am just now getting around to cleaning it up and getting it ready to try my hand at filing some saws. The problem is, the vise does not close evenly across it's jaws. When I raise the cam lever to close the jaws, one side closes slightly less than the other, enough that the wider side holds the saw to loose (I can slide the saw plate between the jaws on the wider side while it does not slide on the other side). I have tried heating the arm up with a propane torch and slightly twisting the jaw and arm by putting a block of wood in the narrow side and gently clamping the wide side closed but this had no effect. I don't want to twist to hard for fear of snaping the casting. Is there a way to fix this so the vise is useable? My only other thought is to use some contact cement and glue a piece of rubber or leather to the inside of the jaws but I though the knowledgable folks here might have some better ideas first. Any thoughts?

Thanks!
Bob

[Zahid Naqvi]

Just to throw an idea (keep in mind I have never used a metallic saw vice I use a wooden one as recommended by Tage Frid in his book). Is it possible to disassemble the jaws and flatten them on a sandpaper glued to an MDF board. If the misallignment is not a curve you may still be able to compensate for the gap by sanding one end more than the other. It might be a tedious process but could result in a snug fitting jaw.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Hi Robert, Disassemble the vise. Look particularly carefully at the pin for the cam and at the lever setup to see if there are any bends or if things are really loose. I suspect that the jaws are probably all right, but that something in the base-pin-lever has become bent or real sloppy.

[Robert Rozaieski]

The vise itself is real tight, nothing loose or sloppy at all. Matter of fact, I have to squeeze the bottom of the clamp to open it after releasing the cam lever. The pin holding the clamp arm to the main casting is peened down so It won't be too easy to disassemble without grinding off the peened over ends. If I look at it from the clamp end looking down into the "throat" of the vise, it does appear that the clamp arm is slightly twisted but I can't imagine how. It's a bolt on model (no bench clamp) and one of the the bolt holes is broken off so I'm assuming it dropped at some point in it's life. When fully clamped closed, only the one side closes fully, the wide side has a small gap.

[harry strasil]

get a long sanding belt or some silicon carbide strip cloth backed grit from an automotive store they have it in rolls and will sell you what you want usually, and a bungee cord.

using an old saw fold the cloth in half and put it over the end of the saw just above the teeth, pull it tight on both sides, then clamp securely at the handle end.

Put the saw with the grit paper between the jaws of the saw vise and close the vise, taking the bungee cord and wrapping it several times around the vise jaw uprights to give constant tension and just move the saw back and forth as if sawing and the process will lap the jaws square with each other.