Wet Plate Collodion Glass Polishing Vice

OK, more with the wet-plate collodion accessories. Again based on a design from Otto Dipold’s book (good stuff by the way if you want to make some of your own equipment).

The idea behind a glass vice is to have a way of securely holding a sheet of plate glass for cleaning and polishing prior to flowing the collodion. The glass must be VERY clean otherwise the collodion won’t stick and the resulting emulsion will peel off much to easily.

The glass rests in the rabbets and the tension is adjusted with the threaded rod. Obviously you aren’t going for something so tight it flexes and shatters the glass! Just enough to hold it steady during the final clean and polish stages.

“soft” maple with BLO and a couple of coats of wax. There is a nut in the sliding center portion that is JB Welded into the wood and this is how the center portion follows the rod. The bottom of the center piece has two, wide dados cut to follow the tracks. A pair of nuts are at the other end of the rod to lock it and the handle is a short length of dowel that was drilled and also JB Welded to the truss rod.

-- Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.