# Wooden Vise Screw cutting?



## ChrisCarr

After looking at the prices of cast iron vises and sizes i want to build my own vise for my new workbench. 
I want 2 twin screw vises but i can't afford $300 each from lee valley for them so i thought i would build my own.
I thought about just buying metal vise screws but it would still be around $120 for 4 screws (2 vises).

So i thought about cutting my own wooden screws. I know woodcraft and highland sells 1 1/2" wood taps and dyes but no one sells anything bigger. The tap and sye are about $60. I'd like 2 vises for under $80 
(i know its not enough money but i can't afford much more).

Is 1 1/2" diameter big/strong enough for vise screws out of wood? 
Could using wood stronger than maple for the screws make it do-able?

Any advice would great,
Chris


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## Sylvain

Look at CartersWhittling tutorial :
http://lumberjocks.com/CartersWhittling/blog/26662

Look also at Mauricio's posts
http://lumberjocks.com/mochoa/blog/28576


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## shipwright

Have you seen my bench? 
The three vices are all made of wood and work very well.
As your main motivator seems to be cost, these would be very hard to beat.


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## bandit571

There was a episode by Roy Underhill, about making a "screw-box" from scratch. He used an old file for the cutter. One could make any size box they wanted to, and re-make a file as the cutter.


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## Loren

I never watched the Roy Underhill TV show but I read the
books I could find when I was starting out. One of them
describes how to hand cut a screw and how to make a 
tap. I think he was making a cider press.


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## bandit571

Go to pbs.org, look up The woodwright Shop. You will find about three years worth of shows. I think it was about two years ago. Making a file into a hardened cutter takes a bit of doing. Heat and re-heats. He used the entire 1/2 hour to show how to make one. Go to episode # 2704


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## DanLyke

I like the various wedge driven vises and clamps on shipwright's bench that he linked up-thread, but I thought I'd also suggest: How about just using threaded rod? Home Depot's web site suggests that they'll sell you two feet of ¾" by 10 threads per inch for $7.49, if you've got a hack saw you can probably save some bucks by going longer and cutting it yourself. Epoxy some nuts in to your fixed part, drill a ¾" hole through a handle, put the rod in, drill a 1/8" or so hole across those two, drop a nail in and bend it over, and instant handle!

If you're looking for more complex parts (ie: mating threads for quick releases), you can use kneadable plumber's putty and mold it around the rod, or cut a nut or coupler in half.


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## Sylvain

If cost is the prime factor, follow shipwright's route.
The thread rod from HD will work but you wil have to make many turns (10 to advance one inch); if you follow this route, try to file the rod a little bit to slightly reduce the outer diameter, because in its original state it is made to be tightened once and not to be tightened and untightened all the time. 
This is recommended somewhere on the site of Matthias Wandel who has been making a lot of jigs using threaded rods.
http://woodgears.ca/


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## TopamaxSurvivor

If I were going to build a bench on a vise budget, I'd go the shipwright route.


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## MNgary

I have my grandfather's furniture clamps made 100% out of wood (probably made in the 1930's) and use them for many of my projects. They work so well for me that when I made my cabinet-makers style workbench (see my profile for picture of it) I made the vises using one and one-half inch dowels.

I've never used the workbench vises to hold a piece of metal that I could pound on, but they are regularly used to hold boards that I drill, plane, handsaw, route, carve, chisel (including using a mallet for some of the chisel operations). In short, for all my wood-working operations.

I used a thread cutter and die that was on close-out from a local Rocklers. Probably made in Taiwan. But I did put a coating of glycerine on the dowels before cutting the threads. And I had to "puff" dry graphite on the threads.

They don't operate as smoothly as metal threads, but they get the job intended done!


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## mochoa

Hi Chris, I just stumbled on to your post. I just made mine. I'm not totally finished but I think I finally got it to work. I see Sylvain already posted a link to my blog.

If you are looking to make a twin screw vise I think the 1 1/2" screws would work just fine. I mean, they work on the Moxon vises that everyone makes.

If you have Scott Landis' workbench book you'll see that there is a guy in there with giant roubo bench with a leg vise, His screw is only 1.5" diameter and he says it works fine. I just think it looks too small for a leg vise. But that purely aesthetic. But for a twin screw I think it would be ok and it would look right.

Correction, I just double checked the Landis book, his screw is 1 3/4" but still a twin screw would be fine with 1 1/2" screws IMHO


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## Michael4635

Yes


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## Holt

I've always been planning on making a wooden vise screw and nut for two reasons, the cool factor and the fast advance because of the low TPI. Wondering now how a geared crank would work out. That would let you use readily available acme threaded rod. If that rod is 10 TPI and you geared for 1:5, that would give you an effective 2 TPI…



> The thread rod from HD will work but you wil have to make many turns (10 to advance one inch);
> - Sylvain


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## woodbutcherbynight

Take a look at this video by john Heisz


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