@ The Bench---Tips and other handy tricks

[Tim Adlam]

I was working on a Colt SAA barrel this morning re-cutting the washed out lettering. There was a remnant of the old letters left as a guide but the tops of most were completely gone. Here's a layout tool that I always have handy when trying to lay-out a straight line on a curved surface or long cylinder shape. I use aluminum "U" channel in varying widths and lengths as a straight-edge and place it lengthwise on the cylinder so that the open side of the channel sits on the surface. With this barrel job, the taper is only a couple thou. from end to end. Not much to worry about. Where you have noticable taper, you can flip it from one side to the other, draw your lines, measure the width between the lines and then split the difference. Mark this difference and connect a line from this point to where the 2 previous lines intersect on the low side of the taper. You now have a layout line that you can start building lettering or scroll patterns off of. It beats eyeballing it and you can adjust it quickly without resorting to time-consuming measuring or snap-lines. Play around with it and I hope you find this useful. Tim
I'm interrested to learn about any other problem solving tips and things that make life easier @ the bench.

[Jim Small]

Tim another tip that might help engravers and scrimshanders. I use a magnet clamped between the jaws of my engraving vice. I only do this, of course, when I am engraving flat objects such as the silver bracelet shown in the photo below. I use double sided carpet tape to hold the silver bar to a piece of flat steel. The magnet shown in the photo has plenty of holding power to hold the object in place while I am working on it. The object of this tip is that I very rairly have to take my eyes away from the microscope.....all I have to do is pop up one end from the magnet and place it where I want it, preferrably, dead center under the microscope in my field of view. You can also move the object from right to left, up or down with little effort. Some of you folks might want to give this a try. This will also work for folks who use an engravers block for schriming. Hope this will help.
Jim

[Tim Adlam]

Jim, I like the fact that you can maintain a good working distance between the microscope and the object being engraved/scrimmed. What's the source for the square magnet? The problem with knives and other odd-shaped items, as you well know, is how to hold them steady without damage from vise jaws or holding pins. I hope we get more holding fixture ideas from other contributors. Tim

[Jim Small]

Tim I have found that a good stack of soft pine and a sheet of medium hardness rubber makes for good holding devises. I draw the profile of the knife handle on to the wood (both sides and length) and then contact cement the sheet rubber to the wooden pieces. Next would be to fit the the assembled pieces between the jaws of the engraving vise. I bet that I have 500 different holding solutions for knives and gun parts. Those that are to large for the jaws of the vise are fitted with pins so that the assembled parts can be placed on top of the vise. This seems to work for me and if you have access to a jig saw ( with fine blades) you can design and mount just about anything. I need to mention that the rubber material I use is gasket material picked up at the local auto parts store.

I use the magnet only for flat objects....this will not work for objects with irregular shapes. I purchased the four bar magnet at my local hardware store for around $6.00 or $8.00.

I have other machined holding devices which I have designed for holding pistol frames and cylinders.....If folks would like to see these I will be happy to post them in the future.....let me here from you.

Jim

[Tim Adlam]

Jim, I have a pile of various wood blocks in my collection too. Never enough because every job is different. Most times I mount the knives on top of the block of wood and can still maintain an adequate working distance. The mounting method I use was borrowed from Gil Rudolph. I begin by wiping Renaissance wax on the blade and handle. Then I slide a piece of clear soft and flexible tubing with a slit along its' length over the edge of the blade. I wrap everything that's not being worked on with electricians tape. Then I hot glue the knife to the block. I've had no problems with movement or vibration doing it this way. The tape helps to protect the handle and blade during the work process. When I'm done with the engraving, a little denatured alcohol applied to the glue breaks the seal and it releases easily. All that remains is to remove the tape and clean off the wax. The wax prevents any tape residue from sticking to the knife.
I'd like to see some pics and descriptions of your other holding fixtures. Tim

[Don Cowles]

Guys, these are great tips! I have Bud Hubbard's engraving vise, and I have lined the jaws with smooth 8 oz. leather. It allows me to hold most of the knives I make (smaller) without damage.

[Tim Adlam]

Any one try out the new knife holding fixture GRS sells? It looks pretty versatile as it takes on the odd shape of the knife profile and allows you to recess the knife within the vise jaws, thus extending your microscope working distance. Tim
Don, got any photos of your vise?

[Don Cowles]

No, but I'll take one and post it this afternoon!

[Jim Small]

Tim, Don....later on this evening I will post a tip that will help both in knifemaking and engraving. Got to go take a photo for this evening.
Jim

[Don Cowles]

This vise belonged to "Bud" Hubbard, the inventor of stainless damscus. I was fortunate to be able to buy it from his widow.



As I mentioned above, I have lined the jaws with leather, and it does a very good job of holding a knife for me.

[Tim Adlam]

Don, Did Bud make the vise? That's a beauty! The leather is a good idea. One thing I added to my vise on the lower jaws is that self-stick stair tread material, it's kinda like some of the impregnated sanding belts you use. Actually, you could use the belt with the carpet tape too. It really gives me a secure purchase on the block as I turn it into the cut. Tim

[Jim Small]

Tim, Don....I made a couple of these stands for my old shop. The first grinder I build was mounted on one of these. The late Harvey McBurnett bought it from me back in the mid 70's and he eventually turned it into an engraving stand. The great thing about these stands is....you can use them from the sitting or standing position. They are made from 3/8th inch plate and thick wall pipe....this stand weighs about 85 pounds and with the engraving vice pushes the weight to over a 100lbs. The other great thing....it gives you another adjustment for the microscope and changing the height occasionally....will help your back. Tim knows what I'm talking about. I have 4 of these stands in the shop....one has another engravers vise on it, the other has a machinest vise mounted to it and the other is used as a stool. The one used as a stool has a large shock absorber mounted inside the post and automatically pushes up when the adjusment screw is loosened. They are solid, tough and work great around the shop.

Tim as you can see I too have used the stair tred non-slip tape on the engraving ball. You are absolutely right.....your hand will not slip.

Don I have used leather on the vise jaws just as you have.....it works very well and provides good protection on just about anything you place in the vise.

I would like to hear from other engravers, schrimshanders....let us know what ideas you have.

Jim

[gravertom]

Hello everyone,

These are some great posts! I have just recently gotten a microscope, and am beginning to use it in some of my work. As of yet, I don't have a positioning system worked out. I have purchased a compound vise, but was looking for something to mount it on. I saw a drill press stand, with a tilting and rotating table, at a surplus shop a few weeks ago. The height of the table is adjustable, too.The owner called me today, and said he finally found the parts to make me up a stand, minus the drill . I should have it in a week or two, and will let you know how it works out.

For those of you who also don't have a positioning system yet, here is what I have been doing in the interim. I hot glue the piece to a narrow block of wood. You can unclamp it and move it north or south, to keep that axis under center. For the east and west adjustment, I use the rubber coated pins in the top of the block. If you start with the pins in the center most holes, you have the center of the piece under the scope. You can reposition the pins on either side, to shift the center point. For example, you could leave the pins on the right side of the vise in the inside position, while shifting the pins on the left to the outer most position. This will shift the work to the left.

Admittedly, a crude and time consuming system, but better than nothing. It works when the wood block is an inch or inch and a half in width. The length doesn't matter much.

I came up with this when I had a job that just had to be done under the scope, and had to be done right now. A good postioning vise would have probably cut the time by at least a third.

Take care, and keep up the great posts!



Tom

[BrianT]

Hi guys

Since you are on the subject of engraving blocks, I will give you a tip that I found. I recently started using a microscope. My enrgaving block doesn't have means to center my work under the scope so I removed the device that keeps the jaws centered. This allows both jaws to slide together in the T slot of the block. When something is placed in the jaws and tightened, the jaws bind and stay put. I slide the jaws side to side for one axis, and move the work between the jaws for the other axis. As long as large pieces don't need to be held, this method works quite well. I will eventually upgrade my block, but until then, this method is more than adequite.

Brian

[Tim Adlam]

Thanks Tom and Brian for throwin' in with us here. It shows that there's always another way to "skin that cat"! Sometimes the hardest part of a job is figuring out how to hold or support it. Thanks Jim for the stand idea-- food for thought, I'm always in search of the "ultimate" workspace set-up. Tim
Happy and safe 4th. guys.