you dont need a vise

[richard hall]

lets face it, vises arent cheap for the most part. my ball-vise was around $450. there are times that something may be to large for use in our vises. when i use to scrimshaw, i used a bag that lead-shot pellets came in , filled with dry soup beans , or, rice. just fill them full, and get your wife to sew it up good and tight. when the part is laid into the beans, it stops things from moving around so you can work on it. this may help a new beginner who hasnt the funds on hand right away and they"d like to get an early start. you can engrave on the couch if you wish with this cheap imitation of a steel vise, or you it if you are laid up in bed, and want to stay busy and get your mind off your problems. i made a mistake on my directions, dont fill the bag completly full, the beans and rice need to move around to get a good grip on your work.

 

[CJ Allan]

I had to do a Harley engine that was already put together for a Discovery Channel "Biker Build Off once..
set it up on a lift table on a lazy susan...packed sand bags around it..and invented new swear words while wrestling the thing.

But it was for a GOOD Friend, so it was worth it...........

I will add that....nobody wanted to stay around the shop while i was doin it though.......hehehehe

A good engravers block ain't necessary.....but ya sure do appreciate em after a job like that.

.......cj

 

[jmcutting]

CJ,

An engravers block that would hold a harley engine... now that would be impressive!

-justin

 

[richard hall]

cj, did you take oictures ? the main point is, you got the job done with little or nothing with improvision on your side. ive engraved on the couch, as my wife was sick, and if you are carefull, you can do anything. you just need the will !!!!

 

[jdumars]

I never use a vise, even on smaller projects. When I was learning, my left hand was like a piece of swiss cheese! But now I rarely have problems. I wish there was a way to work with musical instruments in a vise!

 

[carl bleile]

a cheep bench vice that swivels works well, i used one for years when i first started engraving because ball vices were small and hard to come by. i still use one on some special work and for heavy hammer and chisel it's hard to beat,

 

[mdengraver]

Sandbags also work good. Have your shoe repairman sew two pieces of leather together and add some sand.

 

[CJ Allan]

Justin....
Yeah, if ya could figure out how to keep it from flopping over & hitting the floor, and crushing yer foot.

Richard..
they took plenty of pics...on the show they only showed me stippling.....
The next discovery project, I refused to allow them to have my pic(s) in any part of their idiot shows.
I have some if ya would like me to send ya a couple........would post em here, but don't know how, and don't want to bore folks here.

Another old trick, would be to cut a slice off the top of a bowling ball and bolt a cheap drill press vise to it.........set it on a short piece of PVC pipe about 6" in dia.....and ya have something that will work pretty well....

Ya might even want to drill holes in the ball, & fill with lead, to help give it a little more weight...........the larger the holes & the more lead, the better

 

[richard hall]

i know of the bowling ball set-up. i use to have a machinist vise that i had mounted on a oak stump that was 29 inch in diameter and 34 inches tall, and had to walk around the stump to do the engraving; in short time you really had a backache stretching over that thing, and your leggs would keep bumping the stump. later on i mounted some one inch plastic plate and used stops, which i can still use on that old stump. ive been eyeballing a couple of vw axles and lawnmower axles, to make a potters-wheel for the ball-vise. i already have alot of angle-iron on hand for modification, but iam not throwing out those bean-rice #25 pound shot bags, something always comes up as soon as you toss something out. i gave away my old drill press to one of my muzzleloading buddies so he could use it to rough out the barrel-channels in stocks, now i could use it for a microscope or for adjusting a small table for the ball-vise. CJ, if you have a printer/scanner, go down to start,brings up scanner,scan it to documents,go into documents,go to file or edit, change picture from orignal to e-mail, then when you go to send it, just click onto attachments,go to documents,click on your photo, open it, then send. if you have trouble,sent me an e-mail and we will work it out for you. i couldnt do this either until monk helped me.