Tail vice sort of thing

[Dr.Al]

I wanted a better way of clamping long bits of wood for planing the top (I currently use what I think is called a "Doe's Foot"), so I thought I'd have a go at a crude tail vice thing. Made out of a bunch of odds and ends I had lying around.



Underside:



I wanted a better way of clamping long bits of wood for planing the top (I currently use what I think is called a "Doe's Foot"), so I thought I'd have a go at a crude tail vice thing. Made out of a bunch of odds and ends I had lying around.



I just tried it out on this bit of sweet chestnut and it worked a lot better than I expected, so I'm really pleased with it so far, especially given it only took me a couple of hours to make.

 

[AndyT]

And again, you show us how useful it is to have a lathe - and the skill to go with it!

 

[Mike G]

I aspire to a Doe's foot.....but I have square dog holes in my bench which means my holdfasts can't rotate. Anyway, this neat solution looks great. I bet it's difficult doing up tight and undoing, though, with the handle being flush on the bench. Might that be better off being octagonal, both to aid gripping it, and to enable the use of a spanner?

 

[novocaine]

I aspire to a Doe's foot.....but I have square dog holes in my bench which means my holdfasts can't rotate. Anyway, this neat solution looks great. I bet it's difficult doing up tight and undoing, though, with the handle being flush on the bench. Might that be better off being octagonal, both to aid gripping it, and to enable the use of a spanner?

I reckon, knowing Al that there is an allen key in the end of that to make live easier. (it's in the picture )

nice idea Al, what happens when the end of the wood isn't perfectly square, do you get any binding on the guides?

 

[Dr.Al]

I aspire to a Doe's foot.....but I have square dog holes in my bench which means my holdfasts can't rotate. Anyway, this neat solution looks great. I bet it's difficult doing up tight and undoing, though, with the handle being flush on the bench. Might that be better off being octagonal, both to aid gripping it, and to enable the use of a spanner?

It uses an allen key for tightening/loosening. When the weather isn't too horrible and I can have the garage door open, the t-handle hex-key I use sticks out over the end of the bench and is very easy and quick to spin. When the weather's grim and the garage door is shut I'll have to use a shorter ball-ended allen key which will be a little slower.

nice idea Al, what happens when the end of the wood isn't perfectly square, do you get any binding on the guides?

The guides are a relatively (by engineering standards ) loose fit in the fixed bit, so binding isn't too much of a problem. I think if the wood is a long way off square then it wouldn't work very well, but in that case I suspect I'll just cut the end square or find a different way to hold it. In the past when a doe's foot hasn't worked for me for some reason, I've usually used the dog holes in my vice to clamp the wood on the sides (with an end stop to keep the wood from sliding lengthways). It's a lot more of a faff to set up though as I have to find spacers to get the wood held in the right place.