Wooden Vise Screws

Big wooden screws have always been something I've wanted to make. I'm finally getting a start on some of the tooling for the project. 

Overview of a slew of threadcutting things. And a kitchen knife in the "to sharpen" pile. 

 First object is an old hand screwbox, you can tell it's old because the screws are square ended. The tap isn't a match so I'll probably steal the cutter from this piece and use it in a dedicated one built for that tap.

Here is the tap I'm in the process of making for bench screws, also notice the failed soft maple nut blank in the back. The kerf is not nearly as irregular as the picture makes it appear, but I'm hoping the irregularity you do see isn't a big deal. Unfortunately Ze won't know how well (poorly?) that works until I've finished the tap, made the nut and put the whole shebang together. Cross your fingers.

Second thing I want to talk about in this photo, the nut blank. Have you ever used an expansion bit in a brace, in soft maple? It's hard. The bit started moving around and the hole shape has been getting more and more erratic. I just bought two forstner bits for the major and minor diameters and will redo the "die" and nut blanks.

If the tap doesn't work out, I've started working on a change gear operated screw cutting machine. It's virtually the same as a metal lathe, only the toolpost will hold a router traversed with a hand cranked leadscrew. It's a significant investment, and would probably mean I get into the big wooden vise game, but I could also do any variety of screws, I'd love to make large 4" diameter 1 TPI cider press screws and other large screws. I wonder if the other screw guys got into it this way? 

Here is the picture of the screw, I'm intending to make. There may not be a post on this for a while, I should really get back to the side tables, the chairs or any one of several other things I've already physically started.

Mucking about in Hyperspace

Not all of us have a Heart of Gold, so sometimes when a problem presents itself, we just have to grumble (thank my puppy for that) and keep bashing our head against a wall until we get it or pass out.

Yesterday I reinstalled SketchUp and attempted to figure out why a certain group of plugins wouldn't load. It was pretty annoying, but I eventually figured out I was missing a whole bunch of other files that allowed the others to work.


Now I can make lofts and fillets with remarkable ease. 

Here's what I wanted to model, well the handle anyway. It's from the esteemed George Wilson, he does amazing things, I hope one day to be a fraction of the craftsman this guy is, and every bit as tool pig.

Here is my work, it's getting there. I still need to figure out how to manipulate the profile it lofts with so I can make it form tangencies where I want and the right shapes over the loft. But it's a start. I;m hoping it's easier to figure out, otherwise I'm going to ditch a program I'd love to use for PencilPaper, a program I'm really good at.

Here is the first project, three jaw pin vises in bloodwood and padauk, chucks from Lee Valley and brass ferrules cut from 1/2" tubing. I'm trying to really get on top of this idea I had, when I go to make a tool, make two and list one in the Shop.

 One is all fit up and for sale, the other needs a little more work to get together.

Here is the other part of the project, a seven piece miniature nut driver set and a 10 piece needle file set. I'm particularly excited for the needle files. Maybe I'll do them in Cuban Mahogany? Thoughts?