The Vises I Made

[SILKHDH 0]

This is the first vise I made. It is a Abel / Mongoose hybrid.

Body like an Abel, jaws like a Mongoose. All 6061 Aluminum, and stanless steel. The jaws are D-2 tool steel hardened to 56-58 rockwell,

then peen blasted, hard chromed, peen blasted again, and chromed again. Indusrial chrome not bumper chrome. Hard as hell. Never rust.

The holigen light, magnifier, are made by me ,as is all parts you see.

All made on a hand controled mill, not cnc. All engravings are done on mill and filled with black enamel.

[BrookTroutAngler 0]

Wow, bet that takes some skill to do.

[SILKHDH 0]

In this pic notice the jaws are in the "Clouser position". Notice the counterbalance weight. Buy the way it is equiped with stainless steel high speed ball bearings. With the counterbalance weight it will spin.

Note: Design credits need to go to Abel and Griffin. I just put them together. All parts I drew in AUTO Cad. and made my self. None of the parts are from manufacturer vises.

[utyer 0]

Well done, very nice work, and some very nice vises.

 

[SILKHDH 0]

This is a 3/4 scale LAW copy I made. Main design credits go to Lawence A. Waldren creator of the LAW vise. Modifications I made are, The bearings are high speed stainless steel ball bearings in a brass housing, not delrin. The jaws are 440C stainless hardened to 56-58 rockwell, not A-7 or D-2 like on a LAW. Mine will never rust. Vise is made of stainless steel and brass. Delrin used for the drag washers and bobbin rest. Base is solid walnut. So is the handle on the vise and the shroud over the brass bearing housing. Hope you like it. Again this is 3/4 scale. Nice for small flies.

[SILKHDH 0]

This is the full scale Law vise I made. Main design credits go to Lawerance A Waldren creator of the LAW vise. Modifications I made, stainless steel ball bearings in brass housing, not delrin. The jaws are 44oc stainless hardened to 56-58 rockwell not tool steel. Also note the jaws are cam not screw tighening. Cool HUH!! Counterbalance weight, and granite base. Vise is all stainless and brass. Never rust. Once again all parts made by me on hand controled mill. Not CNC.
Walnut on the bearing housing and handle on vise.

[SILKHDH 0]

This is The Nor-vise I made. Main design credits go to Norm Norland creator of the Nor-Vise. Vise is shown with trash catcher, back drop, dubbing brush attachment, and in front are large jaw option. The base is black granite. All parts are stainless steel or brass. Jaws are 440c stainless hardeded to 56-58 rockwell. All parts made by me on hand control mill. Not CNC. Not in the picture are the C-clamps option. I forgot them. All engravings are filled with black enamel.

[SILKHDH 0]

This is the portable travel kit vise I made. Main design credits go to Lawerance A Waldren creator of this vise. Modification I made are the box has a complete set of tools all made of brass, stainless and some copper in the lid. Brass hair stacker with copper lid. All tools except the bobbin and scissors I hand made. The clips on the rotary hackle pliers are from another tool. This vise has a bobbin rest unlike the original and the jaws are stainless steel not D-2 or S-7. mine never rust. And believe me they are hard. All parts are made of stainless, brass and copper. This took a long time to do. The box is made from a solid piece of walnut that was split to create the botton and the lid. So when closed the grain lines up. The box was I think the hardest thing I have ever made. All on a hand controled mill. Not CNC. Box is 7 1/2" wide x 4" deep x 1 1/2" tall when closed. There is a stainless steel plate on the bottom to give the base weight for stability built into the walnut.

[switch10 0]

Wow man, I am in love with that 3/4 scale law copy. Nice touch with the walnut.

[BrookTroutAngler 0]

Uh, if you ever decide that you have an addiction, and want to unload some of those vises and attend fly tyers annoynmous, just send me a pm and I will give you an adress where I can make certain that they are *properly* disposed of.

[SILKHDH 0]

Thanks for the compliments. The local fly shop owner wants the full scale cam LAW bad. He has a Renzetti Master Limited. I wont sell it ever. I won't make them for others. Would not be cool to use others designs.

I tell you people I got it bad!!!!!!! But I love my vises. The Abel Griffin hybrid is awsome. Holds hooks like crazy. Smooth as silk. No pun intended. Get It ,,, silk...

[mvendon 0]

Hi SILKHDH,

 

If you didn't mind making those LAW replica's, there's a huge opportunity out there right now for quite a few folks that still want one, but can't get them anymore since Lawrence quit making them. I've read quite a few threads over the last two years where folks wouldn't mind a close substitute, as long as it was made with quality materials, and made well. Your obviously very gifted, and could make a really good profit by filling that gap. I'll just add that the first time that I went to the International Fly Tying Symposium in Somerset, NJ was in 2000. There were a few folks there that were tying on LAW vises, Hans Weilenmann being one of them. The next time that I went was in 2010. What a difference a decade makes. Many tyers there were tying on their LAW vises like it was some kind of status symbol. They were all over that large room ! It doesn't appear that he's going to make any more, any time soon. It's just a matter of time before someone steps up to the plate and starts making close equivalents to his, with quality materials. Just as suggestion, & you make a very nice vise!

 

Regards,

Mark

[Bugsy 0]

I am understandably in awe of this talent.

 

SILK, I hope I can bother you to explain something: I'm curious about the fulcrum on the LAW jaws. It seems to be the design element that allows the LAW to handle all hook sizes without adjustment,...and does so effectively. Is this fulcrum of a certain and unusual design which keeps the jaws tips aligned at all times? And since the design works so well, what do you think the reason is that we don't see it incorporated in other "dual plate" jaws?

[petelangevin 0]

Tremendous work. Do the norvise conversions interchange with your fine work? You may find your self busy making more of these fine vises.

[SILKHDH 0]

Bugsy, The art behind the law vise is simplicity. Actually a simple design when you look at it. His best quality is ,he went outside the box. No jaws look or act like his. Why others don't use it. Well there is some hand work involved. I supose CNC equipment could make the jaws. But he fine tuned by hand. I have e-mailed Lawerance myself. His main cost was in the detail. Fine tuning, polishing. The hand work. No machine can do that. Trust me I know. I am a design engineer for a machine company and CNC can't do everything.