Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Weird wooden screw *LINK*
Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX
>Maybe I'm imagining this, but it seems that this screw has a decreasing diameter. I realize that you can probably get away with a bit of slack in a wooden screw, but this seems a bit much. Anyone know why it would be done this way and/or how well it would work?
Re: Weird wooden screw
mikew
>Hi Pam,
I think there are two things going on. First is just distortion in the picture.
Second, there appear to be at least one if not two broken/heavily worn threads on the lower left portion of the screw, just before it drops into the vise. To me, that makes it accentuate what may be distortion.
I don't know for sure, though. Kinda neat old vise.
Take care, Mike
Re: Weird wooden screw
Scott in Douglassville, PA
>Agree with Mike. Think there's some distortion from the angle of the shot and the flash, and there's some excessive wear. Probably would still work fine - mine got a tremendous hollow in one part, and it grabs just fine.
Re: Weird wooden screw
Warren in Lancaster, PA
>There are a several things going on here. The leg (at the bottom of the picture) is on backwards, so that the nut, which should be in back of the leg, is shown between the leg and the vise. The screw usually goes through 4 or 5 inches of vise and leg before it reaches the nut; a portion of this is often left unthreaded. This area shows in the picture as a lighter portion on the shaft. My screw was made with two cutters: There is an unthreaded section, then a small section which was threaded to half depth, then full threading. Older screws were made with a scraping action so that the threads would have petered out as they aproached the head of the screw. I think these things contribute to the tapered appearence.
This vise seems to be about 8 inches wide. I often wonder why people today don't always make them as wide.
Re: Weird wooden screw
Steve Mackay
>Pam ; Actually its much simpler than all that. While making the device Dude knew he was going to spend " some " time carving out that screw. He/ She KNEW the holes would wear / expand. Soooooo, we carve one screw to last a heep long time. If the craftsman were ging to use the vise all day every day he / she KNEW this was going to happen. Kind of a pre-emtive strike. The principle can be found in allmost any ( Boy ) Scouting handbook.
Re: Weird wooden screw
Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX
>Thanks, Warren, I figured something was wrong in the setup, but didn't know what. That's a good idea to leave the first 4" or so unthreaded, will save a lot of time when I make mine (Underhill method for screw and nut). I also like the width.
Pam
Re: Weird wooden screw
Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX
>Thanks, Mike and Scott, aside from Warren's points, the threads do seem to be worn a bit.
Pam
:)
Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX
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