holding gun while working

[Ken G]

In looking at all the workshop pictures I noticed it looks like a lot if not most use a vice of some sort to hold the gun while you are working on it.  Maybe it's just the way I got started building but I have never been able to work that way prefering instead to hold the stock in my lap supported by my leg or with the muzzle end resting on my work bench. 
ANyone else work this way?  Just curious if I was really out there all by myself on this
Ken

[smylee grouch]

My first two kit guns were done that way but none of the 30+ since then.   Gary

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I need both my hands to control tools, so I use a machinist's vise, and supports.  I prefer a 4" but the 6" is what I have now.  A swivel base is a must have...those multi-swivel vises intrigue me.

[Dave B]

If you are going to do things in a workman like manner then you will need a more secure way to hold the work. I know that your not trying to make four guns a month but working the way you are you are going to set your self up for a ligamentis strain, carpal tunnel or loosing a chunk of your knee cap. I like your work. I am amaized that you are able to do your work with out using a vice of some sort.   

[Acer Saccharum]

Maybe that's why your guns look so funny.

[J. Talbert]

I have a machinist vise mounted on a pedestal stand with outrigger work supports attached.  I also have two different pivoting/swiveling vises that I use for filing mounts, but I have found these too cumbersome to use for my main gun holder.
Ken, I'm amazed that you work on your guns in your lap.  I can't fathom trying to work on a gun without a vise.

Jeff

[Dave K]

Ken, I couldn't do what you do "freestyling" holding the gun. My work bench was actually modeled after Birddog 6's. I have 2 vices to hold the gun steady and stable. There has been a few times, I wish I had another vice on the bench to file or work the item I am about to add, while the gun is in the 2 vices.

[Acer Saccharum]

I will sometimes support the gun on two or three bags of shot while carving or inletting. I have a machinist vise with an outboard support for most of my work.

Tom

[FG1]

I hold it in my lap and rest other end on bench or support outrigger while doing final evening up of sides getting them balanced out as Im constently looking down the length of stock in differnet lights looking for shadows hiding something.

[The other DWS]

"stock in my lap supported by my leg"

a slip of a chisel or carving tool could be a real disaster   even with small carving micro-chisels I use two hands to control them in the hope of avoiding slips and chipouts

I have a movable woodworkers vise mounted on the front of my new work stand, with support arms that swing out of the way at each end, and an odd movable hold-down clamp I found on a dusty shelf in a local old-style hardware store  (a Jorgensen # 1623 )  that mounts in holes drilled in the wooden work surface so I can shift it around as needed  I also have an assortment of c-clamps and one of those flexible magnifying work lights.  It has been a great improvement over my old workbench

[Ken G]

I have tried mounting a couple of the multi-position type vices on the work bench and never got the hang of it.  Still ended up with it resting in my lap or across the leg with the nose resting on or across the work bench. 
The thought of sticking a chisel in my leg to the bone is something I constantly think about.  I keep a piece of thick leather across my leg just because of that.  It may not stop a full force chisel slip but it has saved my leg so far. 
Thanks for all the comments and suggestions.

[Pete G.]

I use a swivel machinist's vice with one of those cheap benchtop drill presses about two feet to the left of the vise. The drill table provides an adjustable support. Also made a small table about 8"x12" to clamp in the vise, which functions as an adjustable support for the drill press. Sort of a ying/yang of support devices I suppose.

[B Shipman]

I use a vise for gross work like spoke shaving the forestock or rasping the buttstock, but after that, for all things with wood, I work sitting down at the table, covered with leather. All final shaping, all carving , all carving, is done this way. While watching TV, listening to the radio, or a Phillies or Eagles game. It's a good way to work long hours without fatigue or being bored with the parts of gunbuilding that are routine.

[Z. Buck]

i dont really use a vise system a couple of times i have used my versa vice which is much to small but i consider my lack of a vice a handicap i am looking at everyones setup to try and find one that looks like it fits me

[Acer Saccharum]

New product idea, thanks to you, Ken: Kevlar long johns

[Dale Campbell]

While watching TV, listening to the radio, or a Phillies or Eagles game.

So that's the secret of how you concentrate on your work.  Those Philly teams never do anything very exciting.

[Don Getz]

Over at the barrel shop, where I do most of my gunbuilding, I use a large machinist vise with two swiveling "outriggers"
to rest the gun on, one on each side of the vise.   These are rather large, made from 2" thick wood, and have leather
covered pads to rest the gun on.   I don't know what I would do without them...........Don

[Birddog6]

The first rifle I built I used 1 vice. Since then I have used 2 vices. One has a padded jaw & the other one has a leather saddle between & over the jaws that is easy to flip back so I can debreech a barrel if need be.  The saddle or sing between the jaws works as much as a forestock support as anything, but I would be lost without it.

I guess it is just how you learn build & to hold them. I never felt comfortable working on one in my lap as I always felt I would slip & cut where I am not supposed to, and possibly me as well.. I have tried many times to sit down on a tall stool at the bench & build. Guess it is not gonna happen as I am there 2 min & then back to standing.  I can do some of the trim out & carving sitting down.

 

[Stophel]

I make extensive use of my lap vise.

Other than inletting barrels, doing the rod channel, that sort of thing, I just can't hold the gun in a vise.  Everything is done holding the stock in my hands.

[Birddog6]

Well..........    obviously  You & Ken are just weird then..........    

[Ken G]

Leg Vise.  I'll have to remember that term.   

[Dave K]

Just a matter of what you get used to. As a guy that is and can be real klutz, the leg vice thing can be scary to me. One slip of the tools I am using and I could be singing in the choir. Either as a tenor or because I hit the femoral artery and I am now having breakfast with Elvis. Slip and cut good and you have about 3 min. to phone the authorities where your body will be. Be careful out there.

[Stophel]

I've never stabbed myself in the leg or the stomach.  I have stabbed myself in the hand with a chisel once.  Chisel was dull (there is nothing more dangerous than a dull tool), I was pushing hard in a direction I shouldn't have been, and out she popped and stabbed me in my right hand between my thumb and index finger.

Then there was the fire....

The scariest thing for me is the breechplug tang.  A four foot iron rod with a sharpened spike tip...It's a freakin' spear.  I just know that one day, I'm going to lean over the barrel in the vise and skewer myself in the stomach.

[Keb]

My old partner is visiting this weekend. Last night we were sitting at the kitchen table drinking some good scotch & he's inletting a lock. He sat the stock on a towel on the table and started working. He had it done by the time the bottle of scotch was half gone. I have to use a vise and no scotch.

[omark]

My old partner is visiting this weekend. Last night we were sitting at the kitchen table drinking some good scotch & he's inletting a lock. He sat the stock on a towel on the table and started working. He had it done by the time the bottle of scotch was half gone. I have to use a vise and no scotch.

scotch and wood doesnt mix well for me!!!  mark   and talk about self inflicted wounds.....