Benchcrafted vise knobs are changing, and prices may be going up


bleedinblue

Recommended Posts

I've been searching for Acme rod and Acme nuts to see if i can make my own vises. I'll buy their crisscross mechanism for the leg vise but it'd be neat to make a wooden wheel and put a steel handle like those on the table saws we have... My neighbor has a metal lathe i might pay him to machine some stuff for me. The bearing housings are pretty standard and all the other components are off the shelf items. The only real thing BC makes is the wheel and psh i can make a wooden wheel....

Wagon vise might be intersting but my thought it some nice dense junglewood like Ipe or similar and wax it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’m probably never going to buy any bench crafted hardware but I don’t get it.  It’s not that bad is it?

Is it about the purity of wood being on the workbench? If that’s the case, shouldn’t it all be made from timber? 

Having said that, a brass knob would have my vote. It’d have a nice patina after years of using it. 

 

Also, it could be worse. It could be a turned epoxy river knob. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, pkinneb said:

Yeah not sure what they were thinking. I can tell you this I have never reached for one of mine and thought damn I wish it had more grip ;)

Good news is they are easy to turn. If your interested in a Beach set let me know not positive but I think I may still have the ones that came with mine, no charge.

If you still have them, I'll buy them from you.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, lewisc said:

I’m probaly never going to buy any bench crafted hardware but I don’t get it.  It’s not that bad is it?

Is it about the purity of wood being on the workbench? If that’s the case, shouldn’t it all be made from timber? 

Having said that, a brass knob would have my vote. It’d have a nice patina after years of using it. 

 

Also, it could be worse. It could be a turned epoxy river knob. 

It's purely a first world complaint.  It simply doesn't look as good as wood knobs.  Doesn't have that "old timey" feel that Stumpy Nubs always talks about.  

As a side note, I can't fathom how these are cheaper to make than wooden knobs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, lewisc said:

s it about the purity of wood being on the workbench? If that’s the case, shouldn’t it all be made from timber? 

It's less to me about being a purist and more about maybe going a bit too far. It's kind of like a piece of furniture that's made enirly out of highly figured wood. It's just too much and has gone too far. Taking a break from texture and black is what the wood knobs acomilished. These knobs look like the cast iron but in a wrong way that make the iron look dingy and the knobs out of place. If they were in fact cast iron they'd probably look better.

4 hours ago, lewisc said:

Having said that, a brass knob would have my vote. It’d have a nice patina after years of using it. 

 

22 hours ago, wtnhighlander said:

Agree with @Chestnut, that looks wrong. The ship's wheel, at least, should get brass knobs, if not wood.

Brass is probably the best idea so far I've seen. It'd tie with the brass hand planes some people have or the brass touches on other parts of the tool. My biggest issue is the crinkle black just doesn't fit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, bleedinblue said:

It's purely a first world complaint.  It simply doesn't look as good as wood knobs.  Doesn't have that "old timey" feel that Stumpy Nubs always talks about.  

As a side note, I can't fathom how these are cheaper to make than wooden knobs.

The wooden knobs he was supplying were infused beech wood or some heavily manufactured wood. If he had them made from plain old cherry i doubt this would have ever come up. The argument he made on his blog was that the coating looks like the black on Veritas and LN handplanes. Is this true? The pictures make it look very different.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Chestnut said:

The wooden knobs he was supplying were infused beech wood or some heavily manufactured wood. If he had them made from plain old cherry i doubt this would have ever come up. The argument he made on his blog was that the coating looks like the black on Veritas and LN handplanes. Is this true? The pictures make it look very different.

Naa, I did not at all look at these and think they looked like hand plane japaning.  The pictures represent it pretty well.  My actual thought was "what if Lie Nielsen changed their handles and totes to aluminum."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.