Classic_Boat_2016-09

CLASSIC BOAT SEPTEMBER 2016 93

CORNER VICE

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS
ROBIN GATES

This portable woodworker’s vice or
‘corner vice’ is – in terms of its
construction – a hybrid of a vice and
a G-cramp, and it holds the work in
ways that a fixed vice would struggle
to imitate. Working on or off the boat,
clamped to a thwart or a bench, it’s
as versatile as a third hand.
The G-cramp component with
screw and swivel shoe attaches to
any flat surface up to 2¼in (57mm)
thick, while also being the fixed jaw of
the vice. The moving jaw is adjusted
by the main screw and has two guide
bars to prevent racking – that
annoying trait in the jaws of some
vices to twist out of parallel when
clamping work at one end.
But it’s the L-shaped jaws that
make the vice so user-friendly,
clamping timber at any angle from
horizontal to vertical. Built-in timber
facings prevent marking the work.
This one was made in Birmingham
by Parry & Bott, a long-gone firm that
gave its tools a distinctive chromium
and crackled green enamel finish, but
the design is from US Patent No
1,765,321 granted in June 1930 to
engineer Christian Bodmer of The
Stanley Works.

Between 1894 and 1931 Bodmer

notched up an impressive 44 patents

for hand tools including planes, drills

and bevels. Bodmer’s original patent

for a ‘Bench Vise’ [sic] showed a

channel-shaped guide around the

main screw, and straight jaws, but

was developed by Stanley to become

the No 700 ‘Woodworker’s Vise’ – a

hefty tool in cast iron.

Subsequently cast in aluminium-

alloy to weigh less in the tool bag it

became the Stanley 702, replaced in

turn by the 5702 with twin guide bars

and the main screw mounted higher.

The Parry & Bott vice is a higher

quality version of Stanley’s 5702.

That said, in one respect P&B

would have done better to copy the

earlier 702 which, with its single

guide bar and the main screw

mounted lower, has the unique

advantage of allowing the bench

itself to support the work from

underneath. To achieve this using the

P&B vice you need a^5 / 8 in (16mm)

levelling block.

An old Stanley 702 is not hard to

find but if you prefer new, the design

has been revived by Canadian

company Lee Valley whose ‘In-Line

Vise’ retails at $49 (£26).

NEXT MONTH: The spar plane

Clockwise from

above: in vertical

mode for sawing;

planing an edge;

a hybrid of vice

and G-cramp

Traditional Tool