Strip Vise Construction

[jwileyr4]

All, I'd like to get a real strip clamp type vise and am looking for some home-spun ideas to cobble one up. I've seen the Mantua one listed (but can't find any length info anywhere?!) and am not sold on it. I've read it's plastic and lacks any real accuracy. Which one of you creative souls has advice about building one? Features I really want? Length? Things I should avoid? Base it on a Panavise with custom clamps maybe?

[John Cheevers]

Built this to taper planks about 15 years ago. 3/4 X 1/8 hardware store aluminum angle. about 18" long. It works for me

[jwileyr4]

John, thanks for the reply. As usual I am trying to over-engineer this by a wide margin. I believe your answer is "real world". Thanks for grounding me.

[wefalck]

I gather the engineering solution depends also on the expected plank width, not so much on its thickness. For the above pictured solution, which is simple and neat, one would need to get sharp-angled profiles - many drawn profiles are appreciably rounded at the corners, which makes holding very narrow strips difficult.