looking for an ACME Saw vice to germany

[Pedder]

Hi woodnetter,

some things are hard to get over here for a saw maker. Stanley 42x. For example.
Or such a nice big sound ACME saw vice. So if you have one to share with and are
not shy to send it across the ocean, please contact me with pictures and a price.

Willing to pay in saw(s) too.


Cheers
Pedder

[TraditionalToolworks]

Hi woodnetter,

some things are hard to get over here for a saw maker. Stanley 42x. For example. 
Or such a nice big sound ACME saw vice. So if you have one to share with and are
not shy to send it across the ocean, please contact me with pictures and a price.

Willing to pay in saw(s) too.


Cheers
Pedder

The first thing you should do is determine if you're ok with the cost of shipping. An Acme vise is too small to go by boat (unless sub'd by a freighter) and too heavy to go DHL. You should try to get an idea from a shipping/freight company on how much it would cost in current times, cause it would suck to get someone that actually has one and is willing to build a wood crate for it to be shipped in, if you find out the cost is 5x what you expected. You should be able to find out how much they weigh and the approx measurements, that would help you to determine what the size of the crate would be so you could provide that to the shipping company. I have never shipped to/from Germany. I have a friend that is American and moved to Garbsen. I shipped some tooling to him once that he forwarded to the U.S.

First figure how much your item weighs, both in lbs and kilos, and the size it would need to have a crate built for it. I would start doing that. You could probably find out a lot of info on the *.de sites in German. I use google translate with ebay.de and send questions in German as it's just not worth the hassle to try to get answer with English. This is why people don't like to deal with Germany other than DHL, or deal with Australia even at all...certain companies HATE Canada and others are not bad. I don't know what works to ship an Acme vise to Germany, but the first thing I would do is find one in a crate. I don't know what the chance of finding one is, I have never been lucky to nab one on ebay. There is no better place to get vintage/antique items than Ebay.

[Pedder]

Hi Alan,

the question of chicken and egg. I don't know how much an ACME weights or how big the box should be. So I look for the vice first.

Transoflex did that for me one time, but I don't have an account anymore so we will have to see.


Cheers
Pedder

[Philip1231]

Hi Alan,

the question of chicken and egg. I don't know how much an ACME weights or how big the box should be. So I look for the vice first.

Transoflex did that for me one time, but I don't have an account anymore so we will have to see.


Cheers
Pedder

According to Isaac over at Blackburn Tools, he estimates that it weighs around 50 lbs. and the jaws are 28" long. That should be enough data to allow you to roughly estimate the shipping. I don't even do saw sharpening and I want one of these! Picture of his ACME:

[Admiral]

Yeah, Issac is very proud of his Acme, and I am jealous as as anyone should/would be. They are like hen's teeth to find, actually, worse than hen's teeth as they were only one portion of a mechanical handsaw sharpener setup. Last one I saw for sale was several years ago, and if I recall, it was priced at US$750.; likely more now.

[Admiral]

Hi Alan,

the question of chicken and egg. I don't know how much an ACME weights or how big the box should be. So I look for the vice first.

Transoflex did that for me one time, but I don't have an account anymore so we will have to see.


Cheers
Pedder

Pedder:  Undoubtedly, you have great taste, I looked for an Acme for several years before I gave up.  I don't know what vice you are using right now, but the Gramercy Vice at Tools for Working Wood is excellent, very powerful grip on the saw plate; I've been using it since they originally started making it and love it, worth a look if you have to settle for another model.  It's only half the length of the Acme at 14" (35cm) but that might work well for your joinery saws.  Rich

https://toolsforworkingwood.com/store/item/GT-SAWV

[TraditionalToolworks]

the question of chicken and egg. I don't know how much an ACME weights or how big the box should be. So I look for the vice first.

Transoflex did that for me one time, but I don't have an account anymore so we will have to see.

Pedder,

Not familiar with Transoflex, but if they shipped from America to Germany they would be worth contacting about it as they would at least have an idea on the size of the small crate. From the info Admiral supplied I would say you need at least 36" long, 12" wide and probably 12" tall. That would comfortably fit it.

Also, if you can get a freight company that subs out the space in their containers, it might be easy for them to set it on top of a machine or something like that.

What you want to do inside the crate if possible, is block the vise in and secure pieces of wood to hold it fixed, so it doesn't move around inside, and screw all sides to form the crate. This way if it does get dropped or something else falls on it, it will stand a chance of escaping without injury. Cast iron is just difficult to ship, you need to take any precautions you can, IMO. Especially trans-continent.

Also, get an exact weight and do check with DHL, they might handle 50-60 lbs. That I am not sure of, but I would check first to get an idea.

And lastly, if you need someone here to help make a crate and get it to a shipping company in my area, I'll help you do that. The first piece for you may be the most difficult. That will be finding the vise to begin with. If I could find one I would sell all of my Disston 3Ds, but I'm not wanting to spend any $$$s especially as I'm not working at the moment. I really do hope you find one, it would be worth paying whatever people ask, You will have it for the rest of your life most likely.

Short of that, building a wooden vise is probably the most practical for most everyone.

2 of the Grammercy vises might be pretty good side by side, how I use my 3Ds for a full size handsaw. You might consider that also. I'm guessing you sharpen backsaws more often than handsaws, at least I do, as I have and make mostly all backsaws to date.

[Pedder]

Hi Guys,

I did have the Gramercy. But I didn't like it after about 50 saws.

The very ends didn't clamp the saw as firm as I would have liked it.
So I use only wooden vises. Same problem there, but fixable with a plane.

And a complete saw filer? My shop is only 9 feet * 8 feet and allready full...

Cheers
Pedder

[Pedder]

According to Isaac over at Blackburn Tools, he estimates that it weighs around 50 lbs. and the jaws are 28" long.

Thank you, Phil! 50 pounds is about 25 kilogramm, wich should not be a problem to fit in a big cardbox (used for movings)
if you put enough material around it.

If USPS takes it, DHL will.

Cheers
Pedder

[RonB1957]

Thank you, Phil! 50 pounds is about 25 kilogramm, wich should not be a problem to fit in a big cardbox (used for movings)
if you put enough material around it.

If USPS takes it, DHL will.

Cheers
Pedder

So you got my curiosity up a bit and I weighed my two vises.
First up is the cast iron version at a mere 60.6 lbs which included the 1.5" thick plywood base.
20220505_121942 by Ron Bontz, on Flickr" />
20220505_122130 by Ron Bontz, on Flickr" />
Please note: My friend the machinist made the bidirectional slope brackets, I rarely use.
2nd up is the Aluminum version at approx. 27 lbs including the plywood base and original slope bracket. Much easier on the back.

I have adjustable feet on both the vises so I may level the vise on my bench. I use a level on my filing guide to maintain reasonably consistent rake.
20220505_122102 by Ron Bontz, on Flickr" />
20220505_122114 by Ron Bontz, on Flickr" />20220102_200416 by Ron Bontz, on Flickr" />
So now we know approx. what they weigh before crating.