Since I have a few handsaws to fix up and resharpen, I figured it would be a worthwhile endeavor to make a simple vise for holding them. I would be able to clamp it into my large wooden vise to have the blade high enough to work on comfortably.

I started with a piece of 3/4″ plywood that I cut to 26″ long, then ripped into two pieces 6″ wide:

I oriented the pieces so that the crown was out, like this:

This will help keep the clamping pressure evenly distributed from end to end.

Next, I cut a pair of maple strips the same length and about 3/16″ thick:

These were glued and clamped onto the plywood parts to form the jaws of the vise:

A spacer strip is added to the bottom of one of the jaws. This is 3/8″, or twice the thickness of the thinner strips.

A block plane is used to slightly bevel the maple on the inside, and cutting a chamfer on the outside with the table saw tipped to 45 degrees:

The two halves of the jaws are loosely screwed together with 2″ wood screws, and the tip that sticks out on the other side is ground flat:

The screws are driven all of the way in, then backed off a turn to allow the jaws to open enough to slide the blade in. They also keep the two jaws in line with each other:

A hole is drilled to hang the vise up when it’s not being used, and on the other end a semi-circle is drawn using my beam compass:

The cut is made on the band saw and is there to clear the handle on the saw:

It works great, as demonstrated in this video: