I have a number of tools in my workshop, but there are some that I use nearly every day and some that I would be lost without. One such tool is the Mole grip, or as Irwin calls them, Vise grips. I bought mine many years ago and particularly like the plastic coated handles which are comfortable to use even in freezing temperatures.
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| Irwin Vise Grips |
I see today, these cost £16 on Amazon and I think they are worth every penny.
I have used them on the farm in the workshop repairing the tractor, freeing stubborn nuts and bolts, on the boat working in tight spaces such as cockpit and chain lockers, often lying upside down trying to hold a stubborn skin fitting or free off a siezed shackle pin, but in a wood work workshop, they are invaluable for removing broken screws and even bent nails from lengths of wood.
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| Extracting a rusty screw with a broken head from a 5 x 2 |
I work with a lot of recycled timber and often these come to me with broken off screws, rusty nails and even wire staples embedded in the wood. All of these have to be removed to make the wood safe to pass through the planer.
An example of this was a batch of 5 x 2 rafters that came with galvanised brackets fitted with now rusty wood screws. I managed to extract quite a few of the screws with my DeWalt impact driver, but there is always one, that is stubborn and shears off, or the head was already striped making it impossible to back it out.
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| Vise grips clamped tightly to broken head of rusty screw |
There was one screw in particular holding one of these brackets, where the Phillips head had been stripped, I suspect by an earlier over zealous attempt to withdraw it but 40mm of thread meant it was there for keeps. It would have been easy to just cut it off with a hack saw and then chop the end of the plank with the mitre saw and chuck it in the wood burner, but seeing that I have my Moles, this was a challenge I had to try.
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| Removing the rusty screw with the Vise Grips |
There was perhaps 2mm of broken screw head protruding from the top of the bracket and after a few attempts I managed to grip it with the Moles. I have used the term Mole Grips for 50 years, so forgive me those of you across the pond, but that is how I think of these Vise Grips! Once the grips were clamped on nothing would shift them and I was able to unwind the screw until I could reposition them on the thread, saving the bracket and the piece of wood.
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| The broken screw removed! |
I would think most people have these in their workshops, but if you are starting out, these are something you really should buy and these made by Irwin are well worth their cost and have given me years of service.
A few weeks ago I was using them gripping a rusty nut that held an agricultural fitting through a beam. When I unclamped them and tried to reset the screw adjuster, this would not move and I thought I had finally broken them. On closer inspection I found the spring and the inner workings were choked with years of sawdust, oil and dirt. I had not thought to clean them, just took them for granted and after use, dried them with a cloth and put them back in the drawer. So I took them apart, cleaned and lubricated the spring and reassembled them and they worked perfectly again. Testament to a good tool.
