Deck Beam Vise Details

During the course of making one of my ship models, I had to make a number of deck beams.These are items that are curved to match the "camber" of the deck.
Generally supplied on the plans. The curvature, that is.
They are usually fairly thick and so are difficult to bend. Therefore, I elected to cut my beams out of the solid. In this case, the beams are 5 mm by 5 mm (.19685" by .19695").
To do this, I took a piece of Vega (Carpenter) Air Hardening Tool Steel that is .125" thick
by 1.500" wide and the length was left longer for development.
The curvature was made by placing the part in a "slip roll" *
* ( a slip roll is a sheet metal machine for curving sheet material.)
It works by having three rollers. The space between the driving rollers is adjustable.The third roller forms the bend depending on how it is set. There is a block with radii on it for the setting. Due to "spring back", it is necessary to experiment with a scrap piece until you get where you want to be. After the bending, I milled a central slot of 5 mm (. 19685") through the .125" by 4 7/8" long.
Then there were two relief slots milled in that are .094" wide by 11/16" long.
The DBV was then heat treated by hardening and tempering to a spring temper.
When I put the deck beam vise in a vise and the part to be cut in the DBV, I center the wood by aligning a center mark on the part with a line engraved at the center of the DBV.
The upper ends of the wood are aligned with the curvature of the DBV.
Closing the vise with a gentle pressure so as not to crush the wood, but enough to hold it securely, I use a hobby knife to rough out the shape, then a mini spoke shave and progressively finer sandpaper to finish the beam.
Works very well.
Recently , on another forum ( ship modeling) , I saw a forming and bending device to do what my vise does.
However, this is done by laminating a number of strips in a clamp bar. That is OK, but does leave exposed edges. Since my beams are cut from the solid, there are no laminations....BTW, the designer and maker of that device is Alexei Baranov, THE premier shipmodeler in all of Russia. We have been in touch by e-mail and exchanged ideas, etc....
Regards,
Jerry G (Glickstein)
P.S.
I shall upload two photos ofmy vise.
Check out my "Golden Hands" Album.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]