Until now, my infrequent saw filing has been assisted by holding the blade between a pair of 1x2s placed carefully in my bench’s leg clamp. It had two problems. One, it took two men, a little boy, and a monkey to hold all the parts “just so” and get it clamped. Two, oh my aching back bending over it.
The activity is not frequent enough to warrant buying a fine metal clamp, but does warrant a bit of DIY time and about $6 worth of oak. I 
found drawings on a blog post by Paul Sellers and got to work. Straightforward … until I noticed the rounded hinge. Hey, a simpler square edge hinge, not housed, would work just as well. No, that’s the wimpy way out. Carve that hinge, and if it really fails, square off the mess into the simpler version. It worked.
The hinge pin is a piece of brass tubing that I had on hand. That’s a carriage bolt and wing nut that tighten the jaw.
The clamp works beyond expectations, perfectly well for as often as I need it.
That looks great Bob! I have often thought about making one that is a few inches longer than my metal one and this looks like a good way to go. I think the hinge looks good also.
I was considering putting a cleat on front and back so it self positioned in the vise. Should be the same height and square to the world with out much effort that way.
That turned out beautiful. I made a similar version myself (Lumberjocks project #72856) but I didn’t have a tool to make the concave part of the hinge. I ended up with sort of a weird compromise; one of the hinges flat and one rounded. I was surprised how much force a wing nut can exert and I agree that it’s a real back saver.
Thanks Mark and Paul.
Mark – You know, one cleat, on the back, is probably enough to register nicely in the bench vise. Simplify… simplify….