Paul Huffman Pen vises

[Donna Cunning]

The Classic Nib no longer offers Paul Huffman's pen vise. Does anyone know if there is another source now or if he has stopped producing them?
Thanks

[Marvin Hasenak]

There are several knock offs of his vise available. I have one that came from a Tim's Tool Crib, but looking it seems he no longer makes them either. PSI and Peachtree Woodworking also offer a knock off version. I have no experience with either of the latter, but the Peachtree looks like a good one.

[Donna Cunning]

Thanks for the info. I have my mouth all watered up for the Paul Huffman. I currently have one from Lee Valley that works ok but doesn't have the nice features of the Huffman. I was just trying to figure out if they were still available on the open market.

[Tony Pridmore]

I don't know whether he still makes them. Have you tried looking up Paul Huffman (Paul in OKC) at International Association of Penturners? You can send him a private message or email from the forum there (you may have to join).

[Marvin Hasenak]

I had one, but unless I was doing production work, making 24 or 36 pens at a time, I didn't use it. Setting up the drill press to center it, and getting it bolted down takes too long, so I drilled on the lathe for most of the pens. Another option and in my opinion as good as the Hoffman vise is to make a mount for a self centering lathe chuck that can be permanently mounted on your drill press. I used a PSI Utility chuck, a 1-8 bolt and 3 sheets of 12x12x3/4 plywood. The 3 pieces of ply are glued together, a hole drilled through the ply for the bolt and a recess cut for the bolt head. The chuck is centered on the stacked ply and screwed down on the ply using the bolt.

This was permanently mounted on a dedicated drill press just for drilling my step drilled game calls and pen blanks. If you have to remove it so you can use the drill press for other uses, you are better off drilling on the lathe. But at the time I was a callmaker and I was a production turner, time was money, time spent on changing out tooling was wasted time. Now I am retired, one at a time and the drilling is done on the lathe. I am disabled so I sit in front of the lathe, for making pens, I can sit down and never get up from the start of drilling, through the final assembly of the pen.

[Art Moore]

I'd also tried to find one, with no luck. After trying several different things, I ordered PSI's Dedicated Pen Drilling Chuck, and bought an MT2 Jacobs Drill Chuck from Harbor Freight. After using it, I've discovered that drilling on the lathe is a much better way to go.