I use a large square wood block with a hole drilled in it (using a drill press). I thread it onto the steer tube on top of a race to the right height position. With the appropriate sized hole drilled into a hardwood block, it will thread itself on square, or if you don't have the proper drill bit (grinding a spade bit to the right size works), a undersized hole in a softwood block will do OK. Another method is to drill a hole, the size being less critical, and then slit one side of the block along it's length to clamp in the vise around the steering tube. If you want to get fancy, countersink screw a sheet of brass on top of the block that you can replace if it gets scored up from the hacksaw blade. The handy thing about this method is that you can clamp the block into the vise and hold the fork horizontally, then saw parallel to gravity.
Applause is unnecessary.......you're too kind.
Dennis Young Rainy season in Hotaka, Japan. Then comes the typhoons.
> My favorite fork cutting guide is the top threaded
> bearing cone from an old Standard Schwinn headset.
> Not the Deluxe that came on the Continentals and up
> but the ones that came on the Varsities, Stingrays,
> Cruisers etc. They have a large, almost flat surface
> to lay the hack saw blade against. They are also very
> hard and are not affected by the teeth on the blade or
> the touch of the file teeth. I actually use two of
> them; one screwed on upside down and the last one
> right side up. I adjust the top one to the exact
> length and then lock the lower one against it. Hand
> tight is enough. Then cut the steerer with the hack
> saw staying up next to the race if possible. After
> the cutting, I file it flat with the head race and
> chamfer the I.D. with a half round file. Then I spin
> off the bearing races and with a flat file, bevel the
> O.D. a bit to take off the sharp edges which makes for
> easy starting of the headset and saves cut fingers
> from the sharp edges that would otherwise be left.
>
> This method is very quick and accurate and produces a
> beautifully cut and finished steer tube.
>
> The best part is that the tools required are almost
> free for the asking.
>
> Bruce Schrader
> San Francisco, CA
>
> =====
> "Not all those that wander are lost."
> -J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973)
>
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> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Sun, 6 Jul 2003 00:52:04 EDT
> From: NortonMarg@aol.com
> To: rocklube@adnc.com, jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net
> Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Subject: Re: [CR]Cutting a steering tube the easy way
> Message-ID: <15b.20f26530.2c3904f4@aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
> MIME-Version: 1.0
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
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> Message: 2
>
> In a message dated 7/5/03 3:33:38 PM Pacific Daylight Time, rocklube@adnc.com
> writes:
>
>
>> Phil Brown has the ticket. Sure, the Stein tool is nice, but a cheapo
>> steel threaded top race works fine. Why spend the money when you
>> probably have one sitting in your drawer??
>>
>
> I use two cheapo races, spaced apart enough to leave just blade clearance. I
> cut conduit for a living, so I'm used to a hacksaw, but the threads tend to
> turn the blade a bit, and being fussy, I really like the steerers cut as
> square
> as possible.
> Stevan Thomas
> Alameda, CA