Hello- and, me too, brand of my anvil???

[skunkriv]

Racer-Welcome to the forum. I wish you had popped up on the radar a little sooner. We just had the spring conference of the Upper Midwest Blacksmith Association this past weekend. We do have smaller monthly meetings in Haverhill, near Marshalltown.

[racer3j]

I will get together with you folks. Among other things, I teach Sharpening Edge Tools for Handtool Woodworkers and will be forging planeirons- some just shaping and heat-treating O1 and some traditional forge welding for typical bench planes-wood bodied and infilled.

On another note, and this is crazy, at the present exchange rate, my anvil would cost over $1200 before any transportation. So, for product alone, I paid $ 1.38 per pound. I am very excited about this. I will be trying blades as well- I have some good high carbon stock. We still have some jobshops here so I need to find one who can laser cut some .250 O1 plate. But, I have so much to learn and re-learn. I sure hope this is good physical therapy for the southpaw torn rotator cuff. More likely force the surgery.

I have some very dry 4 x 4 oak and would like info on building a base- I need to kill the ring. I'll need a wood base and some sandbags- an experienced smith told me today that hanging an item through the pritchel by a "hook" will also help. And, I need a leg(stake) vise. I have to wrap hardened chain around the anvil and weld it into those orange, in ground, eye looped auger stakes. Better make the under ground call . I have a 70 pound Rock Island 5 inch vise- I guess I could weld fab the stake/leg. I am excited out of my mind. I am too old to get this way, but it feels great. I get my SS in June.Thanks and best regards, JET( nickname is "Mike"- if I told you I'd have to k___ all of you)

[ThomasPowers]

Bench vises do not become post vises by welding a leg on. A post vise is designed for folks to pound on it with a sledge hammer---do that to a bench vise and you have pieces and no vise.

Keep looking for a leg vise!

[Glenn]

This is a 100 pound Holland Bench Vise

This is a post vise.

The difference is that the post vise is designed to be hammered upon and transfers the impact down the post (leg) to the ground.

[ThomasPowers]

Post vises are also made from Wrought Iron, Steel, or sometimes Ductile/Semi Steel while most vises are made from common cast iron.