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G. Lindley Leg vise gets new mount and spring


Timothy Miller

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I saw this beautiful old leg vise laying on the ground tailgating 2 years ago at the North East Blacksmiths.  It spoke to me it had graceful lines and some file work on the front leg it also had 6 1/2" jaws.  It was stamped G. Lindley the Davis Town museum site says that this maker was working from 1810 to 1840 but nothing else is known.  The box is of brazed construction with a beautiful bell shaped end.  Unfortunately the vise was missing the mounting plate, strap, wedge gib key and spring a big job but doable. So I brought it home and it sat around weathering in my project pile outside the shop.  last summer I got around to forging the strap.  This winter has been quite around the shop so I decided to finish it up.  Me being primarily an ornamental smith I decided to dress it up a bit.  As I have the time I will post additional process pictures to give you guys a good idea how I forged the parts.  In addition I will be building a decorative vise stand to go with it. 

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Let me start by saying this is only one way to do this job.  Also this is a big vise this job can be done by hand with out a power hammer but you will need a good striker.  Most vices will not require stock this large.  I started out wit 2" square hot rolled steel.

 

Photo 1. I fullered in about 7" from one end of the bar this section of the bar would become the scroll work. 

 

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Photo 2. Next I drew out this section in my power hammer and tape tapered it to a point. 

 

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Photo 3. with the help of a striker I scored the bar with a hand held hot cut. 

 

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Photo 4. the we cut up and down the scored line with the hot cut until we cut thru this only took 2 heats the Marjory being cut in the first heat.  For size reference this is a 400lb anvil.

 

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Photo 5. This photo shows the punch that will be driven thru the square section of the mount.  The mount has been reduced slightly in width and thickness because 2" hot rolled steel comes with rounded corners and this will expand in size once the slot is punched.  The hole is laid out and marked with center punched holes.  Also the hole is punched undersized because it will be drifted larger.  The punch is forged from leaf spring it is about 1 3/4" by 3/16" at the face and the face is flat and it tapers it about 3/8" thick.   The finished hole will be 2" by 1/2" The drift is this size and tapered on both ends so it can

be driven out easily.  

 

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Photo 6.  The slot has been drifted and filed clean inside.  I have forged the wedge and gib key ans fitted them to the slot.  The gib key was made by forging a bar over the edge of the hardie hole and edge of the anvil at the same time.  By tilting the bar I created a tapered depression I then refined it to shape making sure to not forge it to long.  This is very important because the ears on the ends hold the strap from spreading apart when the wedge is driven home.  Also shone is the strap I forgot to take photos when I made that.  Perhaps that is worthy of another topic.

 

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Photo 7.  All of the parts are fitted in place I am test fitting the wedge. I have a bar of scrap steel in place for the spring the spring will be forged later see this topic ( http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/28479-how-i-forged-a-new-spring-for-my-leg-vise/ )for details on how to forge a basic spring.  The spring I made was not basic.

 

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More on this topic as I have time

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Thanks for the complements guys it means a lot.

 

In this photo I am spreading the split apart using the edge of the anvil as a wedge.

 

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This photo shows the results of this action.

 

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In the third photo I am spreading and further tapering the two legs of the forging.  You will notice the peen shape of the hammer I use it is flat with eased edges.  This allows you to spread without putting deep marks into the steel that will be hard to smooth out later with the flat face of the hammer. 

 

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A better close up of the hammer peen

 

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This is a close up of the hot chisels I used to cut out the spurs matched right and left hand.  You can see I have started to scroll up the ends of the legs.

 

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Here I have cut out a small spur that will be drawn out and scrolled up.  I bent it at a right angle away from the plane of the bar so I am able to more easily taper it this is called by some a "convenience bend". 

 

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More to come later

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Once again thanks the kind and positive words.  I had to look up what you meant by "hoss"  me being a Yankee and all ;).  

 

In the photo below is mount with both ends scrolled up and the smaller spurs drawn out and scrolled.  It took a good 1 1/2 hours to get this point from the last photo.  There were many heats just teasing Things to shape no particular tricks just small adjustments and careful hammering.  The one thing I should say is that where I cut out the spur  it left a notch that had to be forged back in. I had to do a combination of spreading and drawing out out to give the taper a nice flow again. In reality this is the result of poor planing on my part.  If I did this again I would have allowed some extra metal to form the spurs and not drawn out a smooth taper.  I would have forged a step in the bar where the spur ended then continued the taper.  

 

 

 

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Sorry about the poor quality of this photo.  Here I have cut out the second spur and have bent it to the side this illustrates the concept of the "convenience bend".  The spur the spur will be drawn out and scrolled up.  It also shows the problem I mentioned above where I had to hammer the notch back in then spread it back out.

 

 

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Here is the spur drawn out and beveled with a round faced hammer.  Also shone in this photo is a special hardie tool I use for working on split work I call it the diving board tool because its bouncy.   An anvil bridge would be better for this kind of work. 

 

 

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Here I have punched the bolt holes I made the first hole 1/2" to accommodate a larger bolt for strength the rest are 3/8".  I have begun forging hand made bolts for this as well but it may be a wile before they get done .

 

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Here is the finished mount ready to be installed. I did a bit of filing to clean up some of the cuts and smooth some rough spots.  

 

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I will circle back later and cover some of the other parts I glossed over.  Also don't think you need to do anything this fancy to get you vice back into shape.  But at least it gives you enough information to make the parts may you need.  I hope I will inspire some people fix their vises properly and get good use out of them.  

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That is a truly gorgeous leg vise. Your additions blend nicely with the original lines. Way to get the old girl back in service! Also, thank you so much for documenting the process. This is very valuable information for anyone considering refurbishing an old vise. Looking forward to your description of forging the replacement spring.

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