Vises

Hi All, I am working on getting my post vice up to usable condition. I had to forge a few parts to mount it, and build the stand, etc.. Anyway, most of the work is done, but I need to pack the the screw / housing with grease again. When I opened it up while initially cleaning, a lot of dried grease came out. There was none that was fresh, as the vice likely sat unused for years.. I have some 3 in 1 oil for the base joint, but am not sure what type of grease I should look at for packing up the screw. Does it matter? Should I just look for some form of generic grease? Any info is a huge help. Thanks

So, I get that the acorn of the post vice needs to make contact with the ground (or something else that connects to the ground) to send the impact on out. If a vice stand is taller than I prefer for working height, is there a reason I couldn't just have the post leg/acorn that far into the ground (maybe with pipe ring around it) rather than building a stand high enough for the acorn to rest on the ground and then me standing on a riser?

This one is available in coastal California. Pretty rural area. They want $150 but will take less. Since I’m new to this I’d like to be on a steep learning curve about leg vises. It has 4” jaws.

Picked up this vise as part of a lot. Old look, feel and weight. 6" and has a Jet metal tag on it. I can't find anything about Jet vises from Japan... Please help!

Recently acquired a Hanson 5-in-1vise/anvil. Looking to locate some of the original attachments that were offered with this item. Specifically the handsaw vise , the pipe vise and the drilling attachment. See attached image. Jim Stowell Mfg and Fdy Co 1912.pdf

Picked up at Alabama Forge Council Conference. I also sold 3 that had been laying around for years waiting on refurb.

Hi, so I bought a large bench vise and want to clean it up. I think electrolysis is the way to go, but I've never done it before. How big of a piece of scrap do I need in comparison to what I'm putting in the tank? I've seen videos of people using laundry crystals, is there any certain ratio to use, and is there a special kind to get? Thanks for the help.

Hi team- new to the forum and was hoping someone had an idea of what I’ve found. It looks like a post leg vise, but appears that it’s missing the mounting plate and may have an aftermarket spring as it doesn’t appear to be locked in, in any way (and I don’t see that it really has a purpose). It was dug out of concrete, and they had welded some rebar to it prior to putting into concrete.

I came across a thread talking about Morgan anvils and I cruised on over to their website to take a look, I knew the made all kinda bench vises but didn’t know they made a couple sizes of steel post vises, there wasn’t a picture of them on their sight, I was wondering if anyone here had one or has used one and if anyone had a picture of one? i tried googling the part numbers for their post vises but nothing turned up, no pictures and I couldn’t find them for sale anywhere

I recently got this t-bar anvil combo vise. I do not have a post vise. Construction of how the jaws work seems similar to a post vise; can this be used as a post vise without undo risk of damage to the vise?

I recently helped a neighbor out and as a gift she gave me this leg vise that was in her barn when she purchased it from the original family. It was heavily covered with loose flakey rust in spite of it being stored inside. So after reading this fine forum for hours and hours, I decided to use my power washer sandblaster attachment and clean it up. The screw is in decent shape and aside from the ears on leg having a little twist (they are not square with the jaw) and the pivot pins missing nut (stripped threads from antiquity so nut is missing) it seems to be complete. There is some mushrooming of the mating surfaces of the screw parts so I’m fairly confident the parts…

Hi all, I just picked up this vise that needs some work. It’s about 90 lbs and 41” tall with 5” jaws. I don’t see any maker’s mark on it but it has been painted at some point (or several times). Either the bolt is frozen or the spring is shot (or both). It looks to have been used as a lawn ornament for a couple of decades but otherwise looks fine. The screw is in good shape and it has all the parts. What I wanted to ask is there any reason not to take a steel brush to it and break it apart to clean it. I plan on using it as it’s bigger than my current one. Thanks

Stumbled upon this gem of a post vise on "marketplace". Sold by a friendly lady, dealing in all sorts of 'vintage knick knack's' 66#, jaws 4,8" (12cm), few minor marks from use on the jaws, spindle and box as if they were made only yesterday! Only the nut on the hinge bolt (?), I'm not sure if it's original because it's hexagonal and not square. However: the amount of rust and erosion suggests that it is. I did some digging and was suprised how much it looks like a PW, even in detail. No markings to be found, so there is no way to be 100% sure. What also made me wonder is how many 'look-a-likes' that were made by other manufacturers. But who's complaining? Certa…

What do you use as soft jaws, that do not leave marks, for your vise? For metal soft jaws, use non-ferrous pipe such as copper, brass, aluminum, etc. Cut the pipe a little longer than the vise jaws, then cut the pipe again the long way. Flatten it out, put it in the vise and fold a bit of the metal over the top of the jaw to hold it in place. A radiator hose, heater hose, plastic hose works the same way. Use two pieces of wood. Depending on the project, you can use leather, the material from a plastic bucket, etc. What do you suggest as materials for soft jaws for a vise?

Picked up a 6" wide morgan vise. It says on one side morgan vice co chicago 360. Was primarily curious if that vocabulary would lead to a round about date of manufacture. Its a nice solid vise and I doubt Ill ever need anything bigger (yet) think it weighs something along the lines of 160lbs according to the website for the modern ones.

Hi all, I made a post maybe a month or two ago asking for help on restoring a leg vise from my great-great-grandfather's workshop. Which I restored after it being used as garden decoration by my parents for about 20 years. Following advice from forum members I thought it was nice to show the results. I forged a new spring from a salvaged leaf spring. I also welded new threads on the mounting plate and had to cut out the pivot bolt, and obviously replace that bolt as well. Now it's all greased up, and nearly ready to use! I just need to make a new stand for it since my improvised one isn't safe. Prone to falling over. Here some pictures. The condit…

Here is how I build it I hope it's not too close to forge .

Scored this post vise/leg vise at a huge sale of blacksmithing stuff from a recently deceased member of NMABA. It is missing its leaf spring, but I already have been given advice about how to forge one (from an old article in Anvil Magazine, here: http://www.anvilmag.com/smith/107f2.htm). I plan to try my hand at doing that. Even have a suitable piece of scrap spring steel to use. It needs some clean up and a lot of lubrication, but seems to operate reasonably well even without the spring (the coil spring helps, and if I need it open more than the coil spring can handle, I can push it open by hand for now). On to coming up with a mount for it!

It simply doesn’t look like most of the post vises I’ve seen but… it looks similar enough. asking $120 Deal or no deal?

Hi All, So I have a small post vice that I have finally got back together but the problem is that when I try to close the jaws they close to about a 20mm gap and then keep popping back open and wont close anymore. I have checked nothing is catching and that the screw box is original and not catching because the screw is to long and everything seems ok. I wondered if anyone else had come across this or had any ideas. Cheers, Luke

Hi, and thank you in advance for any help you can give me. I appreciate it VERY much. I acquired this vice from another maker and have decided that I'd like to go in a different direction. So I wanted to find out what ever I can about it, so that I can then, put it up for sale. I am on the northeast coast of Florida. I do not find any identifying marks on the vice. I think it was acquired badly rusted, and it was then perhaps sanded a bit or maybe a steel pad and then painted with Rustoleum on the body, not the post. The jaws are 4 inches and it is 3 feet tall. Thank you!

What are proportions for vise. I didn't saw thread about that, I saw some pictures on net. Thing is after I had little accident with leg vise , and worked with grinder, i noticed now machinist vise or bench vise proportions don't match leg vise. Leg vise is now taller 10 inch 25 cm than machinist vise used to be I will probably have to saw a stump and Mount vise to it, maybe 2 feet , because vise now look too heigh compared to previous one. Probably I need other bench or stump some kind platform for it

So I got this leg vice for $30 today. I think it is a PW but I am not sure. I really want to know if anyone knows when it was made. The serial number is 14372. Thanks.

I have a Fisher No. 6 (8.25 inch jaws) that has, alas, seen better days. In particular, the upper screw, which is maybe 1.5 or 1.75 inches in diameter, is very badly worn. Worse, the female part of the vise, where this upper threaded bar inserts, is also very badly worn. The worn out male and female threads on the upper screw make the vise quite difficult to operate, such that it takes a great deal of effort to loosen or tighten the vise. It looks like, originally, the female threads were cut directly into the cast iron vise body. There is no removable bearing or cartridge, which would facilitate repair. To make matters worse, the threads on these screws are so…

I have a vice that I'm working on, and one of the things is that the handle is bent and rusted thin were it was bent that when ever you use it, it re-bends at that spot. I am planning o re-forging a handle for the leg vice, and didn't know if it would be beneficial to make it out of a spring steel (I have a coil spring that I straightened out)? I would leave it un-heat treated. also, the wedges that keep the mounting bracket on were mushroomed, and so I took them to the grinder to remove it, and they appeared (doing a spark test) to be a medium carbon, or high carbon steel, is it necessary in the future to forge them out of a high carbon steel, or mild steel? thanks guys!…