caotropheus

Use either wood or metal stand. Metal my preference. You may design a stand that allows you to secure firmly that chunk of steel both on "vertical" position for general forging and "horizontal" position to straighten long pieces. That chunk weighs about 50 kg, you can always add a bit more of weight with a metal stand.

Just saw this today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQcBC1Nf7qg

beef56 Go to Youtube and type a combination of two or more of the following keywords "post vise", "leg vise", "repair", "restoration", "spring". You will get tens of leg vices repair related videos. The jaws and screw seem to be OK and that is a very positive point. About the price, yes too expensive, even for a place that lacks used tools for blacksmithing. I have to agree with Stash, wave in front of the guy 40 USD and pay no more then 50 USD. If you buy it, I suggest you make a traditional "leaf spring" used in these vices. Good luck

This is the leg vice stand. I have now other table much more massive, 24 mm thick top plate. This is the "move around" stand with a bench vice. The base of the stand is from a plough disk, weighs about 50 kg. The column is height adjustable. The vice is massive, big and heavy.

The vice works fine now after replacing the collar. The "original" collar is 5 mm thick with the inner opening of 54 mm. I replaced it with a collar made from mild steel flat stock, 10 mm thick, 45 mm inner opening. Now the screw is in place, everything is tight and snug and the moveable jaw moves very smoothly and "precise". There is no wiggling what so ever. To remove the old collar I had to grind away the remaining old bolts' heads and it come off right away. The bolts were not tight and unscrew easily with hand pliers. I mounted the vice to this height adjustable pedestal So I had to adapt the mounting plate I used for the previous vice. et voilá Now that I look at it, the vice is really massive!

If you like the hammer so much, what about forging a new hammer with the same mass and the same dimensions? About safety, probably best to retire this hammer just in case.

I have an used anvil with this design, 200 kg. I was told it is made in Belgium, but I am not sure. Rebound is fantastic, above 90%

SgtCoffe Hope this video will give you some repair ideas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5vFle0kzdc Personally, I would try to repair it, but "butter layer" electrodes are expensive.

After oiling, the vice works very nice and smooth, the ways are really nice and there is no wiggling of the movable jaw. I inspected the threads, still work, even though there is some wear/abrasion I think I can replace the threads if needed. So, where is the problem of the vice? Well people, take a look by yourselves. the piece of paper is locked between the handle and the collar somebody disregarded vice maintenance and throughout the years the collar wear to the extent that the handle would push against it upon screwing. So much so that handle wear off bolts' head securing the collar and a bit of the collar it self. You can hardly see the silhouette of the bolts. Luckily, collar + bolts were made of a softer material than the screw/handle. The vice's screw head is half loose with a gap of 15 mm to the collar upon unscrewing Now, let's have some fun repairing it...

I do not know, I did not explore the vice yet, just brought it home, took pictures and posted. Once closed, when I turn the screw to open, it turns several times until threads engage. Something is not right...

I just bought from a local antique dealer what looks like a Schlegel EMF-150 bench vice. I hope the 70 USD I payed were not too much. The overall aspect and jaws of the vice are OK but the threads are shot and need repair. It opens and closes but every half a turn or so it "turns empty" as if the male and female threads disengage. Later on, I will show pictures or video of the repair. The ruler is 40 cm long, the jaws are 150 mm wide and the vice weighs 43 kg.

Portuguese proverb: "Casa de ferreiro, espeto de pau" direct translation "Blacksmith's house, wood skewer" meaning, the blacksmith will do metal tools and makes them perfect for everyone...but, at home he neglects his own metal stuff or even never used them...

Greetings In a recent trip to Bulgaria in the city of Plovdiv the Ethnographic Museum has an interesting blacksmithing section and this anvil was there in exhibition. Its height is about knee tall but there were no details describing origin or use. The big castings on the side of the anvil are bronze.

That is what I would do.

Pass price too high.

Frosty, you're a genius! Now I only have to convince my wife of that!

I was offered my flypress without counter weights https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMmYMJ8nvDg

Here it is ready to work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JpOK8d3bF0

671jungle I know nothing about blacksmithing compared to the guys that posted their opinions above and believe me, they are a lot more knowledgeable than I am! Curiosity is a terrible thing that makes me invest a lot of time discovering the path of doing things instead of doing other things. Confusing, right? For example, instead of acquiring an anvil and invest my time forging and learn forging techniques, I just build my own anvils! I understand your drive to build your own post vice I encourage you to do it but make something simple to begin with, something you can disassemble and reuse later to improve your designs. There are examples for designs of leg vices in the internet and youtube has some videos. https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/23269-building-a-post-vise/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFMtPY2MrYE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwWUgSpUx5k&list=PLtkiEG92EzmUWsHUebljRYOP3UQwZadpi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKjddzGV-_A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqqdPTemrrk You can find more example, some better than others...

For twenty quid it is hard to go wrong with such piece. Show us some side, bottom, front, back, jaws open pictures and probably someone here can give you more details. What is the condition of the screw and nut? does it open freely? are there any parts missing or cracks in the vice?

The vice is secured by simultaneously being secured by the mounting plate AND at the same time the bottom of the leg as to enter the ground or the base it is attached to for a couple of centimetres. If the bottom of the leg can freely move, the vice will always wobble... take a look at this thread

Cannon Cocker IDF&C is right. Get simple lump charcoal (just charcoal, no briquette, no accelerant) and you will see a world of difference. Actually, lump charcoal gives you a very clean fire and less scale on your metal when compared to coal.

You know, without pictures/video, never happened!

Without pictures/video, never happened...

You are missing either the keyed wedge or the locking wedge. I think the spring is in the right position. You can make a wedge easily just by cutting some metal with an angle grinder https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-blacksmith-leg-vise-mounting-1817677826 https://www.antiquesnavigator.com/d-3035601/blacksmith-legpost-vise-mounting-bracket-with-wedges.html You can see here how this guy assembles his vice from minute 9:30 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91L6iIjgNV4