trevarthan

I can't see the facebook photos for some reason, but the google plus photos are nice. It took me a while to realize the numeric markings are 10s of millimeters, but after that it made sense. Looks like 1/2" plate, 1 1/2" wide for the part that holds the vise. Hard to say how long it is, but I can guesstimate.

Yeah. Looks simple. Just not easy to remove. My vise is out in the open, so I like to bring it in from the rain when the day is done.

Stephen, the part the wraps the vise looks like a rectangular 1/2" steel plate, folded around something square, with slots drilled or drifted in the ends (not necessarily in that order). I think I can make that.

What about the mounting plate? 1" steel bar, flattened on one end? I'm not sure I can heat 1" steel bar sufficiently in my small brake drum forge. It would be an interesting experiment though.

Nice job on the spring.  I prefer the wedge connection that are on three of the four post vices that are at my house right now.  Simple to take off to move. 
 
http://ipneto.deviantart.com/art/vice-spring-277231859
http://ipneto.deviantart.com/art/vice-wedges-277231611
 
The half around the leg is simple to make and the other could just be a piece of flat stock folded over and bolted down onto the bench with enough room for the wedges to pull the two pieces together.  If you can forge weld or weld you could make it nicer looking but not necessary.

That combination wedge/tenon is really cool. I also appreciate the close view of the spring. All the photos I've seen to date were smaller and less clear. I like the 90 degree bend at the top. Looks like it makes it easier to assemble. The smooth curve is nice too.

Here's a straightened photo of my spring. It didn't show up on it's side when I posted it from my ipad last night, but it's on it's side on the laptop this morning. I'd edit the post, but it looks like I can't edit posts from yesterday or something.

I forged a new spring last night from mild steel 1/2" round bar. I don't think I did a great job, but it's probably good enough for now.

What would it be if it's not real wrought iron? I was under the impression that these were all forged steel.

I notice my post is bent. Can I just heat that up over the forge and straighten it?

Self threading with a die sounds good. Where would I pick up a die?

I was also thinking I could just make the clamp assembly in the forge without threads and use metal wedges to take up the slack.

I bought a post vise this weekend. It's missing a bracket for mounting, and a spring. It came with a 1/4" thick strip of plate, bent into a strap, so I'm using that, lag bolted to a 4x4 piece of lumber, horizontally. I'm using a wood wedge between the vise and 4x4 to tighten everything up.

Here's a photo:


This is a pretty crappy setup. It works in a pinch, but it's impossible to get enough clamping force from soft pine lumber, across grain like this. The wood just crushes and eventually the vise loosens up.

I read about the various types of clamps these vises came with, originally, and I think I'd like to fabricate a u-bolt style clamp. Anyone have any idea where I can get some appropriately sized u-bolts?

Also, if anyone is selling an original mounting bracket, I'm interested.

I tried a first attempt at forging my own replacement spring this past weekend from mild steel. It's not great, but I think it'll do for now. :)

Welcome aboard, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header we won't have to keep asking.

Doesn't it say Chattanooga, TN on the left under my avatar? It does for me....

You'll want to start using bituminous coal, anthracite doesn't work so well, more impurities and doesn't coke up as well.

Really? I've always read that the opposite was true. Bituminous is more impure than anthracite. I haven't really had any complaints with anthracite so far. The start proceedure is a little lengthy, but once it gets going, it seems great.

To start, I use about ten brickettes of charcoal on the bottom. I then build a small wood fire on top to light the charcoal. I burn wood for heat in the winter, so I have plenty of dry kindling. Once the charcoal is going well, I pack anthracite around the edges and finally on top and I let it sit for 10 - 30 minutes. Like I said, pain to start, but once started, it seems to work really well.

My understanding is that I will need to modify my forge design a bit for bituminous, as it needs to coke first. Anthracite doesn't really need to coke first.

 
In my opinion you need a deeper fire.  As you can see the metal should be level or above the top of the brake drum rim.  There is a ring or groove around the top of the brake drum. Make a metal shield to go inside the ring or groove and entend the depth of the fire.

How deep should my fire be? I've since modified the brake drum. It was 3" deep, and I thought that was too deep, so I cut U slots in the front and back so the work rests 2" up from the bottom of the drum. 

May I suggest that you move your anvil so it is one step away from the forge. (You are at 4 steps now) This will keep the metal from cooling off, which will be very important when it comes to forge welding.

Yeah, that was one of the first things I noticed as well. Long since corrected. You'll notice I have a nice stump instead of that mess of stacked lumber for the anvil stand too.

Chattanooga

Just getting started. I've got 4 boxes of anthracite, a home made brake drum forge, and a small 99 lb Peter Wright anvil, which appears to be in decent shape to my untrained eye.