surf ox

A friend of mine had a right hand that looked like that from using a four inch angle grinder with a "chipper" blade in it for working cattle hooves as a professional trimer. You didn't say that it hurt, but his was just swollen, and he could barely hold the tool. He got one shot of cortizone in the near wrist and never got it back. I'm a retired optometrist and hands aren't my specialty but it looks like treatable inflamation to me.......wouldn't hurt to get looked at. Early intervention means weaker drugs and less chance of lossing the use of that limb. Thanks for the post, and good luck.

My neighbor has one of these and said I could have it.......as I remember it is missing a few parts and part of the anvil/vise. Might be better to keep it out of the shop just for space reasons. At least now I know more about it. It does say Champion on it.

It looks like maybe the jaws are a little bit spread on the top...maybe not, as you didnt mention it. My first one was widely spread and useless to the owner so I took it off his hands. I took it apart, wire brushed it to a nice blue black patina and had an accomplishd self employed mechanic strighten it out easily with a hydraulic press.....he called it "butter iron".

I broke five inch Chinese vise that had a nice look, external machining and finish. I was trying to hold a piece of half inch cold rolled to thread for a farm repair. I could not crank it hard enough to hold the work....eventually something cracked on the inside due to poor alignment of major parts. I did not hammer on the bar, but it failed with just my own strength. The timing timing wasn't good for finding a good local inexpensive vise, but did buy a nearly new Wilton C 3 for 850. It weighs more than my Peter Wright anvil but it gives me confidence now when I step into the shop. At about half price, I can use it for free. The local Amish say: "Iron never loses it's value." Last week I found a beefy decent quality four inch Taiwanese bullet vise for ten dollars at a garage sale...sorta evens things out.

My first very old four inch vise straightened easily with a friends large hydraulic press and a few strategically placed blocks. He said my vise was made out of "butter iron". We worked it cold while disassembled and I trued the faces with a six inch horizontal belt sander as I thought I needed a little finer grip for gunsmithing. Looks good and works well, but have a newer, tougher four and a half for heavier work such as in blacksmithing. My first post....have been reading the site a lot since I found it. Surf Ox Rust is my favorite color.