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I Forge Iron

Show me your vise


Glenn

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The postvise nearest my forge is a 4" one fast and easy to use. A couple of steps away is a 6.5" one as anything I need that for is usually heavy stock that can take me making a couple of steps without cooling down much.

For my new shop extension I plan to set a couple of inch sq gazinta in the floor and so have a movable immovable post vise that I can work all the way around.

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Just out of curiosity, Is there anyone out there that knows of another 9" or something bigger? Someday I am going to put this on a stand but its not really useful for me at the moment. Its just way to dang much work to deal with a big vise, My 6 3/4 is about as big as I need and I find a 5.5 to 6" is ideal for most things. The only thing I can think of is like doing Darryl's animal heads it would be nice to have a really stout vise for the chisel work.. at 215 lbs this vise is heaver that a lot of anvils! Swinging that three foot long handle around half a dozen times to get it clamped on a hot chunk will cure you of wanting a big vise.... Especially if you clock yourself in the chin once or twice


There was one for sale on Craigslist a few weeks ago in California that stated it was 250-300lbs if I recall correctly. I don't think it had 9" jaws though (no pics were posted).

I know a guy that was told about a vise in England with 12" jaws, but once again, there weren't any pictures to verify it, so your 9" has the largest jaws of any that I have seen (keep in mind I'm fairly new to this, so I haven't seen a lot compared to others).
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My work in progress,,hopefully i'll get other half of shop poured with a slab so all my junk can have a home,, a western chief and champion blower,,,got the leg vise for $27.50 ,,,metal pieces are from RR tracks at end of driveway,,(it pays to be nice to the track crew) hay bunden outside and a peter wright on the floor,,hummm will have to fig how to post images,,,loading images is Not dial-up friendly

Edited by Reeltree
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4 1/2" quick release ratchet vise. Don't know who made it, has pretty smooth jaws and seems to be cast steel. Holds well, but I never beat on it. Good for file work.


Your vise is a Stevens Vise. They were made from around the Civil War time till around 1920's. Around 1910, the rights to make them were bought by Fisher Anvil Works. They made 5 sizes of them for a few years around 1911-1915. I have one that is marked their name, and have seen two others. I also have three of the Stevens, that predated Fisher.

They are OK in use, but I find they do not hold as well as a screw type vise.

BTW, Fisher also advertised a model that extended the handle pivot to the floor, so you could ratched it tight with your foot, keeping both hands free. I have never seen one, just have the advertising picture of it.
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This is the smaller of the two vices in the shop. This vice can be moved around the layout table. The configuration fits into the under-surface welded sockets. This set up is very handy and stable as the weight of the table keeps the vice rock steady.

Peter

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I fabricated this wheel barrow vice so I can do my flame cutting out in the driveway. It opens up 22+? inches wide and has come in handy for certain things. Its made out of junk except for the acme screw and nuts and handle. Those acme threaded bars can be ordered from the ENCO sales catalog for less than $20 three feet long. The acme rods and nuts are all low carbon easily weldable and you can build the kind of clamps and vices you want. Also pictured here is a Post-like vice I made from junk. These are very useful and portable tools for the metal shop guy with more "time and junk" than money. Stick a big enough acme thread in it and you will surely get more honest to goodness "smash" for your hard-earned cash. :D

Spears

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I fabricated this wheel barrow vice so I can do my flame cutting out in the driveway. It opens up 22+? inches wide and has come in handy for certain things. Its made out of junk except for the acme screw and nuts and handle. Those acme threaded bars can be ordered from the ENCO sales catalog for less than $20 three feet long. The acme rods and nuts are all low carbon easily weldable and you can build the kind of clamps and vices you want. Also pictured here is a Post-like vice I made from junk. These are very useful and portable tools for the metal shop guy with more "time and junk" than money. Stick a big enough acme thread in it and you will surely get more honest to goodness "smash" for your hard-earned cash. :D

Spears


Great stuff.... I really like the wheel barrow vise
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I fabricated this wheel barrow vice so I can do my flame cutting out in the driveway. It opens up 22+? inches wide and has come in handy for certain things. Its made out of junk except for the acme screw and nuts and handle..................Spears


Nice idea on the "wheelbarrow vise"! I can think of many instances where that would be useful around my place.

Thanks for sharing.
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I'd love to show you my vise but I can't get an image on my posts. I have the images as jpg files on my computer but the "Attachment" icon on these web pages is dead for me. It won't work. The "insert image" icon will only let me use images from the web. If any of you tech savvy's can help, I'd appreciate it.

Anyway, I don't have a leg vise. I use a swivel machinist's vise planted on the top of a wooden railroad rail set on end in the dirt floor of my shop.

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