I just stumbled across this on craigslist. I thought it looked funny, so I thought some of you might get a kick out of it. It's an old vise / anvil combo..



Here is a link to the post about it: LARGE VISE & ANVIL COMBO..1914 PATENT

It's different .

Ah yes; the one-tool-does-it-all vise/anvil unit. Sold to thousands of hapless farmers and homeowners who knew no better, or didn't really need either a real anvil or a real vise. Ron "Ronco" Popeil is probably sorry he didn't think of it.

The "anvil" is hollow cast iron, the vise uses fine pitch threads just about guaranteed to sieze or strip, and they are made with all the precision of a die-cast toy car. I'd personally rather have the toy car. At least with it, I could roll it around and make motor noises with my lips.

I'd personally rather have the toy car. At least with it, I could roll it around and make motor noises with my lips.

Ah Rich! I'm sure you could still roll around with the anvil and make motor noises... It just wouldn't make as much sense! :)

Fair go Rich "thousands of hapless farmers and homeowners" could straighten out all their bent nails on it rather than buy new ones:)

There were many of these anvil, vise combos made over the years, some better than others. Some junk, some quite useful. I have one like the one shown that I use for portable / demo work that is light duty and would not stress the anvil too much. Our modern bench vise with its anvil on the rear is a hold over from the very popular older versions like the one pictured.

Does it replace my PW 150# and my post vise? No. Does it sometimes serve a purpose that dragging 200 lbs of gear around would be over kill for? Yes.

Don't be so hard on the purchasers or dealers of these items. Not everyone needs a big anvil and vise, so hapless is a bit harsh. I need them cause I do this for a living, but my part time goat farmer brother doesnt need a big shop and 4 work stations with professional equipment and power hammers. He needs a little vise and a little anvil and it has to fit in his shed.

I like mine, its cute and the kids love to work on it.

The vise / anvil combo comes apart into the vise and rail section and the anvil section as shown.

On the anvil section there is a hole just up from the bottom and close to the left "foot" in the photo. This is for a 1/2" rod to be inserted through the anvil section, through the vise rail section and out the other side of the anvil section. This is the adjustment for the opening of the jaws of the vise to handle different size objects. The hardie hole is about 1/2" square.


The anvil section is maybe 1/2" thick but hollow inside.

The assembled combo and a close view of the screw mechanism of the vise. This was only a fine spacing adjustment for the jaws and the clamping action of the vise. The adjustment scrrew actually pushes against the back of the vise jaw causing it to slide on the rail and close.

Is not a bad tool for an apartment dweller with a work bench hobby (not blacksmithing). The vise / anvil combo is a vise, an anvil, a horn, and a hardie hole all in one tool. It is definately not a heavy duty blacksmithing tool and is not designed to serve that purpose.

I have one of those
every blacksmith should have certain things even if they will never use them
1---- a traveller
2---- a flatter
3----- giant snip/shears
4------ an anvil/vise combo
5------ cone mandrel
ok I admit I actually do use the cone mandrel

"hapless" merely means unfortunate or unlucky. Which is what you would be if you tried to do any actual balcksmithing on that thing. Nothing pejorative was intended toward any person, only toward the pseudo-tool.

Drat! Now I have to make a traveler. I can forego owning the anvil/vise, (everyone can be forgiven one little shortcoming, right?), but if I also don't have a traveler I may have to quit calling myself a blacksmith. I don't suppose you'd consider a tape measure an acceptable substitute? (grin)

I use my flatter once in a while. I used to use my big shears pretty regularly when I was doing silver work, but the Beverly pretty much relegated the big shears to the status of wallflower.

Here is a variation on the anvil/vise combo. This one has a drill included

Oh, and I don't have a cone mandrel, floor model anyway, nor a traveller, but I'm a blacksmith, my t-shirt says so.

I need to amend my post to indicate that the appartment dwellers (no disrespect intended) have many hobbies that do not require heavy duty tools.

Folks sometimes work out of extremely small spaces but still do wonderful things. One older gentleman comes to mind that had general tinkering abilities and worled out of an couple of metal kitchen cabnets in his basement. He was able to sharpen knives and sissors better than anyone. He would not want and could not use a 200 pound anvil, but did have about 9 inches of rail road track he used as an anvil.

Next time your in the Big Box store, look at the vises on display. On the top of the vise body is a flat area that just invites you to pound on it. The vise in the photo has 4-1/2 inch jaws and a nice little 2x2 inch flat are that can be used for - dare we say it - an anvil face?

They are not blacksmithing tools but like the anvil / vise combo tool, they can serve a purpose. To often they are abused by doing work that is too large for the design.

I think the problem is that many of these old vise/anvils are sold to folks who are starting out with a very small tool budget at rather inflated prices as they are "antiques"; but they really are not good for heavy work and have eaten the tool budget. When you break the anvil you are SOL.

A post vise and a chunk of scrapyard steel would be a better deal (at least in central OH we used to buy postvises for $20-$50 with the higher price for ones over 100# in weight).

I've always wanted to build a traveler that looks like it was converted from an astrolabe..

Thomas

When you know what they are, they seem to be everywhere.