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Post Vise Value


Mount'neer

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Initial howdy-do here,

I've come across a post vise at an antique show, and while aged it appears to be in good shape and not abused. I'm a green as they come to your hobby/art/profession; I've had a small forge for some years and was actually seeking out an anvil when I found this vise. The seller wants $80, does this sound reasonable and is there anything else in particular I need to be aware of before jumping in?

Thanks and love this site!

Mount'neer
WestERN Virginny

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Make sure that all the parts are there and that they are in good shape:
- The jaws line up and don't close unevenly.
- the threads are in good sharp condition
- the threaded rod is not broken off, etc.

I saw a vise the other day for sale, here is a list of not-so-obvious problems that made me decide not to buy it.
- the jaws were ground flat so as to eliminate problems with them and make them meet
- the top of the jaws, one was higher than the other.
- the screw-box was from a smaller vise, and lay across the bottom of the openings.
- the spring was from a smaller vise.

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in my opion 80 is high evenfor good one (unless its huge)but then again it would really depend on were you are located in this world were i live these pop up all the time i just bought 6 vises a week or so ago for 150 but 2 were perfect and out of the other 4 i can make 2 out of them but its alot of work to get them in working order

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At the 2008 Quad-State I saw over a dozen post vises for US$40. Out here they generally start at $100. Where you are at-?????

Pretty much everything can be fixed on a postvise; but the screw and screwbox are difficult and a pain to try to re-do. So check them out thoroughly!

One thing to remember is that the jaws of a post vise are not usually parallel until it's opened a ways so when it's closed there will be a gap along the bottom of the jaw---this is so they will be parallel when they are in "using" position.

Size also makes a difference, $80 for an 8" jaw postvise in good condition is a STEAL *anywhere*

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Gentlemen,

Thank you much for your insights. I went back and examined the vise based on your input, and considered it to be in good shape. While I was talking to the owner someone else came up asking about the price and was told $85; the price had increased slightly overnight. The inquirer replied that that was a good price as he had paid more than that for his. At that point I balked, then walked.

I kept the seller's contact information and may yet make him an offer. My reason for going to this antique show was to search for an anvil, and saw nary a one. When I saw the vise I knew this was a tool I lacked but would end up needing. I need to fess up here and now that I am a complete greenhorn in the area for which this forum exists, having had a small forge with a Champion blower for perhaps ten years and nothing more. In recent months I decided it was time to jump in, and in that time have been diligently seeking an anvil. That has been a most frustrating venture, until yesterday when I found an M&H Armitage Mouse Hole that met my minimally educated standards. It is stamped 1.0.24 (136 pounds, I reckon?), if someone during its lifetime stamped "130" on it, and my bathroom scale is telling me it weighs 127 pounds. At a firm price of $275 I may have payed too much, but I am comfortable with the decision and even excited.

I apologize for my wordiness here but I guess this serves as some kind of introduction; I do expect to be hanging out on this forum and likely coming up with all sorts of questions. I appreciate the timely and helpful responses here, and these serve as another example of a great and unexpected benefit in getting into "smiting": there seems to be a lot of great folks involved, my kinda people.

Mount'neer
WestERN (make that Afton) Virginny

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.... there seems to be a lot of great folks involved, my kinda people.....Mount'neer WestERN (make that Afton) Virginny


Welcome to the wonderful world of rusty metal. Don't forget to use the User CP to show your location, so people can better provide answers tailored to where you live.

Also, don't forget to come up and see us some time. Blacksmith Guild of Central Maryland Schedule The guild also offers classes BGCM Classes

If you don't come up and visit, we will hunt you down... and throw a penny in your fire! :D
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I have a tool dealer at our local fleamarket that I do not patronize just because he had a bunch of tools with prices marked on them that were at the high end for out here; but when I tried to buy one I needed he said that that wasn't the price the price was actually higher. I decided that we just don't suit and avoid his table now.

Out here in NM smithing stuff is pretty rare as we didn't have much population back in the old days; but I have still managed to find two postvises on craigslist in the last year for $50 apiece, (1 a 4" and the other a 5.5" weighing 80 pounds.)

When I left Ohio I was just beginning to see folks wanting e-bay pricing at the fleamarket instead of local market price. I'd tell them to sell it on e-bay.

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Thank you AGAIN for your insights on the vise. I didn't know that anvils (can we classify anvils under "Tools" for the moment?) lose weight with time, most interesting. I can imagine them getting smaller from compressing blows and such. I got to worrying about it once weighing 136 pounds, then 130 when someone stamped that figure into it, and now 127 on my bathroom scale, as in someone doing nine pounds of cosmetic dressing to the face; now wouldn't that stink?:o Regardless, I'll likely be posting a couple of images and questions rising from paranoia on the anvil forum over the weekend.

Mr. UnicornForge, per your suggestion I did some updating at the CP, and would love to get up your way. Hmmm... a penny in the fire, that's not sounding like a gesture of goodwill. Is that a blacksmith's version of terrorism, a smithy-leveling reaction to coinage meeting extreme heat, or just a less serious form of "gotcha"?

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.....Hmmm... a penny in the fire,.... a smithy-leveling reaction to coinage meeting extreme heat, or just a less serious form of "gotcha"?


Depending on the processes you are doing at the forge, a penny in the fire can maybe be a source of annoyance as it is reputed to prevent a smith from forge-welding until he cleans it out of his fire. I don't know anyone who tried it, so it might be a smithing myth. ;)
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  • 1 year later...

It depends. 4" jaw vises are fairly common, but if you're seriously blacksmithing, it's nice to have a 5" jaw and above. True confessions. I have a leg vise fetish. I saw one on evilBay about 7 or 8 years ago. It had 7" jaws and I could tell it was a Peter Wright by its nice lines. I asked the seller for a photo of the screw, and he complied. It looked almost mint. The vise was missing its spring; U-shackle; jib key; wedge; and mount.

I bid and got the vise for about $175.00. Additionally, the shipping was about $45.00. But Hey! I wanted it, and I knew I could make the needed parts. I got it installed right away, and it is my personal vise. I'm not sorry I spent that much, and I'm not sorry for the sweat equity. In use, it has paid me back many times over.

To each his own.

http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith Schools

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I know there is generally more supply in the US then there is demand so many good deals can be had. But think about this, for the people that have the ability to make one (large forge n anvil, power hammer or striker, ext) What price would it take for you to make a leg vise? Seams like a full days worth of work to me. so near minimum wage at least 100 dollars and that's not counting materials, probably also near 100.

What ever you pay, I am almost sure that you'll be happy as soon as you use the vise as long as you mount it vary firmly to a bench or table. Its just wonderful to use a vise that can take a hit and wont move an inch!

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It would take me thousands of dollars to refine a gallon of gasoline but I still won't be willing to pay $100 for one.

Over paying screws up the market for everyone and just because you can overpay doesn't mean that everyone can.



vary true, it would take my millions to generate my own power with a nuclear plant, any other things you can think of that would take tones more money to make that you buy cheeped???

A forged post vise is not a overly complex thing to make, it is a large forging and would take time and skill but its not something that's out of question to make. I don't believe that 100 or 200 is drastically over priced for a good vise, say 5in or larger in good condition.

Its beginning to get annoying how you keep personally attacking my post, I am not making any snide remarks at you and all my post have been relevant to the thread and not even close to inappropriate or out of line.
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I have had a feeling that there has been a "bubble" brewing in the cost of smithing tools as more and more are pushed higher and higher for no reason---the availability has not decreased over the last 10 years, in fact I feel it has increased.

I feel for the beginning smith who is now faced with people pushing items at prices I don't think are warranted---and I'm living in a area that has few smithing tools in it!

Some folks have suggested that since the *new* cost of such items is so high the *used* cost should be much higher than it is. This argument is like looking at the cost of new cars and suggesting all the $1000 cars for sale around here should really be sold for $5000---none of them would sell! Cost is supposed to be a balance of supply and demand; however some people get ideas or base their prices on other peoples un-believable ones (or inapplicable ones---a friend once saw a plain old set of tongs priced at US$45 by an antique dealer because she saw a set of tongs documented as having been forged by Henry Ford that sold for $90 and so the $5 dollar tongs *MUST* have been a good deal at $45!). If a new person doesn't know that you can still find things for a decent price they may think they are getting a great deal as they overpay. I am here to help the new people.

You may want to review the tulip crisis as a historical example of an item whose sale values were talked up far beyond their intrinsic value.

And while I cannot build a nuclear reactor I could refine gasoline from oil with my skills and tools; be a bloody mess and lousy return as I couldn't do a high pressure cracker. I was not trying to attack you personally; but I probably was trying to point out that I didn't feel your argument was sound. Personally I think that postvises have been way undervalued as they are a more important piece of equipment than a london pattern anvil is for a smith. I don't think I would serve the craft as a whole by pushing their prices higher.

Presently I only have 12 postvises; the highest I have paid for any of them was $75 for a 6.5" vise and in recent times and here in tool poor NM to boot. (And yes they are all for using in my shop + the one on loan to the Fine Arts Metals Classroom at the local CC)

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Thomas, You are looking at anvil prices from a pile of anvils. If you were looking from a beginners spot of having no anvils the prices might not seem so far out of line!

There is also the factor of "walking around money" meaning some people just budget more money for their hobbies!

Bill Davis (who also sees a lot of anvils selling for more than I am willing to pay)

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In my world a good, 'bench ready'' vise is worth $2 per pound and up. A 4" vise
is usually around 50lbs and a 6" usually weighs around 100lbs. By 'bench ready' I mean
that all parts are there and fit and work together and it can be put up and used
without further ado.

This is cheap in todays dollars.

Cheers.

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Thomas,

In addition, the time and energy it would take to find a vise for even half the price would probably be worth WAY more than forty bucks. The above post makes a good point about having 12 vises and not willing to pay a certain price for number 13. Like in your reply regarding the price you would pay for gas. In general nobody would pay 100 for a gallon of gas, but we would if that was the price and you needed to get to the ER or to a family wedding or such. Indiviual perspective and circumstance are important.

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Good points; but when I was getting started I never paid more than US$20 for a post vise. When I had a few and was higher on the wage scale is when I actually paid $50 for a large vise. (About a decade ago I was getting ready to shell out $25 for a post vise at a fleamarket in OH when a friend of mine drew me aside and told me that if I paid $25 for it then the dealer would want $25 for any vise he had. My friend had been buying them for $20 from that guy and so I counter offered $20 and got the vise and saved my friend from paying a higher price on any future ones.)

My first anvil was a 93# Arm and Hammer for $75 (which was the cost of the first powerhammer I had bought a 25# LG! back in the early 1980's)

I do admit that I have a time/money budget for "finding stuff". (I go to the local fleamarket every Friday and get $20 a week to spend on my hobby---why I have to get things cheap! I also consider gas to go to the fleamarket part of my "entertainment budget")

However the method I have had the most luck with costs me nothing! I *talk* with people as I go around my daily life, telling them that I am a smith and am interested in finding smithing equipment. A fellow at my church had a small Swedish cast steel anvil in MINT shape he *gave* me. One of the dealers at a fleamarket has an uncle who wanted to sell an anvil---515 Fisher, mint condition, $350. Another dealer had a small hardy in his junk---I bought it and asked about the anvil it went to---back home on the carport, picked it up later that day and sold it the next day to a starting smith with a $20 mark-up.

I also wear a funny hat so folks recognize me and will even call me over to tell me that they have heard of something I might be interested in. (They also know that I won't be paying "antique" or "collector" prices; but will pay in cash, *now* for things! I've often overspent my allowance and had to coast for a while before getting anything else.)

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  • 3 years later...

Check the threads by unscrewing the male portion from its screw box and looking at them.

 

Most old leg vises had a square thread. The raised portions were square in section and their corresponding recesses were square shaped. Metal to metal wear, over time, will radius the sharp corners of the squares. With lots of wear, the threads will appear nearly half round in section. Not good. You're looking for relatively sharp corners.

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