Greetings all

First post at iforgeiron. Wondering if anyone
knows what the ears ? or shoulders ? or lugs ?
on a post vise are for, or if they are remnants
of the process of making them or if they were
made to serve a particular purpose.

The part(s) I am thinking about are the part
that projects out just above the screw on
the outside, pointing towards the user. This
vise here:

Old World Anvils - Blacksmith Vise Post Vise

shows them very well - at the base or
bottom of the jaw and just above the
screw.

This one barely has any at all:
http://www.thckk.org/post-vise-kk.jpg

On some vises they are really pronounced
while on others they're vestigal at best.
Thanks
Seamus

Howdy Seamus and welcome to IFI! As to your ?'s, I believe they are designed to protect the screw from miss/glancing hammer blows. BUT I sure could be wro...er mistaking... BTW, where ya from? East Texas boy here.

On the old vices, the protusion is for deflecting filings, scale etc. from getting into the moving parts of the vises screw, on the modern stuff its probably some kind of adaption or something. Modern anvils from Europe have some weird adaptions compared to old anvils also.

I agree with Jr. In the normal working range of many vises, the screw remains mostly covered by the box and/or a separate shield. The "wings" that come off the back profile of the jaws is a built-in deflector to keep junk from grinding into the screw/washer/box.

FWIW, I bought a leg vise many years ago that was complete and fully functioning except the back of the box was broken off and the end of the screw exposed for a good two inches. I capped a piece of 2 inch black pipe and welded it to what was left, then screwed a grease fitting into the end. After an initial filling of grease, I could close the vise and hit it with a few pumps, which would push grease from the inside out and often any trash that had collected on the outermost threads. Might not be 100% period but it's a good way to keep everything clean and lubed.

Wasn't until after you mentioned it that I noticed they were even there :>)

Hey Mr. Dean -

I'm trying to get together a "Hello" for the
intro thread/forum/thing...Gimme a bit.

Meantime, southern, eastern central Indiana
Due east of Indy and south of Richmond
less than a mile from the OhiO border...
Quad States, here I come?

Doggoneit man PLEASE don't call me "MR", makes me sound older and wiser than I am. hehe. (I was MR. DEAN when I taught martial arts, but that was a while back) Now with MR. IRNSRGN and MR. WOOLRIDGE, that's appropriate. I agree with the 2 of them on the reason for the "ears" now that it was mentioned, makes better since.

Seamus, say howdy when you see the "disreputable red hat" at Quad-State.

Thomas

On the old vices, the protusion is for deflecting filings, scale etc. from getting into the moving parts of the vises screw, on the modern stuff its probably some kind of adaption or something. Modern anvils from Europe have some weird adaptions compared to old anvils also.

See, I have a fan running so the filings fall right away off the vice.