Hardy Vice

[Avadon]

I'm curious if anyone has ever made like a hardy vice. I've seen people put hardies in post vices but I gather that there's not very much mass in a post vice, especially when compared to a the mass that's normally in an anvil. So i'm curious if anyone ever welded up a very heavy hardy tool holder that doesn't just hold the hardy tool but clamps it in either one or two axis as to hold any hardy of any common size. If you've never seen anything like this, anyone have an ideas for a good way to go about this?

I've even thought about maybe making my own post vice that is just a stand alone vice made out of very solid steel and where the walls themselves clamp together instead of just a toothed area. Thoughts?

[bigfootnampa]

I'm curious if anyone has ever made like a hardy vice. I've seen people put hardies in post vices but I gather that there's not very much mass in a post vice, especially when compared to a the mass that's normally in an anvil. So i'm curious if anyone ever welded up a very heavy hardy tool holder that doesn't just hold the hardy tool but clamps it in either one or two axis as to hold any hardy of any common size. If you've never seen anything like this, anyone have an ideas for a good way to go about this?

I've even thought about maybe making my own post vice that is just a stand alone vice made out of very solid steel and where the walls themselves clamp together instead of just a toothed area. Thoughts?

SOME post leg vises have plenty of mass... the larger ones will be over a hundred pounds (REALLY big ones up to 250 pounds). Certainly that is more than plenty for holding most hardy tools as they are rarely intended for very heavy hammering against. You could certainly make a good hardy holder though and this could be efficient as it frees the anvil from that duty. Clamping action might be nice but is clearly a luxury. Just a solid socket would work well also. Stake plates are a similar solution that mfrs have been making. Don't dismiss the post leg vises though... even the smaller ones like mine (4" jaws) have 30 to 40 pounds of mass and will take fierce beatings daily for several human lifetimes.

[ThomasPowers]

How about just making the post vise hardy holder to go the entire distance of the jaws and have a cross bar on the ends to prevent it from canting in use---sort of like an I.

If you are doing really heavy work you don't want to be using a hardy anyway---not a good idea to be using a 12# sledge on a hardy on an anvil---I own one missing the heel. Far better to be using a hot cut with the piece on the face of the anvil with the mass directly underneath it---or to just have a large slab of scrap as a "cutting anvil".

[Avadon]

Good ideas.. A 250# leg vice/post vice is not a bad idea. I forgot to mention that i'm looking for a standalone, portable option so it won't be bolted to a table, hence the necessity for a really heavy clamp/vice hardy tool holder. I guess the leg vice going up to that weight is going to be a pretty penny. Are there plans to make your own leg vice? If so I could probably buy just some of the top thread parts and fabricate all the rest of the no-brainer parts and bolt/weld it all to some sort of really heavy pedestal, maybe sand filled, with some wheels I can ratchet down or lean over so I can wheel it around like a handtruck.

[K. Bryan Morgan]

Here's an idea from the American Blacksmith and Motor Shop magazine from 1919. Pretty innovative if you ask me. The plan and description are on page 24. I love google books

http://books.google.com/books?id=1rrmAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA24&lpg=PA24&dq=Homemade+blacksmithing+post+vise&source=bl&ots=EVR76Ez5Az&sig=C7tcgwyeY2kaheOZ5XxQvcWMGK8&hl=en&ei=XyuMS9mfEY6isgPpmZWGAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CCcQ6AEwCTgK#v=onepage&q=&f=true

[ThomasPowers]

Of course a cast iron machinist's vise is NOT made for hammering on.

I do use a variation of that for filing on knives---I have a machinist vise that bolts to the crank-up table of my large drill press so I can adjust height and presentation of it easily.

Not very portable but many treadle hammers are set up to take hardy tooling.

Portable and stout and secure tend not to intersect very much in my experience.

[Avadon]

Well does anyone know where I can find plans to build my own leg vice? This may be a good start. :)

[Mainely,Bob]

There was a fairly stout vise made from channel in one of the posts here awhile back.Can`t say for sure but I think it may have been by Territorial Forge or someone close to that name.Maybe under the "Show Me Your Vise" thread.
Hofi(least I think it was him) also posted pics of an industrial sized vise that is bigger than anything I`d seen to date and that includes things I`ve seen in shipyards,heavy manufacturing and oilfields.

[Dave Budd]

how portable is portable? I've got a 5" jaw legvice (probably 70 or 80 lbs) that fits on a cast iron stand and table. I picked it up in a small car from the shop that I found it in and it has moved around the workshop in the past, but I wouldn't call a 200lb+ set up portable.

If you want a vice that fits to the anvil, for clamping things (such as for holding one end of a bar whilst twisting or when doing tooling on an Ugly style face), then weld a stake to the bottom of a machine vice (or drill press vice) and slot it in your hardy. As others very wisely say don't go beating on it though! If you are after a vice to beat on that is portable, then I guess either a home made tripod with a leg vice mounted on it or a post that you drive into the ground where ever you want to use it.

[ThomasPowers]

Now they did make huge old vises for chiseling iron---the old chipping vises often into the 100-200 pound range in weight. But they are far more expensive than a postvise that will take the same hammering.

Sort of like all the questions we get about how to use an expensive and wear-outable tool like an air compressor to blow a forge that can be done better with a cheap fan...

[Avadon]

Yah I think your talking about this thread. I'm thinking of something very similar to that now. I just wish the bottom leg of the post vice was much heavier like a 2" thick piece of steel or something. Looks like 1/2"

[Grafvitnir]

Hi Avadon.

Not exactly a leg vise but it may work.

http://www.abana.org/downloads/education/VerticalVise.pdf

Hope it helps.

Rubén

[Avadon]

Hi Avadon.

Not exactly a leg vise but it may work.

http://www.abana.org/downloads/education/VerticalVise.pdf

Hope it helps.

Rubén

YES THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR!! Thank you Ruben! Bookmarked it, and i'm printing it as we speak. This will work perefectly and this way I can really beef up the support structure and customize it just how I want it. After all, really all I want is something that clamps shut and is heavy. Glad this plan exists. :D

[Frank Turley]

If the hardie shank is smaller than the anvil hardie hole, you can cut a length of appropriate thickness angle iron, thin a small portion of the the top edge of the angle, and bend it outward at a right angle. When dropped into the existing hardie hole, it makes the hole smaller, yet the hole is still square.

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

[ThomasPowers]

For larger gaps find a piece of square tubing that fits in the hardy hole. Cut down a bit at the corners and bend the flaps out to make a drop in hardy hole reducer. (My anvil's 1.5" hardy holes (yup *2*!) has a couple of these nested in one to bring it down to a more common tooling shank size)