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I Forge Iron

Fisher dbl screw vise


Judson Yaggy

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Hi NJAnvilman Im Ron I just singed in. I think I sold you a 500 lb fisher anvil 20-25 years ago said you were starting a Fisher museum; looks like you are doing a good job. I was looking at your specs on a no 1 chain vise you say 3and one half inch jaws .I just found a chain vise with a 3in jaw it is not marked but looks like a Fisher to me. Did anyone else make this style? I collect small vises lots of hand forged. So I jumped on this little guy when I saw it Your advice or help would be great thanks Ron

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  • 7 months later...

Got another #4 today, 6" jaw size. Near mint, it still has lathe marks on the screws and cross hatching on the jaws. A good price off Craigslist because the seller had it miscatorgized and was calling it a "foot vice" My wife spotted it when looking for horses for sale, she said "You should look at this..." love that lady!

I'm posting some comparison photos of the new versus old vise because even thou they are the same size and manufacturer there are some differences that might help others identify or date other Fisher vises.

First, the markings are different. On my original vise you can only see the Trenton mark, on the new one that's gone and it's marked Fisher instead. Also, there is a date cast into the back underside of the rear jaw, 1905 in this case. Second is the most important structural change, there is a ridge extending all the way to the back of the casting covering the top screw. You can see that on my old vise there is some minor damage there, I would suggest that this was an older design flaw and that the ridge is a newer upgrade? Third (and I didn't take a photo if it) the older vise has a leg with a small foot extending toward the rear of the vise, and the new one has a leg with a typical ring/upset section like you see on almost all post vises.

One interesting detail I noticed is that the screws are modified Acme, steep ramp on one side and almost square on the other. However, the direction of the square/ramp is reversed from the top screw to the bottom screw. The square face is for clamping on the top screw, and for releasing on the bottom.

Don't really know the date of my first vise but am guessing that it is older. My logic is that the design changes are upgrades to fix older design flaws. Comments?

post-6738-0-95682700-1346550026_thumb.jppost-6738-0-67396600-1346550044_thumb.jppost-6738-0-95292600-1346550065_thumb.jppost-6738-0-75088600-1346550088_thumb.jppost-6738-0-91428900-1346550106_thumb.jp

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  • 5 years later...

Been over 5 years since the last post here and I’m hoping you guys are still around!  

I came across this double screw chain vice recently that I am trying to identify.  From everything I’ve read, sizes, weight, etc....  it seems like it’s an early FISHER #2.   I have not been able to find any actual photos of a #2 online, only the later vices #3+.   There are no names on this vice and the only numbers are a small punched 21 in two spots.  

4191A998-9269-4283-93D0-008B22FFD34F.jpeg

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DB40EC67-6FB8-4996-A3B9-AC2FE6784521.jpeg

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8975D3FD-1E0B-4927-89B1-DAE2AC84FE19.jpeg

8525CA38-7A66-47A3-9F7A-79C6ECA8D7C5.jpeg

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