Got my first leg vice. Please help identify it and suggestions on leg repair

[caotropheus]

Greetings gentleman

Here it is my first leg vice. Managed to get it for about 100 USD. It is around 70 cm in length, 15 cm jaws, it closes well and the jaws are in good condition.







Weight in Kg




The screw thread is not brand new, but still works




Detail of the mounting bits





The vice come without leg and it seems that it was not cut, but was broken for some reason




I could see no inscriptions except some blurred letters/numbers in 4 different places that look like

6LVIS
LV18
6LV3
6LV3

Please guys help me identify the origin of this "creature". Also, every time I try to assemble it in a special built stand, the more I feel the need for a leg to simplify all the assembly issue and mount the vice straight away on the working bench. So I am considering welding a leg to the vice and I would like to hear some of your suggestions about the issue.

Thanks

[MLMartin]

I don't know about the make, it dose not look like any American or English made vices, even though it is the same general shape. I would certainly weld a new solid leg to the vice. Having the leg planted firmly to the ground will make a world of difference in how the vice performs when hammered on.

[Frank Turley]

That is a nice big, ol' vise. I can't give you a manufacturer or maker. Most vises wind up being 38" or 39" long, overall with the attached leg. I think that you could weld on a leg by using multiple passes with electric arc or oxy-acetylene.



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

[David Einhorn]

I would definitely weld a leg onto it as that would greatly increase both the ease of mounting it to your bench and would also increase what can be accomplished with the vise. The vises of that jaw width that I have experience with tend to be within the 45 to 47.6kg range with its leg; a 10kg leg sounds a bit large. Since the stub where the leg was appears to be rusted and mushroomed, it may have been cut off and then the end mushroomed against its support during usage.

[fciron]

ID: leg vise
Age: 20th century based on the parting line on the ball-end of the screw and square ends on the handle.

Weld a leg on there and get to work. If you're gonna be hammering on it (or using an angle grinder) you might consider making it a little lower, I find most leg vises too tall to work comfortably for anything but filing, and I prefer a bench vise for filing. If it's your only vise then the 38-39 inches suggested is correct. Traditional wisdom on filing is that the work be held at about the height of your elbow. (So that you're forearm and the file are horizontal.)

[Frank Turley]

I took another look and although it's hard to tell from the photo, I wonder whether you're missing the thrust washer that goes just in front of the screw head. Interestingly, for me anyway, the early shop made vises had washers that were forge welded of flat stock bent the "hard way." I was going to make one at one time, and I looked at some washers from other vises. There was slight evidence of forge welding. I tried it, multiplying Pi times the mean (average) diameter of the projected washer. Because the bending is such a small radius, you may need to cut the ends of the flat at an oblique, so that it's easier to mate the ends before welding.

When first approaching the idea of making the thrust washer, I admit to not having the mindset of an old time smith. I was thinking of taking some flat plate and sawing or chiseling the outside diameter and perhaps drilling the central hole. But studying the old washers gave me the mindset I needed.

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

[caotropheus]

Guys, thank you very much for your kind replies.

@ Frank Turley, I checked the vice and yes, the thrust washer is there. Actually, except for the leg, I think the vice is complete.