Post-Vise Repair

[D Justin Hamilton]

Hello to all. I have another repair related question that I wanted to throw out here, to see if my thinking is right. Recently, I bought a used post-vise on ebay. It seems to be in good used shape, except for the leg. It is ever-so-slightly bent at the bottom. My guess would be that it is out 5 degrees or less. I am thinking that I should secure it, try to heat the bend with a torch, and then use a "cheater bar" to try and true it up, but I wanted to get some more experienced advice before I went and did something that I will regret.

I will try and get a picture posted on here tomorrow if I need to.

Thanks in advance for the help.

[Brasilikilt]

Your plan sounds fine to me, but given the fact that a lot of these vises are made or fairly soft wrought iron you may not even need to heat it.
I bought a pretty rough vise off of Ebay a couple years back which had similar issues with the leg.
I figured that since the leg was likely bent while cold, It can be also straightened while cold. All I had to do was disassemble the vise and set the leg on the table of my anvil and rotate the vise leg while giving it a few good whacks with a hammer. It straightened right up and have had no problems with 2 years of use.
This being said, my vise is a fairly light 40 (ish) pounder with 4" jaws. On heavier vises with a thicker leg, your idea would probably work more efficiently :-)

[ThomasPowers]

I generally do this sort of thing cold with my screw press. The worst that can happen is that it fails and I get to forge weld it back together!

[clinton]

Have someone hold it on top of your anvil and use a sledge hammer, a couple of good whacks should do it

[D Justin Hamilton]

Thanks for the response. That, I will try.