Ozark Nick Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Found a leg vise yesterday and snatched it up. I was curious I thought blacksmith's vises had to have smooth jaws, but the jaws on this one have scores like a regular bench vise. The pivot hinge for the outward jaw is pretty stiff. Unscrew it a couple turns and the jaw doesn't move have to move it with my hand. I'm guessing the spring is supposed to handle that, so does that mean the spring is bad? I can't find any markings on it except for a large number "1" under the mounting plate. It's definitely seen years of use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seldom (dick renker) Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Before I would get to crazy I think I would give it a good lub. There is obviou rust howing around the screw stem and that could also be in the hinge pin. Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MLMartin Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 I would recommend taking the pin all the way out and giving the pin and whole area a good coating of light oil to help free it up. It should not be so tight that you cant open it by hand. If its that tight then the parts are ether rusted up or some one torqued down to hard on the nut at some point. You can tell its been to tight for some time by the hammer marks on the inside of the eye of the movable jaw. You can see where some one smacked it to get it to open. The spring is probably just fine. If you look at it you can see that the mount has slid down the post some, If you slide it back up to the top it will be resting on the upper part of the leaf spring and force the spring to push much harder on the movable leg. It also looks like the front jaw is slightly bent at the top of the eye. Do the jaws meet together flush at the top when closed? If not then its probably bent. This can be straightened over the anvil with a low red heat and the help of the striker and a flatter. Other than that it looks to be in pretty good shape, keep it oiled up at the main screw and pivot pin and it should last many many years Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozark Nick Posted June 7, 2012 Author Share Posted June 7, 2012 So hey, here I am to dredge this back out of the depths. I finally got around to working on this thing today. I got the pivot bolt out. I cleaned it up and oiled the heck out of it and now the jaw operates they way it ought to. Yay! Tomorrow I'm going to make a portable stand for it so I can finally use it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 If it's your first one you will soon be kicking yourself that you didn't get it operational months ago! I tell beginning smiths that a good post vise is much more important than a london pattern anvil! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozark Nick Posted June 7, 2012 Author Share Posted June 7, 2012 Got a stand made this morning. I do wish I had done this a long while back, Thomas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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