I'm not going be able to leave everything permanently set up anywhere. I'm sure the
homeowners association does not allow a blacksmith's shop and I'd like to be able
to lock it up securely anyway.

I need ideas for a mounting system that would allow me to firmly mount a post vice
and to be able to easily remove it and store it locked up in the backyard shed.

A post set into the ground and.....?


I'm not really thinking portable so much as removable....

On the post fabricated or purchase a reese style trailer socket (2 in x 2 in) is common. You make up the mating plate for the vice, bolt the vice to the plate and weld the 2 in x 2 in male onto the plate.

In our shop the layout table has sockets around it perimeter so we can move the vices and have a clear surface. Photo attached.

Peter

Mount it to a 30 or 55 gallon drum, mount a drain plug or hosebib to the lowest point you can on the drum and fill with water. Stable vise, and a reasonably light structure when you drain the water.

I'm not going be able to leave everything permanently set up anywhere. I'm sure the
homeowners association does not allow a blacksmith's shop and I'd like to be able
to lock it up securely anyway.

I need ideas for a mounting system that would allow me to firmly mount a post vice
and to be able to easily remove it and store it locked up in the backyard shed.

A post set into the ground and.....?


I'm not really thinking portable so much as removable....

Where do you live, in a prison where you are worried that the guards are going to shake you down at bedtime? I don't think you are talking about a blacksmith's shop but rather a nice little hobby that you have. To the dogs with the association. Does it say in your bylaws that you can't have a vise? This is still America (although barely these days).

When I moved last my wife and I looked at some places with rather severe homeowners associations. They dictated exterior AND interior paint schemes even!

We bought outside city limits, heck only plumbing gets inspected around here! (they are pretty serious about septic and sealing off old wells)

I fabbed up a mobile stand that is pretty stout. I can use it in the garage, in the driveway, on the lawn, lent it to my neighbor for a day...here it is, other good stuff in that thread.



If yours has a short or broken leg, or another approach.


Phil

Knock out the wedge and gib key and remove the vise.

Knock out the wedge and gib key and remove the vise.

Yes yes yes!

Knock out the wedge and gib key and remove the vise.

Thanks Frank, Keep it simple. I think people don't appreciate the technology in some of this old items. It seems a lot of people are tring to make a quick change die set up for power hammers also. You just can't do better than a good key/wedge.

Thanks Frank, Keep it simple. I think people don't appreciate the technology in some of this old items. It seems a lot of people are tring to make a quick change die set up for power hammers also. You just can't do better than a good key/wedge.

OK.... you got me.... I was probably over thinking this. Making it a more complicated question that it needed to be by trying to do creative..... Its not like I do not have wooden furniture that uses pegs and wedges that I have made....

EDIT: ( I have already satisfied the "you learn something new everyday " thing )

I can at least use the excuse that I don't have the mounting plate and honestly didn't know I was missing it
until I started looking at a Google image search.... I can make one though.....

Knock out the wedge and gib key and remove the vise.

The beauty in simplicity!

However, don't underestimate the draconian control of a homeowner's association. They may have a fit about a post even.

Phil

What's a "homeowner's association"? Sounds horrible. IMHO blacksmiths benefit from living where we can build, burn, or blow up anything that doesn't hurt anyone else. ;).

On a more serious note, if your vise isn't of the wedged variety do a search on IFI for the "Gozinta" modular tooling concept. Basically you mount your tools onto a square tube that slides into a slightly larger tube fastened to the Earth or some other immovable object. Set screws or wedges lock the tubes together.

My brother moved into a gated community in Southern California, and somehow got elected president of the homeowners association. They met periodically and had Roberts Rules of Order. Brother got upset fairly early because of the many covenants. There were controls on what type of garden flowers to plant, what color paint to use, and what kind of fence could be erected. He was drawn into being a sort of combination judge/policeman. He and his wife, both of retirement age, finally moved out into a nice residential town with their own home and fewer regulations.

A homeowners association in KY? Do they all have banjos?

Clinton "A homeowners association in KY? Do they all have banjos? "

No, those that have an address ending in an odd number are required to play a jug, washtub bass, or washboard with thimbles. Wear worn out blue jeans, checkered shirts, red suspenders, battered hat with brim; no overalls and feedstore caps allowed. Mandatory practice is Wednesday, 7pm, by the pool. There will be a head count. First missed practice will result in loss of pool privileges, second will be a $100 fine.

If you think that was arbitrary and ridiculous, you ought to read some of the real restrictions and covenants. A local HOA officer has angered so many residents, she has to have video monitoring of her home 24/7, and an armed guard outside her office.

For those of you who have never seen, heard of, or had to deal with a HOA: Thank God!

If the mere hint of one, or even restrictive covenants in a deed, is brought up when looking at property: RUN! Run like the wind!

Knock out the wedge and gib key and remove the vise.

I'm so glad you said that. I was reading through all the responses, wondering about all these contraptions and why nobody mentioned simply knocking out the wedge. Then I started doubting myself, wondering what everyone else knew that I didn't! It was a nervous few minutes....

Where I used to live the local historic district forbade a homeowner to paint their house it's *ORIGINAL* colour as it wasn't one of the "approved historic colours".

Had another friend live out in the country on 7 acres of land that the covenant said had to be mowed once a week all summer lone---lost each weekend doing that.

Things can get crazy fast!

Glad I live in the outer boonies! Haven't mowed all summer and don't plan to. Hard enough walking down to the mailbox right now. To get back to the original subject. My demo vise is mounted on an old Chevy wheel. I welded a section of three inch pipe to one side and the peg sits in one of the lug holes. Easily rolled to where ever I want. A couple of rebar pegs lock it down when in use outside.

Here in Deadwood Oregon,NOBODY tells anybody what to do and nobody turns anybody in for ANYTHING. I make all the smoke I want. And THEY smoke all what they want.. All are good neighbors.

 

 Oh: The Vise removal thing! A nice young man is using half of my shop. He needed room to swing and bend a long bar last week while I was gone. He spent a long time getting to the nuts and bolts to remove my vise and felt REALLY embarrassed when I showed him the simplicity of knocking out the wedge and pulling gib key!!