I've been searching the archives for photos of portable vise stands that ya'll take to demos.  I've found a few, but I'm sure there are many others.  I want to build one that is solid, doesn't take up too much space when travelling and doesn't weigh a ton.  I was at a Civil War reeneactment in South Carolina last weekend and saw this one.   

 

 

 

I didn't get the smith's name, but I liked the rig he had.  Maybe he's on here and will chime in.  I'd like to see other ideas, please post a photo or link to a photo of your portable vise stand.  Thanks!

 

 

 

 

this is mine its  a nice little 4 inch vice the stand and vice weigh in around 85lb the bottom third of the center pipe is filled with metal filings and capped with junk a lead

the stand is a a tripod (the center of the stand is about 1 1/2 inches off the ground) so slightly springy but for the work you should be doing on a 4inch vice it is quite nice the legs have holes in them so you can stake them down in needed and it has been very stable on all uneven surfaces that i have put it on as you can see it has hooks and hanging rails for tools and tooling

the second one here is one i made for a teaching shop i work at and is a 5 3/4 inch vice and the weighs in at 140lb bit hefty for porting around but very very stable and nice to be able to set up out side and on the uneven slab of the shop

on a side note i was going for cheap so these were both made from scrap on hand

Hi ndnchf!

 

Thank you very much for sharing those pictures!

I have got the same problem and still having some vises laying around without stands.

Do you have any further pictures or detail shots of the blacksmith's vise?

 

I hope the Blacksmith from Civil War reeneactment will show up.

Not that I do demo's but my vise stand is sort of portable, the base is a heavy, cast iron wheel with 4 grooves for V belts. A pretty sturdy steel cafe table is attached to the wheel with long U Bolts around the spokes.

 

table top is bolted thru the larger vise bracket, and both vise legs are captured with yet more U Bolts that are drilled thru the cast iron wheel rim.

 

the whole contraption is pretty heavy, yet rolls on the edges of the cast iron wheel to pivot around the concrete floot while well.  I usually pull the vise stand out and add a leaky bucket of scrap and a bag of coal piled on the base to add some more weight.

Thanks for the reply, some great ideas here.  I don't have any more photos of the stand I posted, but I think the center post was 6" square tubing.  I like how the legs fold up for transport. 

 

Any others out there?

For demos I have a stand made from 2x4 that is screwed to a hunk of plywood that is then set under my quench tank.  It works, but is not really ideal.  I need to come up with a better plan.  Using the tank for "ballast" works well however.  ( quench tank is 1/2 a whiskey barrel!)

As I remember the correct vise for the AMERICAN civil war was a wagon tongue vise and a regular post vise was not a standard item.

 

For the English Civil War (the 17th century one not Stephan and Matilda),  a portable vise was probably not used as they would use a local smithy if at all possible.

 

For the Spanish civil war I know of no travelling smithing set up.

 

For just travelling demos I have used a 55 gallon drum with a section of 2x12 lagged into the open top (cut to fit inside the rim).

When you get on-site fill with water and you have a 400#+ vise stand.  At the end of the day remove the bung---get one with a bung near the bottom on the side! and you have a *light* easily loaded stand you can store stuff in.  Also  all that water makes site owners feel that you have fire safety well in hand.

 

I also have made a couple of legs that bolt into the old style curved mounting straps and go to the ground at an angle where they are bent into a step and then a point to go in the ground---this is rather light duty, though getting a couple of lads to stand on the step does wonders 

Here is a picture of a portable set-up. The board makes it a little bulky but you are adding your weight to it when using the vise to help stabilize it. Possibly the board could be bolted on in the field to make the basic vise with post easier to transport.

You can also make a forge cart with wheels and add it to that. See the attached picture. The angle is not the best since I was really taking a picture of the adjustable rest.

More good ideas.  I like that adjustable rest too.  Keep the photos coming!

Pulled this from the Gallery. I Think this is the last one Brian and I made. This was before we put racks on it.

 

http://www.iforgeiron.com/gallery/image/35346-striking-vise-and-stand/

 

As I remember the correct vise for the AMERICAN civil war was a wagon tongue vise and a regular post vise was not a standard item.........

 

Here is a picture of my wagon tongue tongue vise mounted on the stock of my Civil War era Traveling Forge. 

 

The smaller Civil War army "portable forge" had a moderate sized vise with a stem so that it could mount in the hardy hole. Diagram of the U.S. government diagram of this vise is also shown below.

 

When I didn't have the Traveling Forge I just used either a small clamp-on vise, or a wrench with a stem welded on the back with the stem stuck into the hardy hole for twisting and bending small demo items. 

 

I guess it depends on the size of the projects that you are demonstrating, and how much in heavy tools you need for your projects.

Here is mine based on Brian's style. I saw another cool one a week ago that is a thick walled square tube tall enough for the vice. A piece of plate welded to the top about 12x12 with a tool rack made of rebar. The plate is off set so that one side of the plate is even with the edge of the tube. I think the tube was 5 or 6 inch square.The post vise was mounted right next to the main post. The post had two lawnmower sized (I am sure hand truck wheels would work also) numatic wheels so when tipped it would roll like hand trucks. It had a thick (3/8 to 1/2) inch piece of checker plate welded to the bottom (about 24x36) of the stand that the foot of the vise sat on and you stand on while using the vise. It was very stable. I will see if I can get some pictures.

 

I know this is one of my most used tools when out going to workshops.

Nice ideas here guys- I'm going to be making another one soon. I like the folding one with the chain leg stops...

 

Here is a picture of mine, comes with a swage block... Very handy piece but a bit heavy and takes a lot of room in the truck.

Just finish it yesterday.

 

Real easy, real light. 18" disk blade 3" tubing little flat plate welded to a collar that slips over the tube. Whole thing breaks down if need be. Works good at demos

finished this build recently, finally found this thread again to throw mine in :)

 

I had looked at using a chain to restrain the legs like that one in the OP but chains have zero value in compression so those legs cannot act to resist overturning if solidly bumped, which is why I opted for a solid member to restrain the tripod.

 

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