I had a friend at work show up with a couple of leg vises in his truck that needed some repair. Knowing I am a hobby blacksmith he asked if I could fix them.  I told him I would be glad to fix them up next time I had the forge going.  I fixed the better one (A newer Colombian) and took it back to him.  He was pretty happy and said if I wanted the other one I could keep it. He said he had unearthed it with a dozer and it was in real bad shape.  I wish I had taken a picture.  Anyway, I cleaned it up, soaked it in penetrating oil till the leg moved and the screw turned. I had a old tennon mounted vise that had a damaged screw but other parts were good.  The mount bracket and spring are salvage from that vise. .  Although it doesn't show in the pics, the worm box seems to be made of brass or bronze?  I'm a little leery of putting much pressure on the old screw box but it's an extra and will come in handy to hold things.   

Sometimes it pays to do someone a favor. 

 

Cheers,

Ken

Nice to see what most people see as junk or scrap get cleaned up and working again.

I can't help but think of how lucky it is that it was unearthed rather than run over or destroyed by the dozer.  Pure luck.  It has a good home now. 

Any idea on time period given the tennon mount and brass screw box? 

Ken

The tenon-mount is rather rare from my understanding.  I don't think it was ever a common method of mounting on US vises, being particular to one brand or two.  I could be wrong, but, I've never seen one in SC.  Even watching Ebay and CL, they just don't pop up very often. 

The tenon-mount is rather rare from my understanding.  I don't think it was ever a common method of mounting on US vises, being particular to one brand or two.  I could be wrong, but, I've never seen one in SC.  Even watching Ebay and CL, they just don't pop up very often. 

 

Come to NJ and visit my museum.  You can see 8 of them.  When Peter Ross was here, they were the only things he wanted to look at and study.

My son salvaged a Champion 400 blower from the area on the farm where old equipment goes to die. It was 3/4's buried and full of dirt. It's hooked to my forge and has been given a new life.

 

Love bringing old things back into service.

 

Mark <><

Does the tenon mount indicate his is an older leg vise or just a different method of attachment?  I occasionally see them on ebay or Craig's list but they are not as common. 

Ken

The tenon mount is a older style of mount bracket. Often the tenon mount vise would be attached to a bench that had a corasponding notch cut into the work top. Having the back jaw beam set into a tight slot in a heavy wood table would provide extra support to the vise. This support helped to prevent rotational stress from snapping the tenon off.

The box is odd looking. It is the shape of a modern cast iron box. But it also looks like it's rolled sheet iron construction.
Will you lightly clean screw box and photograph it alone? Also be sure to look inside the box to see if there is brass traces. Often when a box was made of mutable parts the whole unit would be brazed together

Here's a couple of pics.  Sorry the color doesn't show very true to life. 

• The tube is made of copper or a bronze material. It has a reddish color.  You can clearly see the seam where it was wrapped.
• The keyway is made of brass.  Only one present but it looks like there may have been a second one at some point.
• The rear end of the screw housing is broken off. 
• The inside of the housing does not have threads the entire length but there doesn't seem to be any signs of where threads were brazed and turned loose.  I don't think there were ever threads the full length.

If there is something particular you want a picture of, I'll try to get it.

Use a magnet and Check wether the box is in fact bronze or if it's iron that has brass/bronze melted and coated all over the outside. Brass or bronze will not attract the magnet. Iron coated in brass bronze will attract the magnet.

I think you have a iron composite screw box that is brazed together. Further more I think the box was longer and the back half has been removed .

If you look at this thread you will see a complete screw box.

A magnet will attract so it must be iron.

Ken

A new screw thread (female) may have been furnace (or forge) brazed in an early repair. 

 

Don't hesitate to use it. The length of the contact area makes it stronger than you think.