Picked up this lil guy today and gave him a makeover. Unfortunately in trying to straighten the handle it broke so next time I fire up the forge I'll make a new one. Experienced that once already. Anyone ever hear of H*LOSE vise's? Doesn't matter I'll use it as a vise. Just curious. This one is a lil different from others I have. 

I have not though, I really like the mounting bracket tenon system!

Das nice vise and handles are an easy fix.  Nice clean up and paint.

Thanks caintuckrifle, i do to and it's new to me.

matto, i've done a larger handle, this one should be a breeze. Thanks on the paint. These are my colors I'd like to do more of.

 

No no no no no. Bring it to me, I want to fix it!! Lol. I love fixing vises. It's very satisfying. That one looks really good with a nice screw and the jaws line up well. Good find. 

I wonder why the handle broke. Any theories. We've all seen some of them that look like a banana. Could it be some kind if high carbon steel?  Is the darknesd on the one side a previous crack?

1 hour ago, Kevin_Olson said:

I wonder why the handle broke. Any theories. We've all seen some of them that look like a banana. Could it be some kind if high carbon steel?  Is the darknesd on the one side a previous crack?

The dark spots do look like they could be previous cracks. Honestly it wasn't unusably bent and I thought I could get away with a few whacks over the anvil with a brass hammer. Nope. There is also a void in the area where it cracked. 

Sorry Pete, I already have the piece of steel to make the new handle. It is fun to fix them. I'm going to try to recreate the handle end look but if it dosnt go well I will just make the regular ball end. 

If it's wrought iron it could've broken at a slag inclusion or perhaps an area of higher carbon content than the norm.

Nice vise Das, looks good in your shop colors, almost as good as it would painted my shop colors, close but no biscuit.

Frosty The Lucky.

11 minutes ago, Frosty said:

If it's wrought iron it could've broken at a slag inclusion or perhaps an area of higher carbon content than the norm.

Nice vise Das, looks good in your shop colors, almost as good as it would painted my shop colors, close but no biscuit.

Frosty The Lucky.

It looks like wrought iron to me. Picture isn't great but if you look close you can see strands where it peeled a bit on the last little bit when I broke the last bit free. And I guess that void in there could be a slag inclusion. 

What are your shop colors? My normal shop color is rust haha. I'd just like to have a somewhat clean shop one day so I gatta start somewhere. Aside from piles of scrap everywhere. That stays.

you could forge weld the handle back to gather. would be all original! but like you said shouldn't be to hard to just make a new one especially if you've made one already and know how. nice paint job.

                                                                                               Littleblacksmith

When you make a new one cut threads on one end and tap the end ball so you can take it off if you ever need to.

You have one of the earliest model English leg vises imported into the U.S., perhaps dating to circa 1800. They are usually small and the jaw width is around 4". I have a similar one which I don't use, as I consider this style as an antique. I'm trying to sell mine to a collector or a museum.

Here's a pic of my vise.

59 minutes ago, Frank Turley said:

You have one of the earliest model English leg vises imported into the U.S., perhaps dating to circa 1800. They are usually small and the jaw width is around 4". I have a similar one which I don't use, as I consider this style as an antique. I'm trying to sell mine to a collector or a museum.

Here's a pic of my vise.

 

Oh wow. Very cool to know. I'll make sure not to put it to any hard use. Thanks for the info. 

Matto thats not a bad idea. 

Thanks Littleblacksmith

That's a nice looking vise, those old English vises are nice you can tell they took pride in there work just by the sutble lines and detail. I really like the mortise and tenon mounting bracket too. 

30 minutes ago, mlinn77 said:

That's a nice looking vise, those old English vises are nice you can tell they took pride in there work just by the sutble lines and detail. I really like the mortise and tenon mounting bracket too. 

I love all the old tools where they took time to make them nice looking as well as functional. I'd never seen them with mortise and tenon mounting until this one. 

I picked up a really old postvise at quad-state one year for US$20: very small, mortise and tenon, pivot was pegged rather than bolt and nut and the screwbox was forge brazed up out of a lot of pieces including the thread being forge brazed into the tube that was rolled up out flat wrought iron plate.  I use it for certain historical demos; but *GENTLY* and do not allow students near it...

You can look for the forge brazing by cleaning and checking for traces of brass. The tenoned construction is interesting but is weaker than its eventual replacement: the u-shackle; gib key; wedge; and mounting plate.  

someone had brazed the tenon part to the mortise and I was worried it was broken but after cleaning off the braze it was not broken and I think it was probably because it was loose for them. I will check the threads soon as I can. I would guess brazed threads would be a bit more delicate but thats just a guess.   I can see where the newer setup would be stronger and a bit adjustable.

3 hours ago, Frank Turley said:

You can look for the forge brazing by cleaning and checking for traces of brass. The tenoned construction is interesting but is weaker than its eventual replacement: the u-shackle; gib key; wedge; and mounting plate.  

Ok. No braze I can see. Looks like cut threads. 

On 3/7/2016 at 11:55 AM, Daswulf said:

It looks like wrought iron to me. Picture isn't great but if you look close you can see strands where it peeled a bit on the last little bit when I broke the last bit free. And I guess that void in there could be a slag inclusion. 

What are your shop colors? My normal shop color is rust haha. I'd just like to have a somewhat clean shop one day so I gatta start somewhere. Aside from piles of scrap everywhere. That stays.

Wow it's been a while since I checked in on this thread. I couldn't really tell from the pics and not enough thousands of words to draw a picture for me. My shop colors are hunter green and gold. This is my 4" leg vise and swage block. The swage block is my more common shop color come to think about it.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

On ‎3‎/‎11‎/‎2016 at 1:37 AM, Frosty said:

My shop colors are hunter green and gold

reminds me of Saint Patrick's day!

                                                                                            Littleblacksmith

On 3/9/2016 at 10:18 PM, Daswulf said:

Ok. No braze I can see. Looks like cut threads. 

 

I believe that they would cut the screw thread on a lathe and braze the box thread...

Forged a handle for the old vise. Did better on the larger handle for a larger vise. It'll get me by for now until I make tools to make a better one. Shoulda let you do it Pete. 

That's a nice repair, I'd suggest you don't want a "perfect" replacement part on an old item, in fact if you had forged a slight bend in it, would anyone even suspect it was a replacement!

5 hours ago, Smoggy said:

That's a nice repair, I'd suggest you don't want a "perfect" replacement part on an old item, in fact if you had forged a slight bend in it, would anyone even suspect it was a replacement!

I did get a slight bend in it