Hello, I'm new here and need a little help with finding out more about this vise. It is a Goldie maker vise and is also stamped with NYCRR on the leg. Which at one point was made for the New York Central Railroad, but I was just wondering if these are rare or common? Did they produce a lot of these vises, how old it might be as well. Thanks forger97

Goldie was an early anvil maker in the U.S. as well.  Great find!

I'd bet that your NYCRR is just a poor stamping of N.YORK as in NewYork. 

Other then that, great find and nice looking vise. 

4 hours ago, Daswulf said:

I'd bet that your NYCRR is just a poor stamping of N.YORK as in NewYork. 

Other then that, great find and nice looking vise. 

After zooming in, that'd be my bet too.  The stamping at the middle of the "R" and "K" are quite different in shape, implying that it wasn't an "RR"

On a side note, you have to watch the RR stampings carefully.  It's one of the most commonly faked items because it can significantly add to the selling price of something common--often doubling the price.  Unscrupulous sellers regularly add and age "RR" stampings on items and are quite good at making them appear original.  Always assume a RR stamping is faked and then work toward verification it's real rather than the other way around.  Weasels abound.

Thanks for the info, I never thought that it could be New York instead of NYCRR. I will investigate it further and see what I find. I live in New York and work in the city so I will do some digging. I will pass on what I find

Please do. Never saw one with these markings myself but vises seem to surprise me lately. 

I think there was another post on here a couple of years ago about the Goldie vises.  

From "The Directory of American Toolmakers" edited by Robert Nelson: GOLDIE, JOSEPH, Anvils, rules, and vises. MARKS: GOLDIE/ 133 ATTORNEY/ N.YORK/ MAKER/ 1849.

I took a closer look today and daswolf has it right what looks like NYCRR is actually a mis stamp for New York. Even though it's not NYCRR, it's still awesome that it's so old and in great condition in my eyes. I looked at the directory that frank was talking about, very good info there. I know that the factory or forge is no longer there in lower Manhattan. There is a park there now at the attorney street address, unfortunately that was a dead end. Now do you guys leave the petina on the vise or strip it and clean the parts? Thanks

Good Morning, 97

If you add your location to your Avatar, there will be someone close who you can ask questions and Learn with/from.

Maybe you live in New York and drove by to look, OR, maybe you just took Mr. Google for a walk with your computor. Knew Teknology!!

Welcome anyway, Where you make your shadow doesn't matter. Finding someone close to you you can ask questions is HUGE!!

Neil

Hey forger, beginner here also. I work in Manhattan and used to live there but recently moved out to the island. That's a really nice leg vise so have fun making things with it!

38 minutes ago, forger97 said:

 Now do you guys leave the petina on the vise or strip it and clean the parts? Thanks

That's a personal preference kind of thing forger. All the way down to weather to use grease or oil on the screw and screw box. Paint, no paint, on and on. With some searching other vise threads I'm sure you can read all about those opinions. 

 

 

Use is the best polish.

"Now do you guys leave the patina on the vise or strip it and clean the parts? "

Yes!  though I always clean the screw/screwbox well and lube it before reassembling.  The rest depends on the state of the vise.  Loose rust---bye bye, aged patina stays.