I found a Leg Vise today for $42 at that price I had to buy it.

However it does not have the bracket / mount .

I've seen these spring & a modern mounting bracket for sale online.

Are there other options for mounting these vises ?

Yes there are several hundred ways to go about it. What are your skills and equipment?  How do you intend to use it?  What do you intend to mount it on?

For a Q&D mounting I take a 4" long section of unequal leg angle iron and forge an UNPLATED U bolt to fit the leg of the vise and drill two holes in the short leg of the angle iron and then drill mounting holes to suit what I'm mounting it to. (much like was used on many Columbian vises when they were sold)

I bought one once that the previous owner had arc welded the back leg  to a steel work bench....

Here's a crude mount using a good sized piece of sq tubing and a telephone pole.  I forged the spring for this one too.

 

My travel postvise for non period demos has a simple mount:

This is the Vise I got for $42.

will take some cleaning but it's fully functional.

The rest was;

$6 for the longer rail section

$9 for small rail

$4 for the hammer

 

 

I should have mentioned that the one on the telephone pole has two large lag bolts going into the telephone pole as well as the straps you can see.

The travel vise is using a fold up metal sawhorse one of my mother's neighbors was throwing away.  Not optimal but *cheap*!

I like that idea as I'm not really ready to go "permanent" with the placement of anything just yet.

My beginner's classes use 1/4" square stock and so not much needed. For larger stuff we have someone sit on the other end of the sawhorse and have the acorn of the vises foot stuck in a board we stand on to keep it from truing to slip sideways.  In my shop I have 2 workbenches each with a 6"vise and a 4" vise on different corners and my largest vise; 6.5", attached to a telephone pole for heavy work, (no not the one I posted; they are at my big shop up north!) I've also piled hundreds of pounds of steel on the workbench for extra stability.

Got started on the clean up on this.

I'm going to need a spring as well.

missed a mount & spring on Flea-bay for $25 today.

lost track of time & missed out.

 

 

Sorry if I post too many photos but I always prefer to post pics versus a wall of text.

 

under way comparison pics

 

 

US$25 + shipping?  Should be able to make one for about $2 and an hour of work...

If you take your time, vise springs are easy and not terribly fussy. A perfect of good enough is.

Frosty The Lucky.

Here's the mount on my vise, which is held to a vertical piece of 4"x8" I-beam by two U-bolts (the kind that hold leaf spring packs in place) and some purpose-made brackets. Nothing fancy, but solid as a rock. 

The I-beam is notched to fit the U-bolts:

(This was before the brackets were forged; the top U-bolt is holding onto a piece of bent heavy wire.)

 

Here is the top bracket, forged to hold both the post and the spring:

And here are both top and bottom brackets, made from whatever came to hand, even if it didn't match:

A little cleanup of the corners with the angle grinder, and Bob's your uncle.

 

Herr Grumpy,

Have a look at this video which covers making vise springs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53udpf1QbDo

Also,

try this,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWAy7Wb8_Oc

It's a good video. Mr. McKenzie is a member of iforgeiron.

Gute nacht.

SLAG.

This is my current forge.

I did put an opening in the back for longer pieces.

Is making my own still doable ?

 

 

Since you don't need a forge to make them the answer is yes anyway.  That would allow you to make nicer ones easier. (Your first couple of attempts should be cooling by now.  Blacksmithing is an iterative process don't worry about making the perfect spring right now work on getting your vise working so you can use it to make a better one later!  If it's ugly and it works---it still works! And BTW don't quench the spring! Let it air cool.

Talked to an officer at work who off roads (4x4) on the weekends & builds his on rigs.

He said he has a few extra leaf springs he'll bring in for me.

So I'll give it a go.

You don't need leaf spring and unless you are used to forging leaf spring you are much more likely to have it fail than if you just made it from mild steel---especially leafsprings that have been abused and so may have micro cracking already established.

Well a friend brought a full set up from an F250 in to me before our shift.

I suppose it'll last me for the foreseeable future.

 

 

 

Oh boy, it begins! Folk hear you're getting into blacksmithing and looking for . . . X One day someone gives you one, next day someone gives you two and next thing you know there are piles obscuring the wife's good humor!

Frosty The Lucky.

Frosty, that is so true,  I am so new to blacksmithing that I havent even set up things fully.  I am reading this forum to get ideas on how to restore a pole vise I was given.  the donor also threw in a few leaf springs, another friend brought me a box of steel (railroad spikes, and random steel).  so the pile is growing . . .

I have made  a dozen leafs and hooks, but I am at the point I need to setup the vise. so thanks to Grumpy Biker and you guys for posting.

 I already have the steel (some mild steel I purchased) and will forge it into a mount soon.  

Got my post vise all cleaned up.

Now it can surface rust in peace.

 

 

 

Welded up a mounting bracket.

Mounted it to a 4x4 post & lag bolted it to my 300lbs assembly table.

Hopefully this will be solid enough.

If not I'll have to figure something else out.

 

 

As I recall VIcopper heat coloured a vise and then clear coated it.

I bought another 32oz of gun bluing that I used on the bottle openers.

I'd considered using that but it's kinda expensive at least it's more than the vise cost me anyway.

So far I've just been misting it with WD40 & calling it good.

 

Coat it with BLO (boiled linseed oil) that will protect it from rusting. Your mount should work fine. Regular machine oil on the thrust washers and screw.

If you are careful and adventurous: Firearm Blueing and Browning R.H.Angier covers a large number of DIY recipes and is in fairly recent reprint. 

 

Is that anvil made from the track seen earlier in the post? 

 Hello, Nice restoration!  I have this 4 1/2" Indian Chief (not restored) that you inspired me to work on. I took pictures to show the parts as I found it. Note the 2 spherical bearings in the screw assembly.