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I Forge Iron

Leg Vise Mount Advice Needed


GrumpyBiker

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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....

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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.casitaPostVise.jpg.32e22c064f23d556b7eea21ba6f8d851.jpg

 

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

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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*!

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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.

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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.

 

 

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

 

under way comparison pics

 

 

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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:

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(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:

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

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

 

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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.

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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.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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.  

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  • 2 months later...

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