Glen Stone Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 Hi, I am hoping to get some more information about this huge vise that I bought at auction a few years ago. I couldn't find any markings except for the #10 marked in two places. As you can see, it takes up half of my truck bed! I had to load it with a forklift. The length from the bottom of the post to the top of the jaw is 37". The width of the jaws are 8". The handle alone is 24" long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C-1ToolSteel Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 You have a Fisher chain vise. Rare and highly sought after! Great score. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glen Stone Posted May 24, 2018 Author Share Posted May 24, 2018 Thanks! Is fisher the only maker of the chain style vise? Can you be certain this is a Fisher even without a makers mark? Glen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted May 24, 2018 Share Posted May 24, 2018 Welcome to IFI, I always suggest reading this thread to get the best out of the forum. Fisher is the only maker of chain vises that I know of (could be wrong though). https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/53873-read-this-first/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jspool Posted May 24, 2018 Share Posted May 24, 2018 Wow. That’s a beauty! Great find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted May 24, 2018 Share Posted May 24, 2018 It is a Fisher double screw vise. There is a Fisher Norris museum page on FB and NJanvilman on here is the owner. How much did you get it for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glen Stone Posted May 24, 2018 Author Share Posted May 24, 2018 I paid $650 plus auction fees and then I had to pay a forklift operator $50 to load it for me so I probably have about $800 invested in it. This came from the Hershey machine shop auction which took place in 2012 I believe. The Hershey machine shop opened in 1912 and had a full blacksmith shop with a huge forge and blasting oven. Hershey was making their own machines to make the chocolate when they opened and were hand casting many of the parts. They were even casting their own tool such as hammers and tongs. We found a bunch of tool casting molds in the shop. Since this original posting I have since contacted the Fisher Norris museum page on FB and they said this vise is a #6 which was the largest that Fisher made and appears to date to the 1950's to the 1970's although being that the shop opened in 1912 I would have thought this vise to be older. The number 10 (or 01) which is marked on both halves is most likely a mating number to keep the halves together during tooling since they had to be aligned together, according to the guys at Fisher Norris Museum. There are no other markings on the vise. I had a chance to upright the vise today and operate the jaws and I must say that it feels like a precision tool! The chain works perfectly and the jaws move in and out so smoothly and with incredible power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc1 Posted May 24, 2018 Share Posted May 24, 2018 Wonderful tool. Don't forget that it is a parallel vice and not a post vice. If you want to forge on it, it will take some hammering due to it's size but i wouldn't feel right to go troppo on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glen Stone Posted May 24, 2018 Author Share Posted May 24, 2018 Right on. I'm not planning to use it for blacksmithing. I just want to put it in my shop and stare at it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc1 Posted May 24, 2018 Share Posted May 24, 2018 Ha ha, fair enough. I recently built a stand for a Peter Wright vice that is not a post vice but a parallel vice or bench vice and I do use it for forging smaller stuff no problems. In my case the hammering goes into the sliding part of the vice if you hit the moving jaw and not into the screw and the jaws being all forged can take a pounding. i would venture that you can forge on your vice if you use lighter hammers around one kilo and use common sense, no problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlpservicesinc Posted May 27, 2018 Share Posted May 27, 2018 I always wanted one of those.. Congrats.. That must have been a fun auction.. I love those old kind of places.. How big were the forging hammers? Some pictures of the place and auction would be nice to see.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glen Stone Posted May 29, 2018 Author Share Posted May 29, 2018 Here are some pics from the Hershey factory blacksmith shop opened in 1912 and closed around 2004. This is where I got the big vise... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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