NO!  as long as you don't take them past their yield point they are pretty much as springy as spring steel.  (What you get with real spring steel is that yield point is much further to reach.)

With a post vise the limited throw should keep them within their "taking a set" point.  You can make them from spring steel; but for a new smith it's MUCH simpler to not have to mess with forging spring steel and heat treating spring steel.  Shoot when I make them from spring steel I just normalize them...

Ok that makes more sense now that i think about it, im just hoping he sends pictures and it looks like it is in good working order

In otuer knews i found somebody selling welding vise grips there are 7 of the 12 inch vise grips and 8 of the 6 inch vise grips he wants 160 for all of them is that a good price or no?

 

 

If they work, are good brands and compared to new yes thats a good deal. Also if you need them. In my field of work I could use that many at times.

Well, they are Irwin original brand, so how does that brand rank to all of y'all? and they look like the work and yup I could use them Really often

Check the springs on them to make sure they will still grip and then if you can use them buy as many of the best ones for your purpose as you can afford.  Those are the sorts of things I pick up at fleamarkets/garage sales when they are US$5 or less.  Happens often enough that I have a rack of them.  (Like C clamps, when I can get the good old ones for the same cost as ones from China I will preferentially get the older ones.)

Note I generally find online deals to be worse than the ones I find in person; of course I budget my time spent going to fleamarkets and junk stores as "entertainment". When you are Online you may be competing with the entire world...or with people who can't tell the difference from the price something was sold for vs what was originally asked for it: example if I pick up a piece of gravel from the driveway and put it on ebay with a buy it now price of US$1000  does that make it worth $1000?  Yet folks will see that and think they should be charging $1000 a piece of gravel that sold for $40 a ton...

Irwin are up there on the quality list for vice grips. 

Don't forget to at least try to haggle a bit. 

I did haggle as much as possible with him originally it was gonna be 200 for the lot and i got him down that much which is decent and my thinking was that for my location deals are few and far between so to pay a little over 10 US Dollars each is pretty good 

Building on Thomas' comment, there's a huge difference between online asking price, and what things sell for in your area.  Luck isn't evenly distributed.

Online it'll sound like everyone has a $40 post vice or three yet the prices on ebay or c list are ten times higher.  Blowers are the same way.  

I went to a hammer-in every year for nine years straight with an eye out for a blower and a post vice.  I got lucky about five years in when one smith bought a very pretty post vice (for $200) then sold me his old one at $65.00.  Both vices were 4".  

It took nine years to run across someone selling a larger (Buffalo 400 series) manual blower that wasn't a complete basket case.  To the best of my knowledge, its the only blower sold in those nine years of hammer-in.  I gave $150 for it the same week that a non-turning one with a chunk of housing broken off sold on e-bay for $250.  

Don't get the wrong impression, I was always looking for a vice and blower, I just happened to find ones I could afford at an annual hammer-in.  

I would agree that a post vice is a huge benefit, especially to someone starting out.  I'm not aware of any current manufacturers of post vices.  It's one of those tools that seems like a luxury when you're starting out, but I think it's actually more useful to a rookie than anyone else.  Excellent tongs are the same way.  As a rookie, I spent more time picking up dropped stock than anything else.  I wasted tons of effort trying to hit a moving target.  A block of mild steel is relatively easy to come by and it works admirably as an anvil substitute.  If you have any intentions of using salvaged steel, a post vice will be one of the most-used tools in your shop.  

Even really simple projects like punches, chisels, and drifts will be vastly improved using a post vice.  Hot rasping doesn't get much commentary but even a rookie can "clean up" a lot of minor errors with a few minutes of effort.  Check out farrier competitions on youtube, to see masters at work.  The final result looks like it was machine finished. 

I used to live in what I call "The Blacksmith's Happy Hunting Grounds"---Central Ohio USA.  Small farms and lots of Industry back in the peak smithing days.  I remember going to a fleamarket and one vendor had a half dozen postvises including one I liked.  Asking price was US$25 which I thought was fair; but one of my smithing friends took me aside and told me "If you pay $25 for that vise, then he'll want $25 for all the rest of them!"   So I bought it for $20; same fleamarket, different vendor, different date, another of my smithing friends was 5' ahead of me and picked up a MINT condition wagon tongue vise for $20. (A group of us used to carpool to SOFA meetings and would stop at the fleamarket for lunch and rusty metal...) Back then I didn't buy much at Quad-State as I'd find it at better prices close to home.  Now Quad-State is a low cost source compared to the smithing tool desert out here!

8 hours ago, rockstar.esq said:

I'm not aware of any current manufacturers of post vices.

There are new post vises for sale on the internet, 5 inch for $350 and 6 inch for $500. They appear to be imported. 

To locate a used post vise, go to the blacksmith gatherings. 

Yeah those vises tend to be exspensive, ive been going to gatherings but idk if 180 for one that has been rebuilt is good or not  (the president fpr my sextion of ncabana result one and is selling it ) and hopefully when u get alot more free time I'm gonna go to flee markets more,often to look for scrap metal, tools ect

19 hours ago, rockstar.esq said:

I'm not aware of any current manufacturers of post vices. 

Kanca: made in Turkey, available from Centaur Forge.

Now thw question is how much are they lmao 

350 for a 5 inch and 500 for 6 inch and yhats not counting the shipping 

New tool, new tool prices. Look up a new Wilton 6" machinist vise...

Thats how it is with tools that should last beyond your lifetime and for quality.

In my opinion most used "good working condition" post vises are going at a bargain from what I see other than the prices they might sometimes try to get online. 

 

True true I think I'm gonna just go to more flea markets and more ncabana meetings and see what happens maybe ill get lucky

Glenn, JHCC, Thanks for the correction, it's good to know post vices aren't extinct!

Das, to be fair, there are 6" machinist vices that are significantly less expensive than an industrial grade Wilton.  At the hobbyist level and without stupid abuse, the cheaper vices would still outlive a couple of generations.  Ultimately you're right about quality being costly.

Dillion, you're on the right track but just asking isn't always enough, what you need are knowledgeable friends looking out for you.  A good friend was at the hammer-in before I showed up and got to talking with the guy selling the blower.  If my friend hadn't stepped in, I would have lost the opportunity because I got there after the seller had left.  My friend convinced him to come back the next day, and I was there to meet him with cash in hand.  There's no cell reception at the hammer-in and it's only four days a year so getting any two people together at the same time and place is harder than it might seem.

 

I missed the hammer in again this year. An awesome event that seems to pair up every year with a can't miss event with the SO. How was the Dutch oven meal?  I hope they are still doing that. I hail from Berthoud not far from you I am sure. 

I wasn't able to make it this year either but I heard everyone had a good time.