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New post vise, from Tredegar Ironworks, curious about approximate age


Farmall

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Just got this 6 - inch vise that originally came from the Tredegar Ironworks in Richmond, Virginia.  The fellow I bought it from said his great grandfather had worked as a Blacksmith  and a puddler in the foundry there and when the equipment was auctioned off in the 1950s, his father bought some of the blacksmith equipment  including this vise and some tongs I also bought from him.  I cannot find any marks on the vise yet, but haven’t cleaned it up and removed the paint to look closely either.  Based on what I have read here and what i’ve Seen in the past, I am thinking it is pre-1900, maybe even around the civil war based upon the mount and hexagonal shapes on the vise legs.  Screw is in great shape. Jaws are 6-inches.  If you need more pics to help me figure about how old, let me know what you need.  I realize this all best guess, but I appreciate any and all ideas, suggestions, and help.  

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Ah!

You brought up the subject of the Tredegar Iron works.

That company was the premier cannon builder for the confederacy. They made half of the total number of cannons built during the civil war.

The company survived the Confederate army's burning of Richmond during its fall and evacuation, before the end of the civil war.

The works built hundreds of locomotives and rolling stock before and during the Civil war. (this manufacture continued after the war).

The Tredegar Iron works, only,  ceased production in 1957.  Much of the company's equipment was sold off at that time. That is probably when your sellers great grandfather bought built the vise.

And this could have been in the 1860's.  One of the knowledgeable savants,  on the site,  might be able to give you  a date range for that style of vise.

SLAG.

I had a ravenous interest in the American civil war, decades ago.  And did much reading of the subject.

I always wondered why the North never mounted a raid on the Tredegar works.

It would have shortened that war by one or two years.

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