I really dont know, is it to be period correct? I've heard of people saying they will take a better beating than a bench vice but why are you beating on your vice if you have other places to do it?

If there is a thread that addresses this please let me know, I went back aways and didn't see anything.

TIA RICH

There are two 8 inch jaw width vises in my shop. One weighs just over 100 pounds and the other 8 inch vise weighs over 250 pounds. They are large enough and heavy enough to do what I want.  Both have a death grip on whatever they are holding. 

The 8 inch vise is mounted to a 2000 pound acorn platen.

The 4 inch post vise is used whenever needed. Any beating impact goes down the post and to the ground. This protects the vise and transfers much of the impact to the ground supporting the vise.  Each vise has their purpose.

If one of these became available, I would make room. (grin)

 

Check out JLP services video “how to make a flatter without using a sewage block”. (The link to her YouTube channel can be found under blacksmith, general discussion/reference materials/a collocation of blacksmithing links on YouTube (it’s  a great resource by the way)). This video shows what type of work a post vice can do. Of course they come in different sizes and weights, you can’t do as heavy work on a 50lb 4” as you can on a 150lb 6” beast. There are somethings that are just really hard to do anywhere other than a post vice.

 

David

Most bench vise's are cast iron and unless they are monsters will break if used for forging, were as a leg vise is either wrought iron or cast steel and can take the hammering when a vise is the best tool to use for the job.

5 hours ago, Glenn said:

If one of these became available, I would make room. (grin)

I think that's an official monster!

Back in the day when folks did a lot of clean-up of cast iron castings with hammer and chisels they made some very large heavy vises to hold them---called chipping vises. Most vises are made from relatively thin cast iron in places and will break after very little "abuse".  There are certain brands of vises that are made from ductile cast iron or even steel; however their prices reflect this; often over US$1000 for such vises.  Buying a postvise for a fraction of that is a good deal for smiths.  Back when I was tooling up machinist vises were generally going used for about double what a postvise was going for; so I have 1 machinist vise in my shop and 10 post vises...

As for why:  You can haul gravel in you Maserati; but a pickup will do it better and cheaper!  Both are means of transportation; but they are designed for different use cases.

Hello;

I actually use this vise most of the time. It's much sturdier to bend and twist stuff (even cold), it servers as a swage block to make hammer or axe eyes ... 

If I only had machinist vises, it probably would have been killed already. People hit whatever that Vise is holding with sledgehammers ...

 

 

I built a new mounting bracket for one of my large post vises recently; some fun forge time to bend the 5/16" strap and punch the holes for the bolts---with no power to the shop hot punching is a lot more fun than cole drilling.  Increased the rigidity significantly.  I don't think I could have done such work on a machinist's vise. When they are broken they usually get scrapped in my experience.

On 1/3/2020 at 9:26 PM, Glenn said:

If one of these became available, I would make room. (grin)

I saw one of those for sale on Ebay recently.  500lbs if I remember correctly.  If you have a spare 5800$ dollars laying around that is.  Hahahaha

A leg vise is designed specifically to take the abuse that a standard bench vise is not. It distributes the hammer blows in a way that doesn't hurt the vise or the surface its mounted to.  The screw block is a completely isolated unit. Allowing the "hulk smash" to be absorbed by the ground and not the threads.  

My view is that most bench vices are cast iron. Hitting one with a hammer is actually somewhat dangerous because cast iron is usually brittle. A bench vice holds an item firm, and that’s it. A post vice/ leg vice is actually designed to both hold something firm , and also to take heavy blows. They are totally different tools really. You wouldnt use a cast Iron chisel or a cast iron hammer. Same goes with a cast  iron vice for anything other than light work. 

1 hour ago, RogerrogerD said:

My view is that most bench vices are cast iron. Hitting one with a hammer is actually somewhat dangerous because cast iron is usually brittle. A bench vice holds an item firm, and that’s it. A post vice/ leg vice is actually designed to both hold something firm , and also to take heavy blows. They are totally different tools really. You wouldn't use a cast Iron chisel or a cast iron hammer. Same goes with a cast  iron vice for anything other than light work. 

I have a bench vice that is forged and a hammer that is cast ...

6 minutes ago, Marc1 said:

have a bench vice that is forged and a hammer that is cast

Wouldn't that be a cast steel hammer? 

Pnut

Yes, Hofi cast steel hammer ... and Peter Wright bench vice  

Hahaha, that's the problem with saying "all" or "every" when people talk about blacksmithing. I think there's an exception to most every rule. 

I think if I was going to spend the money on an expensive hammer I'd rather have a cast one myself. 

Pnut

In fairness to double Roger, he is of course correct. 

Mine was tongue in cheek. Hardly anyone has a forged bench vice. Not so sure about cast hammers.

Another obvious value with leg vice is the support given by the leg ... providing it is mounted correctly.

I have seen countless post vice mounted on a bench with the leg dangling in thin air. 

A post vice must be mounted on ... a post, with the leg sitting on a sturdy support. This allows the user to walk around the vice. A bench vice is limited in that sense ... unless you mount your bench vice on ... a post.  

 

I know. He also said cast iron.  

Pnut