Leg Vise Spring

[ThomasPowers]

You don't need an acorn. You need a cup for the end of the vise to fit it. So something that will fit the end of the vise welded to a steel plate will work.  I've also seen Angle iron bolted to a bench leg with a piece of pipe welded to it---needs to be resting on the ground to work right.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Another way is to mount the leg in concrete. Our shop vise had the leg cut off to mount it lower for striking. We wanted it at a higher height and as it was mounted on a stump embedded in concrete, I made the form higher so the leg is held tight. Has worked for 30 years now.

[ThomasPowers]

Sometimes it was mounted in concrete and someone just torched it off above the block.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

That's a distinct possibility also.

[ThomasPowers]

It's a sobering thought that so much of what we covet and revere as smithing tools is just old rusty "in the way" junk to others. Add in the fact that most people will not know how to correctly use or treat such equipment. (My wife attended an auction once to buy a set of wool cards only to have the auctioneer's assistant displaying them vigorously brush them together---ruining them for spinning use., Many of us have seen anvils damaged by grinding and welding on them, etc.) We are lucky when we can get stuff that is just suffering "benign neglect".

[pnut]

I agree. I don't know what happened to the acorn on this particular vise. It's cut cleanly at about a 45 degree angle.

 I have had some rather unfortunate side effects from an antibiotic I was taking for an oral infection and have been feeling terrible and haven't been able to leave the house in a few days. I think I'm feeling better but I thought the same thing yesterday until I went through the trouble of getting ready and then couldn't leave. Hopefully I'll be able to do some things I've been putting off for days. Fingers crossed.

Pnut

[ThomasPowers]

My wife was under the weather yesterday so when I got home from work I made my own dinner and brought her tea and toast as her first meal of the day---at 6pm. 

I feel for you.  I had an insulin crash at the start of the lockdown that resulted in 3? crowns being broken off at the gum line and I'm trying to coast till we can go back to travelling as it's a minimum of 80 miles for me to get to a good dentist and I used to go closer to 200 miles.  So far not much pain, yeah root canals!, and not  infected---yet.

[pnut]

Well I thought I was feeling all right so I went and got some chain, 3/4in flat stock and all the other bits and pieces to get the leg vise and anvil mounted and the spring made. I wasn't feeling as up to the task as I first thought though so it looks like that's it for today. At least I gathered all the materials. The actual work will have to wait. 

Pnut