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I Forge Iron

Repurposed Axle as Vise Stand


Red Shed Forge

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Over the 4th of July weekend, my wife and I visited her side of the family in Western Kentucky ("where paradise lay"). I was given the very gracious opportunity to raid her late granddaddy's storage sheds/barns to find any scrap steel that could be useful to me. He was a car guy; built several hot rods and restored a few antiques in his day. I knew there would be some thick rust on anything I found... but it was sure to be heavy! 

The first thing I have put to use from my haul is an old axle shaft and hub. All solid steel. I do not have exact dimensions, but I remember the hub is around 6" in diameter and the shaft came to about 36." I brushed off all the rust, hammered the bolts out of the hub and fabricated and installed a plate for the vise to sit on. I did not have a steel plate to just cut to size, so I used a heavy chunk of C-Channel which I also nabbed on my visit. That was a fun day at the anvil with the 'ol 8lb to get it nice and flat. It did already have holes in it for me to use in mounting the vise, so that saved me on having to drift them. I then welded it to the end of the axle, along with 2 support pieces which I forged to fit and welded on as well. 

The vise is a 35lbs Craftsman. 5" jaws and 15" from front to back when fully closed. It belonged to my father-in-law for many decades. It was attached to the bumper of his work truck in the 80's, but said it had to be there for years before he started using it. I still need to do more research on it, but it was made in the US, not Japan, so that might help in dating it.

To secure the stand, I dug a 3' deep hole (frost line up here), placed 4 chunks of 4x4 of the same length blocked together in the center of the hole and surrounded it in cement. I then used 3/4"x 3" lags to secure the axle hub to the 4x4s. No weeble, nor wobble. This guy is sturdy. I am very pleased with the results and am finally going to put it to use today. Hope you guys like it!

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