I found this in one of our barns, though its use and what it could be elude me, my guess is some sort of clamp or vise, but it only seems to be half of it. The jaw slides back and forth, but not up or down the shaft, and the screw adjusts the angle of the jaw. Anybody seen one of these before?

My best guess is an adjustable width hold-down for a carpenters bench.

Cheers,

Don

ill go with  that

Jumbo bottle capper?

Frosty The Lucky.

Bottle capper? Maybe if the tooth on the jaw had a divot in it to cradle the cap as its pushed on, instead its flat. 

I haven't found much more than a hand saw when it comes to carpentry tools, but it may be a hold down. If it helps, this was found in the plumbing area of the barn, not to say that carpentry tools arent there (the grinding stone was so buried that it was a complete surprise when we found it) or that this is for plumbing, but most things were set in an area that had things used for similar jobs.

Size reference, standing on its leg, it comes to mid thigh on me, so ~2.5 feet tall without the extra from the screw and 2 foot long jaw. ~1+ inch solid round leg

I have heard them called Pony Hold Down clamps (Holdfasts), used mostly for holding wood while mortising on the work bench. The shaft slides into the work bench top with holes and the clamp holds the work down.

Looks like it would be a good deep- throat welding clamp for a platen or welding table.

Steve

What does the base look like?  I've seen something like that that was used for breaking the bead on a tire for repairs done out on the farm.  It had a fixture to go through the center of the tire though.

The base is the same as the rest of the leg.  I took another picture of it in a different configuration in case it helps. There was also a partial stamp on the arm. Looks like a B, possibly with a diamond around it

That looks really similiar to an old clamp set up I used to have belonged to my grandfather... mine had a round post like that- but was threaded on the bottom of the post for a locking nut, and the sliding adjustable bar at the top was a cast piece.

It was used in a garage as a valve spring compressor for cylinder heads. I know that from my father who used it to do that job before I was born. It would slide into a hole in the work bench, get adjusted for height and tighten the lock nut. Move over the valve stem and compress the spring to remove retainers.

Dont remember how I wound up with it after my dad, but without the bench and spring adapters... I never used it and think it wound up scrapped.

Just another possibility.

pretty cool though. will keep it in the back of my mind. for tires i use my farm jack and the door to my shop. set the jack on the tire, length of 4x4 up to the door jamb and all set.

I use the front loader on my tractor.

I use an old friend of a family that runs a tire shop; very efficient unless they are replacing tires on large dirt movers!

Formerly known as an "old man", a very nice, adjustable bench lock down as has been mentioned.

Ok, now to find the bench that went with it. Thanks everyone