ToMang07 Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 Finally found one in good condition, it has 5" jaws and is a big sucker, in excellent condition! I'm honestly lost when it comes to mounting it tho, I don't want to mount it on my workbench, it's too far from the forge and press, that said, it's a tossup on which I want more..... stability or portability. If you have pics of your setup, please share! Wood, metal, and/ or concrete all at my disposal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 Well your lucky to have the mount. Duplicate the fixture that bolts to the bench and you can knock out the wedge and and move the vice to another location and back. As we use the vice to form hot metal, close to the forge is good, a machinists vice on a work bench out of the hot work flow is a good place for file and other cold work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToMang07 Posted May 25, 2021 Author Share Posted May 25, 2021 My leading "plan" (if you can call it that is this: I have a 3/8" plate that is 24"x24" to be used as the base, and I'd take an old I-Beam I have, and mount it vertically on the back 1/3rd of the plate with a smaller plate on top to mount the vise too, then weld a smaller plate to the base plate with a hole in it for the post leg. This should give me enough space on it to be able to stand on it for twisting/wrenching on the work, while a large enough base to also be relatively stable. Also thinking about welding up a couple fixed casters to the back so I can tilt it backwards and move it around in the garage. They would be angled so they only roll when you tilt the whole contraption. (In red.) I also have a lot of big angle Iron I could use if needed to add to the structural integrity. Please forgive my MS Paint artistry, lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 Think kitchen work flow, turn one way from your forge and there is your anvil and turn the other and there is your vise. Power hammers and press tools are best a step or two away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 First of all "post leg" is redundant It's a post vise or a leg vise or even a blacksmith's vise. As for mounting there are tons of posts on how people have mounted their post vise already here. Do we really need to repost all that information and pictures? Without information on your shop it would be hard to give good advice: example: dig a hole in your dirt floor and mount a 4"x4" add a piece of angle iron with a hole drilled in it for the foot of your post vise. Not very helpful if you don't have a dirt floor! (I do.) My semi portable post vise stand is a 55 gallon barrel; fill with water it's quite stable; empty and it's easily moved or loaded into a pickup bed. (Currently holding stock in my clean shop). I have a metal plate for under the foot for use over non-hard surfaces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToMang07 Posted May 25, 2021 Author Share Posted May 25, 2021 That's a brilliant idea Charles... I may very well do that after I get an initial stand setup and mounted! Thomas, I posted both because people refer to them as either/both Post/Leg Vise. And as far as another thread, I spent quite a bit of time looking through them, and found very few pictures. And I've found the mods to be touchy about people digging up old posts, so instead of doing that I figured I would make my own. I *DO* like the idea of having it attacked to a water barrel, but I don't really need that much water in my garage, lol, maybe if I had more space! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 I have a much smaller post vice, it is actually mounted to the forge hearth. The hearth is 30x60” and on large wheels (old extequiser I think) with the vice to the right of the forge itself (centers on the left half) and the anvil to the left (I am a farrier) so literally I turn and take a small step and I am working the heat. This allows me to use the other side of the hearth for two more work stations in the future. Say a treadle hammer and a small artists stage block Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 If you mount it on a disk you can tilt it up and "roll" it to a new position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 Having the big plate to stand on uses your weight to help hold it down. Big vices get mounted some what lower than small ones, but it depends on the class of work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToMang07 Posted May 25, 2021 Author Share Posted May 25, 2021 I'm still learning, but I do primarily bladesmithing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anvil Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 The most efficient setup for your post vice, anvil and forge is a triangle. Each piece at one of the points. About a step and a half to each: forge to anvil, forge to post vice, and post vice to anvil. Like Charles said, then set your power hammer back between anvil and post vice. I place both my 25# lil giant and my treadle hammer on their own platform back about a step and a half from the line between anvil and post vice. The most stable setup for the stand to be 3' or so into the ground. My stand is a log stump cut to a rectangul. I've used a railroad tie plate forever to bolt me post vice to.. I bolt my vice to this and lag this to the top of my post. There are 2 side straps and a back strap welded to this plate and these straps are lagged horizontally into my post. If this makes sense, I cut an "L" out of the post from the top down to where the bottom of the post vice sits. So it makes a step in the post with the step at the bottom. I have a piece of heavy angle iron that sits on this step. It has a hole drilled into it the diameter of the round tenon at the bottom of your post vice. I drill thru here into the wooden step. I drill a couple of holes into the vertical leg of the heavy angle, and a couple on the bottom leaf and use these holes to lag this angle to both the horizontal foot and the vertical stump I flat out guarantee you that your post vice will not move no matter how heavy your iron is! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToMang07 Posted May 26, 2021 Author Share Posted May 26, 2021 Lol, got to looking at it while I was test firing my ribbon burner this morning, and thought it looked bigger than 5"..... it's a 6". Even more of a score!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 Excellent! I'm a fan of the vertical I-beam. Here's a photo from when I was building mine: I've since gotten a larger vise and mounted it on the same post, with a plate welded on top and drilled & tapped to receive the bolts for the mounting bracket. When I built this, I didn't consider that it doesn't give much resistance to sideways movement, so it was a bit tippy. I've since loaded down the back with some heavy plates and a lot of my scrap metal storage, so it's now pretty immobile. Your plan to have a base plate that you'll stand on while working on the vise is a good idea; you might want to consider some gussets or other bracing to give it a bit more rigidity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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