Picked up a post vice, would like some guesses at ID

[JMSZ]

Hey all,

I picked up a 4 1/2" post vice in Northern California (Oroville area), missing the bracket and spring, the leg is broken and the screw is frozen.  I picked it up for $120.

I haven't had a chance to clean it up much, so the only identifying mark that I've found is a B stamped where the top of the spring would sit.  It has chamfered legs, the screw cap looks like a Columbian or Indian Chief but it isn't drilled through the end.  The edges of the plates where the pivot screw goes through are square, not chamfered, it has a square nut and a carriage-type bolt head that was shaped by hand, it's not machined or cast, it has hammer marks.

The leg was broken off at some point, the leg is straight (as in not bent) at the break point and the break face is straight across but rough, so it wasn't cut, it looks like a brittle failure.

From the research I've been able to do, it's starting to look like it might have parts from several vises, in which case it would be even more valuable to me as that means somebody used it a lot and put the time and effort in to keep it in service.

The screw box has small (1/8"ish) holes drilled at regular intervals around and along it.

The vise is frozen closed but the screw is loose, the handle won't turn but it has side to side movement, so the screw is stuck at the cap end and the legs are stuck at the pivot screw.

Any help on identifying it, even as a probable frankenvise, would be appreciated, I'll try and post some videos in a couple weeks.

John

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

You would be better off to post still pictures. Most videos don't show what we would need to try & ID it and a lot of us have to rely on dial up internet and/or pay extra for data so we don't look at videos.

[Frosty]

Ditto regarding videos, they're pretty useless for taking pics of things that aren't moving. Still pics are FAR better, we can save, enlarge, etc. them and take close looks at things that are hardly visible at all in a shaking video swooping all over creation with ear splitting LOUD music. I almost never even look at videos posted hoping for help with a problem, ID, etc.

The table bracket is EZ PZ to make as is the spring and clamp. 

Mix ATF and acetone 50/50 and use it as a penetrating lube to break the rust locked parts.

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

Post vises have been made by hundreds of companies over the last 150 years;  many did not mark them, others were marked with the logo of the store selling them not the manufacturer.  Getting it usable is more important than knowing who made it IMNSHO!  Welding a leg is not a big thing, either forge weld or stick.   Could the holds be recent from someone trying to get it freed up?