Iron City post vise?

[AngryOnion]

Hi guys, picked up this post vise today that needs some work(seized up currently and needs a handle) But I figured it was still worth $100 for a 5.5". I probably won't get to cleaning it right away, but does it look like an Iron City? It weighs 91#. I didn't see any obvious marks, where would be the best place to look? Also does it matter what type of steel I use for the new handle? Thank you.

[Daswulf]

The hardest part of a post vise to repair is the screw and box. Not being able to see that is a bit of a gamble. 

The rest looks fine and a handle can be made from any steel round barstock really. Wroughtiron if you had it and wanted to use it.

You can make the stopper ends a couple different ways. Screw on caps, pinned on caps or balls, forge ball ends on the shaft, or even just bend the ends so it doesn't fall out. All in how fancy or involved you want to get. 

Can't say on the maker. There were a bunch of makers and many didn't name stamp them. Iron city was one that I've seen their name stamps on. 

[JHCC]

Iron City typically stamped everything with their company name inside a six-pointed star. Absent that mark, it's hard to say.

[ThomasPowers]

Without markings you can't say for sure who made it.  Also please remember that mounting plates and screw/screw boxes were often interchanged between vises, (Sears Roebuck catalog used to have screw/screw boxes listed in their catalog as replacement parts and not linked to a manufacturer's vise. example page 461 of their 1905 catalog "Vise Box and Screws"---they sold them by size of the screw and by the weight of the post vise, "1 1/4" for vises 45 to 55 pounds")

I've done such a swap myself to put a less worn screw in a large postvise.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

I’ve seen that four hole style mounting bracket on a lot of PW post vises, 

like has been said, it’s not outta the realm of probability that some miss matching hasn’t taken place, ive done that too

[AngryOnion]

Okay cleaned it up some. No markings that I can see. The mounting bracket appears to be hand forged. It looks like scarf welds around the 'U'. This is my first post vise, but I've looked at others. I thought they always had more squared off threads instead of pointed. The screw and screwbox both seem in good shape and don't have any play in them. And only the first inch or so of the screw has wear. Is this factory or a homemade replacement?

[ThomasPowers]

Looks like a heavily worn commercial one to me, the threads should have a square cross section in both the screw and screw box. Look at the screw thread right by the handle end---fat and square.  They should all look like that.

Mounting plate was definitely hand forged and may be a handmade replacement.  All the "loose parts" on a postvise are prone to being lost or replaced over the last 100 years or more.