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I Forge Iron

Vise ID ?


Rach

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Hi team- new to the forum and was hoping someone had an idea of what I’ve found. It looks like a post leg vise, but appears that it’s missing the mounting plate and may have an aftermarket spring as it doesn’t appear to be locked in, in any way (and I don’t see that it really has a purpose). It was dug out of concrete, and they had welded some rebar to it prior to putting into concrete. 

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Howdy from eastern Oklahoma and welcome to the forum, 

as far as identifying that vise it’s gonna be pretty hard because only a few companies marked their vises with their name brand,

An people miss match parts an cobbled together vises over the years,

you are correct that is not the original spring, I’ve seen other peoples post vises with a spring jammed in them like that before, it was just a lazy fix instead of just forging a new spring,

as far as the mounting bracket’s go you can make one relatively cheap to put it back in operation, 

or if you’d rather just buy one there are replacement mounting brackets for post vises available from stony point forge,

the dynamic jaw seems to have been bent back at one time, does it still close relatively tightly?

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Hi and thanks for the reply! Here are some pics closed… one end closes exact (the far end on the ground) and the other end has almost a 1/4 gap. Any use in taking apart to see if it can close better after cleaning or do you think it was just VERY worn and unfixable?

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Taking it apart an cleaning it won’t hurt nothin, but it ain’t gonna fix your gap problem,

the dynamic jaw is visibly bent where the screw goes through, only way to fix that is you would have to heat that section and bend it back in place,

if you don’t wanna fool with that you could always make a spacer to fit over an between the jaws to fill in the gap,

I dunno where your located but if your around NW Arkansas or eastern Oklahoma I have a pile of good post vise bodies that are missing the screw an screw box, 

you can normally find them pretty cheap and just transfer your parts onto a better body,

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Straightening the jaw is easy (relatively speaking). I got it apart and hot, hooked it over the end of the anvil and drove it flat with a flatter and heavy sledge. Don't hit it directly with the hammer- you'll just forge it, and you don't want that. If you don't have a flatter, just set a piece of heavy plate over it, and whack away. The mounting bracket and spring are easy to make up, and have been discussed many times. How does the screw look? If that's good, you're golden.

Steve

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On 9/17/2022 at 3:22 PM, TWISTEDWILLOW said:

Taking it apart an cleaning it won’t hurt nothin, but it ain’t gonna fix your gap problem,

I think after reading all the additional comments, that might be the best idea (find other parts to make it whole— the screw part works fine).  I’m not in a position to make anything to fix it, so will find someone in my area who can make or buy something to render it usable again for its purpose. As much as I appreciate how sturdy this thing is, I don’t know that I need a 70ish pound paperweight. Thanks again for everyone’s comments!

Edited by Mod30
Trim quote.
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The reason it isn't closing all the way is the spring is bottoming out. A proper spring will take care of that easily enough with a piece of curved flat stock say 1/4" x 1 1/4" and it can be mild even, a U-clamp and a little angle iron and or plate for the mounting plate. This is a job you can do with a hack saw hand drill, nuts and bolts. Maybe a little heat and  hammer. 

You might be able to get away without straightening the mobile jaw but straightening it is pretty straight  forward, heat, flatter and a hammer or heat and lever. As basic a blacksmithing fix as it gets. 

Frosty The Lucky

 

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Making a post vise spring can be done cold using mild steel.  Making a mounting plate can be done using  unequal leg angle iron, a drill and a U-bolt to make one like the Columbians were sold with.  Really if you're not in a position to repair it you are not in a position to use it either.

Stop by the smithy when I get back from Quad-State and we will make the needed parts in real time!

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