Well it has been quite some time since I posted here. I am still blacksmithing and loving it. I found two vises last week for sale and got them both. Small one has a jaw width of 4” and the bigger one is a 7”. I do not have a scale but the 7” is quite heavy and much larger in scale than my 6” that weighs 100 pounds. I am starting the restoration process now as they both will need some effort to get operational again.
 

The 7” one is first on my list as I have been looking a long time to find one of those “beefy ones” in my price range. The pivot pin’s head is sheared off and it was frozen. Last night I used a weed burner to heat the joint up and free it. I do not have a oxy-a setup at home and this was my next best thing. In the past I have roasted a vise over my coal fire but this one is big and heavy. I did not feel like fighting a big heavy hot thing in the forge.  The burner worked nicely to break down the rust and make things movable again. After it was apart I cooled everything down with a hose and packed it back into my shed. 

This morning I started today to clean it up with a twisted wire cup brush on my grinder. After about two hours of brushing all of the rust was gone. I soaked all of the pieces in Boiled Linseed oil and let them sit in the sun for an hour to warm up and soak in. After an hour or so I wiped the excess oil off and allowed them to dry before reassembly. 
 

Now I just have to figure out where to put it and find or make a new pivot pin.

Nice!  I`m having a hard time saying no to old vises ,but I`m also having a hard time giving more vises a place in my shop.... How many can one need... 

Nice finds. I love how you can see the lamination of the pieces they forge welded it together with on the inside. 

If you want to do it's aestetics justice you could forge the pivot bolt. It would have probably had a domed head with a protrusion to fit that keyway to keep it from spinning, and a square nut. There have been thurough discussions about them before here somewhere. 

Good job bringing them back to serviceable life. 

Wow that is a monster vise.  Very cool

It is a monster, and the biggest one that I own for sure. I put it on the scale today and it came in at 135.5 pounds. 
 

The wrought iron lines are just beautiful to me. Those lines along with the tooling marks under the jaws show the manufacturing process and work that was put into this thing years ago. To me these are just simply amazing to see and touch.
 

This vise has a couple of unique characteristics that my other do not. First, there is a plate/washer forge welded to the front jaw where the cup washer from the screw goes. I assume that is to provide a circular face for the force to be applied to. Second, the jaws have some majorly deep lines in them, like 1/8” deep. They are not filed in but instead they look like they were cut in with a hot cut. Third, the screw and screw box have fine decorative lines on them. And lastly, the fixed jaw and the screw box have two purposefully round center punch marks in them. These marks are very similar to the punch marks between the numbers on an anvil in both the depth and the size. I do not know what that means but it is what I see.

NICE robust vise, as Thomas Powers would say. I don't think you'll have to worry too much about a missed blow with a sledge hammer on that beauty. 

How tall is she mounted?

Frosty The Lucky.

The jaws stand at 41 1/2 inches tall. Right now, I just lagged it to an Ash log that is about 31” tall and about 16” in diameter. I know it is not perfectly stable but it is not lying down and it is not propped up either. Under the foot I have a 1/4” thick steel circular drop with a piece of pipe welded as a cup to set the foot on. It is not stable enough alone to work on yet. Once I figure out a better place for it I will make it permanent but this is Sefer for now. I have another mobile base to weld it to. It was formally a mobile basketball hope base. But I have a mobile base already and I do not have the room for two in my shop.

 

When I get to the point where it will be permanent, what height do you recommend? This is my biggest vise and it is heavy duty. Like you said tough enough for a sledge work. I have three other post vises a 4” that is around 40 pounds(still to be restored), a 5 7/8” vise that is 100 pounds, and a 5 1/4” vise that is 75 pounds. The 100 pounder is on my mobile base and is at 42” tall and the 75 is attached to my workbench at 45” tall. I love the varied height between the two I had mounted before. The one at 42” was great for hammering and twisting stock. The one at 45” was great for filing and intricate work as it was closer to my working height while standing.