Massive Charles Parker Railroad Vise
 

Scroll through the video to about 13:00. Wow that’s a vise. Another at 14:30 almost as big.


https://youtu.be/_gqn6EBwPFk


William

Way cool, I grew up in an area in PA where I saw a lot of those old machines at work. They were old then and still in use in the mills. Since then, I always enjoy seeing things like this. The Smithsonian has a building that houses machines from centuries past that is just fascinating. THANKS fro the link!

collecting railway vises - now there is a hobby that can get out of hand real quick

He has 700 vises equal number of Anvils. Abom79 has a great UTube channel. Heavy machining at work and his home shop. Excursions to other interesting spots like this one. Abom is a serious Starrett enthusiast

William

I think we have found the real cause of human made global warming - he is causing the planet to tilt towards the sun :corn:

I love old machines, and found the video interesting, however I think he's over estimating the weight of the vise, as the heaviest vise made by Parker was 254 pounds. The heavy base was probably made by Athol Foundry, but certainly not by Parker, as Parker only poured with shank ladles, carried in a bale by two men.
Their cupola was very small, and probably didn't have more than a one ton per hour capacity. My grandfather ran that foundry for many years.

I have a couple of completely hand forged leg vises, one he'd certainly appreciate. I found it sticking out of the tundra north of Nome. 75#. Even the teeth on the jaw faces are hand cut and it's stamped with a date of 1899, the year when the Nome gold rush started. It seems to not have been used much as the teeth are pristine. I've given all sorts of blacksmithing equipment away, including recently a 150+lb anvil, but I'm keeping the leg vises for now.

Many many years ago, the 'resident blacksmith' came down to the foundry from Old Sturbridge Village, with a "curator"type person, and wanted us to cast them a new anvil, as the 'curator' type person felt that they shouldn't be beating on a 150 year old anvil. The blacksmith had tried to explain that the old anvil was in no danger of sudden demise, but the curator prevailed, and insisted it be cast from the same chemical content. Since it wouldn't fit in our spectrometer, I told them to drill a hole with a new 3/8" drill in the bottom and bring me the (chips) swarf, which I would have our lab perform a wet analysis from.
The new anvil was delivered a few weeks later, and not a week passed before the curator called to complain the the new anvil didn't 'ring' quite like the old one. I told him to beat on it for a few years and get back to me.

Edgar, you have a wonderful wry sense of humor. Most appreciated. Merry Christmas

a good storey and laugh....charlie