Massive Charles Parker Railroad Vise

[Richard Flanders]

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.

[edgarspencer]

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.