Is there a Parker Bros. hammergun here?

[John Knobelsdorf II]

https://static.mfah.com/collection/28263.jpg?maxWidth=550&maxHeight=550&format=jpg&quality=90

Maybe the one on the back wall, far right, next to the window?

In the collection of (but not on display) The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Artist -- Edgar Melville Ward, American, 1839–1915
Title -- The Gunsmith Shop
Date -- c. 1890–1895
Medium -- Oil on canvas
Dimensions -- 24 × 20 in. (61 × 50.8 cm) Frame: 35 3/8 × 31 3/8 × 4 in. (89.9 × 79.7 × 10.2 cm)
Credit Line -- Museum purchase funded by "One Great Night in November, 1995"
Current Location -- Not on view

https://static.mfah.com/collection/28263.jpg?maxWidth=550&maxHeight=550&format=jpg&quality=90

[Stan Hillis]

Man, I would love to have a print of that to hang in my shop.

SRH

[Jeff Kuss]

Stan,
I just googled The gunsmith Shop. Fine art America sells prints of it.

[Ronald Scott]

Interesting way to mount a post vice. A blacksmith would attach the post to the ground or to a block of wood on the ground so that it would absorb heavy hammer blows. That's the purpose of the leg. I suppose a repair gunsmith wouldn't need the vice for that purpose -- and back in the day you used what you had.

[Rick Losey]

i have seen a post vice mounted like that in a gunsmith shop -

i do like the center hole creel on the wall - that is an early design which fits the time period of the village out the window

[Stan Hillis]

I have a post vise mounted much like that in my shop. Many post vises are still in use by fine craftsmen.

Here's a couple links to Marcello Giuilani working on Perazzis, using a post vise.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_6jzMl8kDA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RudIDm41-ao

SRH

[Bill Murphy]

I'm not a total idiot, and haven't worked as a machinist for fifty years, but my 130 pound Parker vise is mounted to a wooden bench as are a couple of lesser ones. "To each his own". Post mounted vises are for those who need them.

[Stan Hillis]

Stan,
I just googled The gunsmith Shop. Fine art America sells prints of it.


Thank you, Jeff. I will look into that now.

Best, SRH

[Rick Losey]

I have one that still needs to be mounted

I went to a flea market a couple years ago with one of the top modern longrifle makers and he spotted one for sale, and told me I’d not see a better one at that price - so I hauled it home

[Stan Hillis]

Interesting way to mount a post vice. A blacksmith would attach the post to the ground or to a block of wood on the ground so that it would absorb heavy hammer blows. That's the purpose of the leg. I suppose a repair gunsmith wouldn't need the vice for that purpose -- and back in the day you used what you had.

After using one for the past 25+ years I'm not sure I agree with you on the reason for the "leg". Vises in general are not intended to hold something that is going to be hammered on hard enough for the vise itself to need vertical stabilization. That's what anvils are for. They are, however, called upon to hold things that are filed, bent, or otherwise "coerced" in a horizontal or lateral direction. The long leg gives tremendous support to the vise to prevent horizontal and lateral movement. JMHO.
SRH

[Garry L Gordon]

John, Thanks for bringing this to our attention. In spite of our various "vices," I'd also like to think that the gun you speculate is a Parker is indeed an "Old Reliable." Thanks for posting.

[chris dawe]

I just ordered a print,when the dogsled gets it here in spring ill let you all know if there's a Parker there or not.

[edgarspencer]

I just ordered a print,when the dogsled gets it here in spring ill let you all know if there's a Parker there or not.

As you were likely the model used for the painting ( I could tell by the small bald patch atop your head) I should think you'd already have a copy.

[Ronald Scott]

After using one for the past 25+ years I'm not sure I agree with you on the reason for the "leg". Vises in general are not intended to hold something that is going to be hammered on hard enough for the vise itself to need vertical stabilization. That's what anvils are for. They are, however, called upon to hold things that are filed, bent, or otherwise "coerced" in a horizontal or lateral direction. The long leg gives tremendous support to the vise to prevent horizontal and lateral movement. JMHO.
SRH

Not to get too far off topic here but it is interesting (at least to me). I have and use one too. I also have a forge and an anvil that I use regularly. You're right the leg helps support the vice when bending metal but in most cases a blacksmith will also bang on the piece to help bend it. Especially when he needs a crisp right angle. Most blacksmiths also mount the vice so that they can work all the way around it. The guy in the picture and in the Youtube videos has mounted a blacksmith's vice to a bench to do light machinist work. You really can't tell from the picture but it looks like the workbench leg that the vice is attached to is not braced and is just sitting on the floor. If you put too much bending force on that vice you'll move the leg. Maybe I'm missing something but I don't see how that vice mounted that way has any advantage over a bench vise.

Check out the description of this blacksmith vice for sale:

https://www.blacksmithsdepot.com/post-leg-vise

[Richard Flanders]

That leg vise for sale looks pretty flimsy by my standards. I'm guessing it was made in China or India. Many years ago I saw new ones for sale in a homesteader catalog for $1200. They looked to have been made the proper stout way. I have two vintage leg vises and have seen many more up here in remote abandoned gold mine sites. One of mine is ~120# and very stout and was completely hand blacksmithed. It was made for larger work as the jaws become parallel at ~3-4". I had it mounted for some years on a stout bench with the leg countersunk into a timber on the floor. I could really crank on that thing without stressing the bench. I liked the leg for both beating whatever pc of metal needed beating and for cranking it hard. Generally from what I've seen most of these get supported on the floor by a timber capped with a pc of plate steel of 1/2" or more that had a hole for the tip of the leg, and if they aren't, such as in a dirt floored blacksmith shop, the vise would be mounted in front of a bench leg and maybe have a heavy home made steel bracket securing the vise leg to the bench leg, allowing the smith to at least crank hard on the vise. My other vise is a real treasure and ~75#. It was sticking out of the tundra about 60mi north of Nome. It was also made by a blacksmith and the teeth on the jaws were hand-cut and are as sharp today as when it was made in 1899, which is stamped on it and was the year that the gold rush in Nome kicked off. I don't think it was ever really used - though the leg is bent a bit so I'm guessing that someone cranked on it a bit too hard - and I've never mounted it myself. Were I to build a garage here, I'd build a stout timber bench that would accommodate both of them.

[Bill Murphy]

I hadn't thought about the advantage of a post vise in being able to walk around it. My big Parker is not a swivel base and I had jobs I couldn't do on it in my old shop. I just finished mounting it in my new shop and will have the same limitations. However, I have vises on every bench and the big Bertha is mostly for effect anyway.

[chris dawe]

As you were likely the model used for the painting ( I could tell by the small bald patch atop your head) I should think you'd already have a copy.

Shag it Edgar !!! I'm not bloody bald on top I cant believe you would say that publically ...i'm so upset!!!!



Its in the friggen front im going bald , the damned receding hair line -bain of all Dawe men .


I feel horrible ,I'm going to my safe place

[Stan Hillis]

I hadn't thought about the advantage of a post vise in being able to walk around it. My big Parker is not a swivel base and I had jobs I couldn't do on it in my old shop. I just finished mounting it in my new shop and will have the same limitations. However, I have vises on every bench and the big Bertha is mostly for effect anyway.

Mine is mounted with the leg contained in a steel bracket I made, like Richard mentioned, and is part of a three legged steel structure that I welded up. I removed floor boards in the shop, dug a big hole in the ground underneath the floor, set the steel structure in it and poured concrete in it until the hole was filled. Then, I replaced the floor boards, cutting around the three legs. The top of the jaws is positioned at elbow level for proper filing, allowing a perfectly horizontal forearm stroke. If the part needing filing extends higher than the jaws I just stand on pieces of plywood to get myself the right height.

Being able to work around it is a big advantage for me. Other vises in the shop fill in for other jobs. Found mine in an old abandoned shop many years ago.

SRH

[John Knobelsdorf II]

This gets the picture into the thread. The link is not working.

[Garry L Gordon]

Thanks for posting the picture, John.

[Bill Murphy]

Thanks for the picture. Notice that the shotgun is closest to the window. Our gunsmith must be expecting "trouble", like from a groundhog or such.

[Aaron Beck]

For those quibbling about vises, the post vice did have the advantage of isolating the shock from the screw such that over time the screw wasnt damaged, this has been mentioned but its not just used for hot forging, or even heavy forging. Cold punching, drifting pins etc. Post vises mounted at filing height for bench work ( as in the photo) are faster to use and faster to adjust than an machinist vise because the jaw is spring loaded and there is no backlash in the screw.