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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

Thanks for posting the picture, John.