Is there a Parker Bros. hammergun here?
 

https://static.mfah.com/collection/2...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/2...jpg&quality=90

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

SRH

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

Best, SRH

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

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