Anyone have any experience with leg and post vices?

Pretty much everything's been covered. One more thing to remember -- when you hang one of these on a bench, the bottom end of the leg should be resting on something VERY solid -- like a chunk of a tree, sunk in the ground underneath; or a big, thick steel plate, if you've got a concrete floor in the shop. That lets the force of hammering (assuming it's a "hammering" vise, not a "filing" vise) be transmitted downward, without straining the vise mount.

One of mine's got a 1"+ bulge, about an inch from the end of the leg; the tip of the leg is only about 1/2"-5/8" thick; that was (or so I've been told) intended to go into a locating hole in just such a steel plate.
 
A buddy found one for me in an old barn. Good heavy one. Interesting to note, the bracket which bolts to the bench is only about 30 inches up from the swedge on the bottom. It lowers the vice to a more comfortable height for hammering I suppose, but would be too low to attach to the average bench top. Maybe it was made when people were shorter and benches were only 30 inches off the ground.
Greg
 
I still see them come into our local junkyard. I got so many vises that I don't pick them up...
 
KBeitz said:
I still see them come into our local junkyard. I got so many vises that I don't pick them up...
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You should they worth money to blacksmiths. You may think there aren’t many of them left around nut you would be wrong. The 1000s of artisan blacksmiths around the world. There is an organtion called ABANA that holds yearly hammer-ins where you can sell them easly. Long as they arein usable shape. I have 2 of them a heay 6” for hammering and a 4” fileing vise I use all the time.
CH
 
I have four leg vises. A 5" in my shop and two 6" out in the forge. Another 6" lives in the barn. A also have a caulking vise, used to make caulks (similar to cleats) for horse shoes or to head bolts. Another vise in the collection is a farrier's vise. It was intended to be a portable vise for holding horse shoes while working on them.

Leg vises provide a great deal of leverage wh3en be3nding metal due to the long lever arm of the leg. Their coarse thread also makes for quick opening and closing , an asset when you have ten lbs. of red hot iron. It's one drawback is that the jaws aren't parallel because of the pivoting nature of the movable jaw. They also have a good deal of open space around the jaws which is great for tight work. When I need parallel jaws, I will clamp a drill press vise in the leg vise,

Here is a link which describes the caulking vise and farriers vise, among others.
http://www.anvilfire.com/vises/index.php



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