anvilfire.com VISE (Vice) Gallery

Somewhere . . over the rainbow . . . We're not in Kansas anymore Toto. . .

Vise, Vice, Schraubstock, l'eteau, morsa, el tornillo de banco,
yellicans, bankschroef, satu, imadlło

The screw vice is one of the most used tools in any kind of workshop. Vises are used by watchmakers, jewelers, sculptors, furniture makers, machinists, blacksmiths and many others. In modern machine shops where very little is done by hand most machines have dedicated specialized work holding vises. In the lathe a derivation of the vise was developed for holding round work, 3 and 4 jaw chucks.

In the blacksmith shop one often thinks of the anvil as being the most important tool. But the blacksmith spends as much or more time at the vise, sawing, filing, grinding, welding and chisling. In a shop with one anvil you may see three or more vises. The hand held grinder has largely replaced filing but the vise is still used to hold the work being ground.

Today, with most bench vise manufacturing moving overseas where they use poor quality castings and cheapened manufacturing methods there has been a resurgence in interest into old well made American and European Vises. Bench vises that you could not give away a decade ago are now selling for nearly new prices.

More Vise Stuff, Shop value, setup, accessory tooling, use guidelines, maintenance.

NEW! Catalog of Vise Catalogue Pages   A lifetime collection of old catalogs and books. 72 historical pages featuring vises and metalsmithing tools. BLACKSMITH LEG or POST VISES   English and American Leg Vises, a standard for hundreds of years. Our original Vises article . Includes weight and size table with proportions graphic, types of forged mounting bracket, how they are made and how best mounted. . . Columbian D33½ Bench Vise   A standard in many shops for decades. Columbian Combination Pipe Vise   A large industrial duty vise on heavy stand. Found in an industrial blacksmith shop. Champion Swivel Vise   Made by Western Tool & Mfg. Co. for auto garage use. An emerging market in the 1920's. Emmert Universal Tool Makers and Metalworkers Universal Vise From Steve Prillwitz of Matchless Antiques. Keen Kutter   A rare and unusual blacksmiths leg vise with a Keen-Kutter logo bench plate. Woodworking Vise   Installation and improvements. From the guru's wood working bench project. My First Vise   2-1/2" Simmons (Columbian) Vise German Blacksmiths Leg Vise   While these look like an English Vise they are very different. Wilton Model 1160 Drill Press Vise   Large 6" x 6-3/4" machine vise. Previously listed as a 1460. Now includes parts diagram. Reed Bench Vise Swivel Detail   Features that made them the best. . . Very Large 270 Pound Blacksmiths Leg Vise From Steve Prillwitz of Matchless Antiques. He says, "Its the largest I've seen". Large 6 Inch Morgan Milwaukee Bench Vise Tom Davis Collection Row of Heavy American Iron Tom Davis Collection Vanderman Steamfitters Vise Tom Davis Collection, includes catalog image. Prentiss No. 58 Chipping Vise on Stand Also known as the Prentiss "Bull Dog" Vise. Tom Davis Collection Antique Old English Leg Vise, circa 1800. Frank Turley Collection (For Sale) Brooks Blacksmiths Leg Vise, circa 1970. Matchless Antiques Chamfering Vise. An auxilliary vice to be held in a larger vise. Greenfield Type Heading Caulking Vise. Wells Bros. and Wiley & Russell specialty foot operated vises for the blacksmith shop. Fisher Double Screw Parallel Jaw Blacksmiths Leg Vise. A rare vise, an advertisement and some stories. Vise as art or vise art? Columbian Red Arrow Home Shop Vise with blue marble paint. Model 63½ catalog page from 1949. Parallel Foot Adjusted Leg Vise Unusual European import vise. WILTON Offset Engineers Vise Beautiful photos of a NOS (New Old Stock) vise. Plus Dawn Tool Co. the designers of this vise. REED 108 on forklift A great photo! A great old tool! Gould and Eberhardt Shaper Vise The heaviest duty of vises. Unusual Pipe Jawed Columbian Leg Vise Convertable Boyce Farriers Vice Patented 1896. Can be reversed to close on either side of fixed jaw. Emmert Universal Pattern Makers' and Wood Workers' Vise. Patented 1891, 1905. Tilts and rotates, holds tapers. Morgan Milwaukee 8 inch Chipping Vise. Plus a shop still life with the Morgan, a Wilton "bullet" and a Jewelers' anvil. English Sawyers Leg Vise A beautiful specialty leg vise. You rarely see one of these much less one in so nice a condition. NEW! Heavy Double Legged Vise From the collection of Emerald Koch, BlacksmithParadise.com NEW! Wilton C3 "Bullet" Vise From the collection of Emerald Koch, BlacksmithParadise.com. Includes parts diagram and cutaway view. Links to other Wilton Vises. NEW! Champion Wood Working Vise From the Blacksmith Tool Collection of Ted Mays. NEW! Wards Master Vise Another fine tool from Ken Kohut.      Links. Vise Safety Cartoon By The Great Nippolini. Mutli-Tool Anvils (and Vises) Those strange Anvil Shaped Objects that were also vises and other things. . .. Champion Combo Tool No. 30 Champion Blower and Forge Combination Repair Outfit No. 30 or Six-in-One with forge, anvil, vise, drill and grinder. Includes full catalog page and links to similar items. The Engine Lathe   The King of machine tools - an absolute necessity to make or repair screw vises. Should you have one in your shop? Buying old lathes, chucks and tooling. SwageBlocks.com (62 Blocks) The "other" blacksmiths "anvil". collection of over 50 swage block images plus articles on the history, design and use of swageblocks. Over 3000 years of blocks. Another web gallery by Jock Dempsey the anvilfire guru. The anvilfire Anvil Gallery 500 images of hundreds of anvils Anvil photos by the guru and others collected over a decade. Includes foundry patterns, catalog page and more. . .