Cup runneth over: this leg vise already has a leg

screened porch

screened porch

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I couldn't find the "followed me home" thread.
But here's a leg vise with all its parts, as far as I can see, for $25. Now that's a barn sale to warm my heart. Also, below and from elsewhere, what I think started life as a mortising chisel, but looks now more like a Square_peg style iron axe wedge extractor ($0.25).
Pictured with the Funk #15, that needs a separate leg.
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A good illustration of one of the advantages of a laminated chisel over a solid steel chisel. If it had been solid and of decent steel and temper it would have broken before bending like that.

E.DB.
 
Ernest DuBois said:
A good illustration of one of the advantages of a laminated chisel over a solid steel chisel. If it had been solid and of decent steel and temper it would have broken before bending like that.

E.DB.
Click to expand...

Why? Hardened steel is not like glass, it will bend.
 
Well, I just hope that whatever the steel and temper, it will stand up to winkling out wedges.
 
Hardened steel can be brittle in a similar way to glass. Is it hard, is it resilient or tough, where does it lie on the continuum between the extremes of the two. Who is to say when the right balance is struck? The gifted smid with generations of experience in the background will have a clue and the axes made will differ from the plane blade like the plane blade will differ from the chisel. In my inexperience, the log dog I made last year was overly hard and brittle. On a frozen winter day it broke like glass with one hammer hit.
E.DB.
 
Ernest DuBois said:
Hardened steel can be brittle in a similar way to glass. Is it hard, is it resilient or tough, where does it lie on the continuum between the extremes of the two. Who is to say when the right balance is struck? The gifted smid with generations of experience in the background will have a clue and the axes made will differ from the plane blade like the plane blade will differ from the chisel. In my inexperience, the log dog I made last year was overly hard and brittle. On a frozen winter day it broke like glass with one hammer hit.
E.DB.
Click to expand...

Can be brittle, yes but it shouldnt be. Decent steel and temper means, by definition, not brittle. If the body of the chisel is brittle then the edge will also be brittle and that is bad which means it was no big loss if it were to break.
 
Ask any blacksmith what they are trying to achieve in a good edge and they should tell you they are after a balance between hardness and resilience and not one at the expense of the other. More resilience or flexibility is fine in some cases but it comes at the cost of the steels ability to retain its keen edge. A harder steel will take a keener edge and hold it longer but will necessarily have more of a tendency to chip, in other words it will be more brittle. You are almost correct in that the finest tools are on the verge of being useless except in well trained hands.

E.DB.
 
A one piece chisel with differential hardening can achieve a similar combination of edge retention and overall toughness, can it not?

The chisel in question looks similar to some chip carving tools I've seen.
 
In a way, but look how far back the good steel goes on this chisel with no loss of hardness as it is ground back, it should be consistent all the way where differential hardening would be gradually softening the further back you grind. By the way, I'm only guessing this one is laminated because of the color differentiation along the bottom edge.

E.DB.
 
Ernest DuBois said:
In a way, but look how far back the good steel goes on this chisel with no loss of hardness as it is ground back, it should be consistent all the way where differential hardening would be gradually softening the further back you grind. By the way, I'm only guessing this one is laminated because of the color differentiation along the bottom edge.

E.DB.
Click to expand...

Differential hardening (that is done well, of course) should only have a small zone of transitional hardness. All of the hardened material should be effectively equal hardness, as should be the "soft" material. I can see how a laminated piece may have superior durability as the softer, tougher steel backs the laminated carbon steel almost to the edge. That probably is not replicated in one piece chisels. Although with the amazing steels and processes available today, there are chisels being made that are equal and maybe superior to old ones, IMO. Take Barr Specialty Tools in McCall, Idaho as one example.
 
I will always look for a laminate or insert first no matter what and choose that over one-piece construction. I just think it makes the tool more dynamic meaning user friendly. What you write about the backing right out to the edge is more important anyway. The tools I have out of McCall, Idaho are good ones, but not the best.

E.DB.
 
Ernest DuBois said:
I will always look for a laminate or insert first no matter what and choose that over one-piece construction. I just think it makes the tool more dynamic meaning user friendly. What you write about the backing right out to the edge is more important anyway. The tools I have out of McCall, Idaho are good ones, but not the best.

E.DB.
Click to expand...

Certainly, when you are shopping yard sales, flea markets, etc looking for laminated chisels is the quickest way to sort the wheat from the chaff, especially if there are no maker's marks.

Ernest, what are your favorite chisels and gouges?

Sorry for the hijack, Porch.
 
No, no, I'm the one that's guilty, and things have gone down a wayward path. I hope it doesn't bug anybody - to much.

All my favorite chisels are hand made Japanese chisels and I only have a few Swiss made gouges which I don't like.

E.DB.
 
Square_peg said:
Nice looking post vise. How's the screw?
Click to expand...

Nice and clean. The whole thing seems to work. I'm going to mount it on my rolling bench with a steel plate under its foot. I hope to rest hatchets on its jaws while driving drifts through them. Almost time to put my money where my mouth is, forge-wise.
 
Srteened porch, You are going to love that leg vise. And dang the price was right. It looks like a 4" jaw?
I own a couple of them. One because I needed it and then later found a larger one in better shape and cheap. It was at a flea market just outside the door of a guys motor home. I thought he had picked it from another dealer and it wasn't for sale. I asked about it and the guy just did not want to pack it any more. He almost gave it to me. If its big and heavy some just want it gone I guess.
 
Yup, 4 and a quarter inches. I thought about it a little bit, because I'm pretty sure I can make a leg for the Funk 15, but this one is ready to go, and the cheapest one I'd seen before was $66. (That one was lying around for a while, but it was gone when I finally steeled myself to pay the price.)
I like your vise story. Who knows, there might still be someone out there just dying to stop carrying around a nice full-sized anvil.

UprhbyDt
 
You had nothing to think about really. At that price you about have to buy it.
Now that you have two maybe you should just use them both. Nothing like having that leg in the floor.
I don't think I will ever find a good deal on an anvil around here. They go fast and bring top dollar.
 
Anvil prices have gone nuts the past couple years. I found mine at a blacksmith conference a couple years ago for $2.50/pound. You'll likely pay $3-$4/pound these days.
 
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