Vise stand with tong rack

[Sam Salvati]

Fabricated this stand up today, as I was using a friend's swedge block and stand for a post vise stand also, but he needs it back so I needed a new stand. My tong stand was getting pain-in-the-ass-ily clogged with too many tongs, got lots of room now. I wanted to put my new to me stick welder through it's paces, and practice stick too, man is it ugly welds but they are SOLID! this whole thing resonates like a wind chime when struck. Just need to fab up a little piece to hold the vise foot in place. Nice little bit of under storage too. Used 6011, which grizzly sells as "Rust Buster" (my kind of rod hehe) and it worked great.

Also here is an idea I had for a vise leg shock absorber:

 

[Mark Behnke]

Are u serious w/ that spring Sam? Kinda defeats the purpose of the solid leg? Kinda like mounting your anvil on a big block of foam rubber.

That splater rod burns deep, but it's harder to get it to look good. Welding is fun.

 

[fast14riot]

Yeah, dude, that spring. Pogo vise, for shure! A hard block of wood in a gravel sand mix would be a better shock absorber, if you are serious, anyways! The table/rack looks good! I wish I could find one set of tongs locally, and how many different ones do you have? I bet you have a use for each one, too!

Always enjoy seeing your projects!


-Xander

 

[VaughnT]

Good job. Did you fill the stand's legs with sand and oil to add weight and prevent rusting? Plan to bolt her to the floor? How are you fastening the vise to the stand?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I think that a base plate that extends out from the stand to where you are standing on it will make the post vice solid when in use. A 2'X4' plate works just right. Weld upright brackets and bolt the stand legs to it. I use a 1" nut ( welded to a base plate) as a foot for my vise.

 

[Dixieblade57]

Looking good Hollywood! I keep my eyes open all the time for a post vice. One day I am going to snag on. I like your set-up!:thumbup:

Sam, years ago my Dad had a post vise in his shop. It was mounted to a wooden work bench ( not you average bench, a beast that was rock solid). Where he had attached to post vise the mount he made acted as a post anvil as well as its anchor point to the bench.

Not content that there was no movement when he really wanted to crank down on the vice or needed the vice in bending metal he made a long threaded rod out of 1" diameter shaft, that mounted to the mounting back plate, that mounted to the vice. The rod was long enough to traverse through the width of the bench and through the exterior wall and tightened down with a huge washer and nut to mount down both vice and bench as one solid piece tied into the wall.

The post vice was one of those that had the 1"+ handle on it and I remember as a kid using a cheater pipe on the handle to crank it down sometimes and that handle has never been bent! Needles to say when something was clamped into it and cranked down it was their till you got ready to turn it loose. It got sold while I was in the Army and my folks health had gotten bad enough they needed to sell and move off the farm into town! I think about it and my Dad's shop often!

Dixie

 

[Sam Salvati]

I will bend a piece of 3/8" round bar out in a triangle shape to wrap around the vice leg to keep it stationary. I cannot stand vises that are welded to a plate you stand on, awkward and unless you are on the plate they move like a fool. I'd rather the stand be heavy enough that it doesn't move. That and I wouldn't waste a nice 2' by 4' piece of plate using it on the floor LOL.

Mark, I am kind of serious with that spring, I don't really do alot of heavy pounding in my vise anyway. I will try it and let everyone know how it works, the springs are VERY stiff. I never seen it done so I would like to try it personally, just cause no one's done something before doesn't always necessarily mean it's a bad idea.

Xander, I have quite a few pairs now, doing tongs for sale means you get really good at tongs, and with the setup I have to make them they go very quickly so I find I make them if I need them. I only have a couple sets of commercially bought tongs there, one set of tom tongs i bought years ago and a set of farrier flat bar tongs.

Vaughn, no need, I'll put a spare anvil on the lower shelf after giving it a quick shaker can coat of red or black.

 

[tryppyr]

I found three post vises at an antique mall in the area, all priced less than $100 if memory serves.

 

[mete]

Spring ? That's a corkscrew for the really big wine bottles !

BTW ,speaking of Grizzly, they have bought South Bend Lathe !

 

[elementfe]

I only had to cut one tree to make room for my shop- the stump is where my 8" vise lives. It stayed still pretty well....for the first 8 years.
Seriously, I'd bolt that sucker to the floor- at least one bolt. If you get started twisting bars for damascus patterns there's nothing more frustrating than when the sucker won't stay still.
The whole idea of the leg is to...how do I say it? Push back against the hammer. A spring is like putting squishy stuff under your anvil face.
Peter Ross explained to me years ago that when you hammer on an anvil it hammers UP just as hard as you hammer DOWN. You see that when you do blade bevels hot. Anything that absorbs energy is like pedaling a bicycle with the brake on.
That's why a bigger anvil is easier on your arm.
Andy G.

 

[Sam Salvati]

Looking good Hollywood! I keep my eyes open all the time for a post vice. One day I am going to snag on. I like your set-up!:thumbup:

Sam, years ago my Dad had a post vise in his shop. It was mounted to a wooden work bench ( not you average bench, a beast that was rock solid). Where he had attached to post vise the mount he made acted as a post anvil as well as its anchor point to the bench.

Not content that there was no movement when he really wanted to crank down on the vice or needed the vice in bending metal he made a long threaded rod out of 1" diameter shaft, that mounted to the mounting back plate, that mounted to the vice. The rod was long enough to traverse through the width of the bench and through the exterior wall and tightened down with a huge washer and nut to mount down both vice and bench as one solid piece tied into the wall.

The post vice was one of those that had the 1"+ handle on it and I remember as a kid using a cheater pipe on the handle to crank it down sometimes and that handle has never been bent! Needles to say when something was clamped into it and cranked down it was their till you got ready to turn it loose. It got sold while I was in the Army and my folks health had gotten bad enough they needed to sell and move off the farm into town! I think about it and my Dad's shop often!

Dixie

Awesome story Dixie!!! I look forward to the day I OWN my own place and get to mount stuff to the walls. Sad that vise got sold!

ElementalIron, That's an awesome use for that stump!!! build the shop around it! I'd love to have an anvil stand like that someday. Do you twist vertical or horizontal?

 

[Patrice Lemée]

Off-topic sorry but the spring made me think of something.

On TV the other day they showed this motorized pogo stick. It had a small gas engine on it. It was made in the 60s or 70s and was discontinued for obvious safety reasons.

First thing that came to mind was: "Sam would LOVE that!"

 

[Sam Salvati]

Robert that's a BIG wine bottle!!!! Maybe for this guy:

atrice that sounds like my kind of fun indeed!!!

 

[Dixieblade57]

Awesome story Dixie!!! I look forward to the day I OWN my own place and get to mount stuff to the walls. Sad that vise got sold!

ElementalIron, That's an awesome use for that stump!!! build the shop around it! I'd love to have an anvil stand like that someday. Do you twist vertical or horizontal?

Sam I still like your setup!

Yeah,Sam here is a slightly better explanation of what I was talking about!, perhaps I didn't explain that too well.

My father had done basically the same thing you are talking about to lock his vice down. The vice was mounted to the heavy bench by the mounting plate and he had put a solid chunk of an old drive shaft up through the mounting bracket and the bench to act as a post anvil so he could beat on it instead of the jaws of the vice. The brace was attached to leg below the mounting plate, there was no plate to stand on!

OK here is a very crude drawing of how the one I am speaking of was mounted up! I hope this will show up!

The bench like I said was a monster and had 6x6's for legs and full 2x4' laminated together for a top. So between the shear weight of the bench and the fact he tied the whole thing to a exterior wall it was virtually unmovable. The bar he added up through the bench was welded into the top of the mounting bracket and acted as his post anvil. Could be a little awkward to use at times due to the fact is sit behind the vice! The heavy hooked bar tied the whole thing together to be one of the solidest units I have ever seen. Plus that was one of the heaviest post vices I have ever seen. Like I said the handle was at least 1" and may have been 1 1/4" in diameter.

Dixie

 

[Sam Salvati]

WOW that's about as solid a mount as I ever could think of! Thanks for the drawing. Must of been a motha of a vise!!!

 

[Salem Straub]

Dixie, I'm sad that vise got sold, too. Ever try to track it down?
Sam, that's the kinda stuff I like to do in my shop when not building knives. Thanks to you, I may go fab something better for my 6-1/2" Indian Chief post vise. It's not mounted very well.
No offense to Stacy, but I wouldn't waste a nice piece of plate like that on the floor either! I'm thinking welding table top or something.
I was going to recommend you use some drill in anchors and bolt that stand to the wall until I saw that you're not allowed to. That sucks, at least you can run a hot shop in there though.
It's nice to have a little table top like that next to your post vise. It gets cluttered full of rusty stuff in no time!
Congrats on the new stick welder, too. I've done a fair amount of the types of welding out there, but good old SMAW feels like home to me. And, that and gas are all I have right now...
I just scored good on some scrap iron yesterday. Probably about 200 lbs. including some 3/4"x4" bar and some 1.5" solid square bar.
Keep on rollin' brother Sam. Right on.

 

[Dixieblade57]

Salem it was almost a fullyear before I was able to get back home, due to my commitment in the Army. My Dad's health had dramatically declined and since I was not there to help out I have no idea which direction it went at the estate auction! Seeing that ole gal would be like seeing an ole friend. Like I said I have never seen one as heavy built as it was.

Sam I spend too much time doing that kind of stuff but when I do finally get around to doing some knife making, well things usually flow out better, if I got it all organized!

 

[Sam Salvati]

Thanks Salem! It's immensely satisfying work too, just like bladesmithing or tool making. Fabricating something like this uses alot of material! It's great to finally be able to take piles of rusty trip hazards and make something useful hehe, don't know ho w many times I tripped on the square tube used for the legs! The welder's like a magic machine that takes rusty stuff in one end and puts out useful things the other! All my years of saving "junk" for the raw materials it holds can finally be put to use.

Dixie, This kind of thing is critical to my sanity, and also the ability to use my post vise, it counts as valuable shop work