BS Vice - restore or retire?

[BobL]

The mens shed was chucking out this butchered BS vice so I grabbed it.
Its missing the leg below the vice itself but I figured I could knock something up to replace it.
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There is a substantial piece of C channel welded to the vice and top bracket but I figure I can cut the offending item off and clean it up.

Worth it?

If yes how is the end of the threaded rod removed?
I'd like to take it apart for a complete clean up.

[Zsteve]

Hi Bob,

Nup not worth it at all....let me look after it for you.......



Yes definitely worth it, it still looks quite good despite the additions. Easy to replace the missing rod also.

THe threaded vice screw part should just screw out of the decorative cover end which should come out (but probably depend if its tight or lose) in the rear jaw /housing.

Cheers

[BaronJ]

Hi Guys,

There has been no end of those leg vise's in the local scrap yard recently, some in far worse condition. But I agree with Steve, the end bit should unscrew, but you might find it very tight, particularly if the vise has been forced at its maximum opening, in which case heat and a big wrench might help.

[BobL]

Thanks Guys. will see what I can do.

[AndrewOC]

G'day Bob,
I concur with the others- haven't heard of a leg vyce that needs chucking out ;)
That is a handy model, already modified to have no leg, that can be adapted to a creative mounting system. I have seen them on low benches or with a square peg on the back to use the vice in an anvil hardy hole.
Even set into a custom robust stand, about knee height, would be great to use it as an upsetting and bending 'base'. Such a thing would be very handy to a blacksmith- but we usually prefer not to hack up a whole leg vise.
creativity is the limit!
cheers,
AndrewOC
ps I'll try to find pictures of the mounting plate, for if you want to reproduce it.

[AndrewOC]

Amazingly I found the pics I thought of;

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enjoy!
A.

[BobL]

Thanks for the pics Andrew, any chance of a photo or two of legs. Theres a 3/4" hole in the bottom of the section that has the the rear jaw on top. It looks like the leg slides not that hole but there's nothing to indicate how it stays attached. I've looked on the web but there are no close ups of these vice legs to see if there is any sort of attachment mechanism.


- haven't heard of a leg vyce that needs chucking out ;)
That's why I found it hard to believe that the Mens Shed was throwing it out :oo:


That is a handy model, already modified to have no leg, that can be adapted to a creative mounting system. I have seen them on low benches or with a square peg on the back to use the vice in an anvil hardy hole. That sounds like a good idea but my anvil might be too small.


Even set into a custom robust stand, about knee height, would be great to use it as an upsetting and bending 'base'. Such a thing would be very handy to a blacksmith- but we usually prefer not to hack up a whole leg vise.That also sounds like a good idea


I'll try to find pictures of the mounting plate, for if you want to reproduce it.
The original mounting plate is actually still there - just have to cut that piece C channel away from it without messing it up too much.
I was thinking I might hot cut as much of the channel away so I could get a thin kerf cutting wheel onto the welds.

I dismantled it yesterday and under the paint and not much rust I found it's actually in pretty good shape. There's even a faint trace of the webbed pattered on the jaw faces.

[BobL]

Well here it is full apart
10 minutes with the plasma cutter to cut away as much of the welded on channel as I could and then thin kerf cutting wheel into the welds.
Ground and linished away the remaining bits of weld.
Half an hour with a wire wheel to get the paint and belt rust off and here we are
372219

Not sure were to go from here;
Just oil it up and leave it as is?
Light electrolysis to get all the rust out of the shafts and holes ?
Flat black epoxy finish?
What do you reckon?

[DSEL74]

What with is the jaws?
I can measure mine to give you the over all height. The leg is basically round bar stock some are slightly tapered.
I can take photos if you like.


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[BobL]

What with is the jaws?
I can measure mine to give you the over all height. The leg is basically round bar stock some are slightly tapered.
I can take photos if you like.

Thanks Dale, Photos would be great - how is the leg attached to the vice?

The jaws are 107mm wide.

[DSEL74]

It’s one piece with the back jaw. I’d pin or screw it together then weld it. It designed to transmit the force directly down to the floor.

That is also what the ring on the leg is for. Your supposed to set the leg in solid footing up to the ring (floor level)

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180220/f18ceee0b64e876eb6defd9b2fb92992.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180220/6909c48f5ed9f32353753c233d1b8fdd.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180220/480a2c67aa8958a8f1ca583bfa8e1d0a.jpg


Another 5 1/2” this one has a shorter leg but similar height.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180220/a45a7d76af9af411b8f0d3f51ed4c429.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180220/48173c9e97d689a80e68c3fe74df0336.jpg


Much older vise with through tenon mount have to gorge a new spring for it and restore it.
It’s a bit shorter.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180220/07771c34b31caa98595745c38abc521b.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180220/cc017390a2bed88b7b00cbd888d4d5f3.jpg

There are a few others about the shed which are lighter builds.

Let me know if you need any thing else.

[russ57]

Well here it is full apart
10 minutes with the plasma cutter to cut away as much of the welded on channel as I could and then thin kerf cutting wheel into the welds.
Ground and linished away the remaining bits of weld.
Half an hour with a wire wheel to get the paint and belt rust off and here we are
372219

Not sure were to go from here;
Just oil it up and leave it as is?
Light electrolysis to get all the rust out of the shafts and holes ?
Flat black epoxy finish?
What do you reckon?I'd just oil it. I've never seen a leg vise in any finish other than 'natural rust'. (except perhaps in one of those 'restoration' antique shops where every tool is wire brushed and sprayed a uniform black or colour gloss, including all fasteners and cutting edges...

-russ

[DSEL74]

Coat it with boiled linseed oil.


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[BobL]

I gave it a few coats of tannic acid to passivate the surface rust which turned it a sooty black.
Then a wipe of BLO.
In these pics it looks a bit flash, like its been painted with black gloss paint but as the BLO dries off and hardens it should lose its gloss.
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[DSEL74]

What is the writing .....brooks Stourbridge England ?


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[BobL]

What is the writing .....brooks Stourbridge England ?

Yep

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I've also made the leg out of 20mm BMS and am blackening it with Tannic acid.
I turned down the top 50 mm of the leg to 19 mm so it fit neatly into the 3/4" hole in the bottom of the back jaw.
I welded a steel collar to the leg but have decided to not weld the leg to the jaw - I have added a 10 mm grub screw to stop the leg falling out when moving it around.
This is the second coat of Tannic acid - the brighter the steel the more coats it needs to get a decent solid coat of sooty black.
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[BobL]

If added 3 more coats of tannic acid to the leg and now it looks like this.

Photographing a matt black surface is a bit like taking a photo of a black cat or dog at night.
The slight sheen, compared to the photo in the previous post where it looks more sooty, is achieved by rubbing off the excess tannate with a cloth

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Rubbing with a cloth also reduces the blotchiness which is revealed in this closeup taken before using the cloth.
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This what one of the jaws looks like since the BLO has hardened up.
The brown areas are rust that hasn't been converted to tannate, probably because that area was not properly cleaned and still had some grease on it.
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Here is a WW lathe tool rest I made up and have treated the same way.
The blotchiness will be reduced by rubbing off the excess tannate.
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Summary:

I like the look of the converted surface, its thinner and sootier than phosphate conversion and can be painted over very easily if needed.
The surfaces need to be as clean as possible before the tannate is applied - all oil and grease should be removed.
Multiple coats are needed and even more is needed for bare metal but the overall time that it takes is about as long as for an epoxy paint to dry. I just left a container with a the tannic acid and a paint brush in a convenient location near the suspended parts in the back your and every time I walked past it added a noter coat if the previous one was dry.
The tannate surface develops more evenly if after about the 3rd coat the excess/loose tannate is rubbed off lightly with a cloth.
Sealing the surface can be done with any self polymerising oil like BLO.
It's not supposed to be suited to tools that are handled but it will be interesting to see how much of the tannate rubs off with handling. if it does and it rusts it should be a matter of a couple of coats of tannic acid again.

I suspect the bare metal would need less coats if it was allowed to rust first. Getting it to rust evenly would be tricky but my acid vapour metal bluing tank seems very good at doing that.

[BobL]

All done and a couple of before and after shots.
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