Legvise

About 6 weeks ago I picked up a rusty old legvise from Spokane, companion piece to the family anvil. A legvise (or post vise, or solid box vise) is designed to be able to take lots of abuse, like direct hammer blows. The jaws hinge, transferring the blows down a leg directly into the ground. The leadscrew floats, so it can't get warped from the blows to the jaws. A normal bench (machinist's) vise would be lucky to last a month being used for blacksmithing. A decent legvise can last centuries.

( I just finished refurbishing it )