old time ingenuity

[490roundball]

I had spotted this in an antique shop and my lovely wife was kind enough to return and have it under the tree.

I alread have a couple hand vises which I dig out and clamp in a bench vise when I need to work on smaller parts, at some point long ago, someone with some blacksmithing skills figured out how to keep one handy, using one side of a commerically made vise.





In spite of the raw look of some of the work, the jaws match up nice and clean, and it will be very servicable on the side of the bench.

[northmn]

One of the things a gunsmith told me about muzzleloading and building years ago was that Grandad was not stupid, he made do with the best he had in his times and probably was ahead of the modern day "engineers" that try to improve on some of his ways.  That little vice goes to show maybe the old gunsmith wasn't all wrong. 

DP

[Artificer]

That is a nice little vse.  It could also have been used in the watch making/repair trade as well as jewelry - if there are no teeth on the jaws. 

I'm a nut about early vises.  Most of mine are probably early to mid 19th century, but I've got a few that are or could be 18th century. 

If you want to see some 18th and very early 19th century period engravings of tools that watchmakers, gunsmiths and many folks involved with any of the more precise metal working trades used - the gun shop at Colonial Williamsburg suggested this book and I could not agree more.   It gave me more than a few really good ideas over the years and of course, I use it to reference 18th century tool designs. 

A Catalogue of Tools for Watch and Clock Makers. By John Wyke

Here's a link that shows some of the engravings and I think most will get a kick out of seeing the screw plates and taps:

http://www.davistownmuseum.org/bioStubs.htm

Here's where you can buy the book, if interested (and I'm in no way connected with them).

http://www.thebestthings.com/books/wyke.htm