Tool Talk

What's-It Forum => What's-It Forum => Topic started by: dowdstools on August 04, 2013, 04:22:43 PM

Title: Odd Vise
Post by: dowdstools on August 04, 2013, 04:22:43 PM
Okay, I kind of know what it is, but what is its function? Two separate vises mounted on the same base, on different planes, and the higher vise has a small anvil built in. It also has a hole, as if it should be mounted on a post of some type.

(http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd226/lynndowd/dblvise2.jpg)
(http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd226/lynndowd/dblvise1.jpg)

Lynn
Title: Re: Odd Vise
Post by: Lostmind on August 04, 2013, 06:23:36 PM
Very interesting , looking forward to the answer.
Title: Re: Odd Vise
Post by: 1930 on August 04, 2013, 06:54:11 PM
That is neat, wouldnt know what to do with it or whats its intended for but still neat
Title: Re: Odd Vise
Post by: HeelSpur on August 04, 2013, 07:02:53 PM
What's the white stuff on the base and the thumbscrew cranks? lol
That might be a clue but not necessarily.
Title: Re: Odd Vise
Post by: skipskip on August 04, 2013, 08:48:49 PM
Gunsmith?

 but I have no  facts to back that up
Title: Re: Odd Vise
Post by: fflintstone on August 04, 2013, 09:05:04 PM
not a clue.
Title: Re: Odd Vise
Post by: Helleri on August 04, 2013, 10:03:04 PM
what interests me about it is the flat terminating in a horn at the base of the inside mouth of the higher clamp to the vice...that protrusion of metal on it looks like...a mini anvil?
Title: Re: Odd Vise
Post by: anglesmith on August 05, 2013, 01:10:34 AM
Very strange vice, can't say I've seen anything like it either in wild or in catalogues. Odd is certainly the right word to use .
Lynn, are the jaws self centering IE do they both move in opposite directions ?
Graeme
Title: Re: Odd Vise
Post by: fflintstone on August 05, 2013, 06:24:57 AM
My guess it that it is a clamp to hold some special part for machining. I am assuming itis mounted to something much larger. The part to be machined has a step in it and it locates on the point of the “anvil” for location/set up/repeatability..
Title: Re: Odd Vise
Post by: tucker on August 05, 2013, 09:03:15 AM
looks to be made for something of a specific shape,when closed the jaws
seem diamond shaped.wish i knew what!!
brian
Title: Re: Odd Vise
Post by: dowdstools on August 05, 2013, 12:47:39 PM
Very strange vice, can't say I've seen anything like it either in wild or in catalogues. Odd is certainly the right word to use .
Lynn, are the jaws self centering IE do they both move in opposite directions ?
Graeme

Yes, Graeme, they are self centering.

Lynn
Title: Re: Odd Vise
Post by: dowdstools on August 05, 2013, 12:49:48 PM
What's the white stuff on the base and the thumbscrew cranks? lol
That might be a clue but not necessarily.

That's dirt. I dug this out of a pile in a garage.

Lynn
Title: Re: Odd Vise
Post by: scottg on August 05, 2013, 01:05:43 PM
I have --never-- seen anything like this.
The jaws are meant to hold round object(s) is all I know for sure.
V notches in vise jaws are always "pipe jaws"

  These are smooth, not toothed jaws. So whatever they were holding only needed light pressure,
  and did not care to be marred.
   yours Scott
Title: Re: Odd Vise
Post by: oldtools on August 05, 2013, 01:47:20 PM
Dose the hole align with the lower jaw? maybe a pipe through hole & clamped by small jaw?
Title: Re: Odd Vise
Post by: johnsironsanctuary on August 05, 2013, 02:37:30 PM
This keeps saying jewelers vice to me. It's that cool little anvil that clinches it. You work on the uhh soldered bracelet in the lower vice and make another part for it on the anvil and upper vice.
Title: Re: Odd Vise
Post by: Plyerman on August 05, 2013, 03:47:28 PM
No idea. How big is it Dowds?
Title: Re: Odd Vise
Post by: john k on August 05, 2013, 08:27:48 PM
I agree it is a jewelers item, or maybe a silversmith.   The anvil placed there is a head scratcher. 
Title: Re: Odd Vise
Post by: Bill Houghton on August 05, 2013, 10:59:15 PM
One of the things that confuses me about this design is that the anvil could have been more conveniently located on the other side of the vise.

Sooner or later, someone's going to come along and explain what it was/is used for, and we'll all say either, "Oh, yeah!" or "Oh.  Really?  Wow, that's strange."  In the meantime, it's one of the many reasons this is a worthwhile place to hang out.
Title: Re: Odd Vise
Post by: junkfisher on August 06, 2013, 07:52:28 AM
I cant prove it but I would say jeweler's vise as well.
Title: Re: Odd Vise
Post by: johnsironsanctuary on August 06, 2013, 10:06:42 AM
Lynn, does the hole under the upper vice line up with the lower vise? Like a sort of stone age bar feeder? I am assuming that both vices are intended to hold round stock.
Title: Re: Odd Vise
Post by: skipskip on August 06, 2013, 11:52:34 AM
the guy who buys my gold and silver is a jewelry maker.

He has a  serious shop and has been doing this for a LONG time.

I took him a pic of this vise and he said  "dunno" never seen it in the jewelry industry.

He guessed it is a one off unit for a specific  industrial part or parts
Title: Re: Odd Vise
Post by: fflintstone on August 06, 2013, 12:00:21 PM
the guy who buys my gold and silver is a jewelry maker.

He has a  serious shop and has been doing this for a LONG time.

I took him a pic of this vise and he said  "dunno" never seen it in the jewelry industry.

He guessed it is a one off unit for a specific  industrial part or parts

 I was pretty sure it was not anything to do with jewelry. Like I said previously I feel it is part of a much larger machine to hold something else for machining or another purpose.
Title: Re: Odd Vise
Post by: dowdstools on August 06, 2013, 12:48:27 PM
No idea. How big is it Dowds?

The base, excluding the tab on the end, is 10 3/4 inches long and 3 1/16 inches wide. The tab on the end is actually hinged, and folds up underneath the base. The top vise opens to 1 3/4 inches (measured across the very top edge of the jaw) and the bottom vise opens to 1 9/16 (measured the same way).
Title: Re: Odd Vise
Post by: dowdstools on August 06, 2013, 12:49:16 PM
Lynn, does the hole under the upper vice line up with the lower vise? Like a sort of stone age bar feeder? I am assuming that both vices are intended to hold round stock.

Yes, to both questions.
Title: Re: Odd Vise
Post by: Helleri on August 06, 2013, 01:04:48 PM
I seen gun vices before, for rifle's and shotguns that are similar in a few respects. They have a lower vise to hold the lower part of the stock, and a higher piece space apart to hold the upper part of the stock or barrel. And the shotgun ones in specific tend to have a middle piece for holding. I would think that hole might hold a bar that can nestle a shotgun in the open position...but, all the vise I see that look like that are horizontally adjustable for distance between the two clamps. maybe it was for a shotgun? but for only one kind? like a factory floor thing, built to spec to only help produce a very narrow range of product?
Title: Re: Odd Vise
Post by: Billman49 on August 06, 2013, 01:32:50 PM
Gunsmith's (armourer's) vice does not seem unreasonable. The fact that the jaw levels are not adjustable, as in the image below, suggests it was made for a specific use, i.e. one type of weapon - which leads to 2 possibilities 1) a manufacturer's jig, 2) a military armourer's vice  - who else deals with large numbers of identical weapons???