Ed,
Picked this up the other day out of a guys iron pile. Asked him what he wanted for it, he himmed and hawwed and I told him I'd give him $14 dollars for it. He said there was no way he could sell it for that. Told me he'd have to have $20 for it. Needless to say it was in the back of my rig in a hurry. The question I had is, there are no identifying markings on it. Above the handle on the jaw is stamped 100. It's very heavy but not sure if it's 100lbs. or not, probably close. The jaws are 6" wide.
Any ideas as to who may have made it or where to check.
Jon
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1407959&a=10524523&p=49448063

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1407959&a=10524523&p=49448065

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1407959&a=10524523&p=49448067

Hey Jon, I picked up a vise exactly like yours a couple months ago, and stole it too for only thirty dollars!! I have been told it's a black smith vise, but I'm sure it has had many different applications of the eons. Don't know who made it either, but we both have a hell of a find. Also, the mounting bracket is intact, as mine, which I do know is rare to find, as they are usually missing. If your interested in the value, I been told by several sources that it's worth anywhere from $175 to $275, but I think that's pushing it a bit. Course you never know. I haven't found a way to incorporate into my shop, but sooner or later I will figure out a way to use it. Would like to have it by the forge and anvil, but having a concrete floor has kinda stumped me as how to rig it up. Any ideas? I'm game. Regards. Charles

If you keep this up, I'm gona be seeing you on America's Most Wanted! Excellent looking vise, and a "steal" for the price!!
One of mine is exactly like that one, and also has the "100" stamped in to the jaw. I have found no indication that it's anything more than a manufaturing ID mark.
To answer Charles's question about it being a "blacksmith's" vise......that is what it was designed for. The heavy jaws were made to withstand hammering, and the "post" was designed to stabilize the vise, as well as help absorb some of the shock from hammering.
If you look in Centaur Forge, you'll see just how good a deal you both got! Centaur is the only outfit selling new ones these days, and a 6" model is in the $900 area!

You can take the vise and mount it to a pole welded into the middle of a truck rim. Fill the rim with dirt and it is quite stable on a concrete floor.

I have a picture of the same vise (looks like) mounted on a metal fram for a full time blacksmith shop in Mesquite, TX. There are four of them in this shop and they are mounted on rims or on this frame. I can e-mail the picture to anyone that wants it but my skills at posting it here are pretty #$%^&* bad and I cannot get it to work. This method of mounting is really very stable.

1warner@gte.net

Thanks Ed and Bob. Bob, will take you up on the truck rim idea. Jeez, I must me getting old or something to not think of that, and I have a rim laying in the corner of the shop! Thanks for the info folks.

Thanks for the info guys,
Ed, I don't feel tooooo bad about getting it cheap. The guy was gonna cut it up for scrap so he felt real good getting $20 for it.
Can't wait to get it set up. I have a dirt floor in my smithy so can just sink a couple of railroad ties in the ground and bolt it to it. I have a 4" post vise set on one tie but think I'll need two for this monster.
Jon