Leg Vise

at the Delnero Old Time Blacksmith Shop

The Blacksmith's Leg Vise

Most of the blacksmiths' work is done with hand tools. The most commonly used tool is the hammer. There is very little that a smith does that doesn't involve a hammer blow, either directly onto the metal or against a tool over it. Depending on the job the ball peen, cross peen, straight peen and sledge hammers may be used.

Tongs are used when a piece of metal is too hot or short to go from the forge to the anvil. Tongs come in every shape and size imaginable. The smith selects the pair most suited for the job he's doing.

Hardies are tools of different shapes which fit into the hardy hole or square hole in the anvil. The most common hardie is called a cutoff hardie and is wedge shaped. It is used to cut metal by placing a hot piece of iron over it and hitting the metal with a hammer, forcing the hardie through the iron.

Swedges and fullers are matching sets of shaping tools cut in half. The bottom half, the swedge, fits into the hardie hole. The fuller, the top half, has a flat area on top in which a hammer could hit and its bottom half is shaped exactly like the swedge below. By placing a piece of hot iron in between the two and hammering you create the shape desired.

The vise a blacksmith uses is called a leg vise. It is made differently than a modern engineers' vise. It's made of iron to withstand heavy hammering.
Unlike an engineers' vice, the leg vise is designed to protect the screw treads from the blows.
The smith uses the vise for many jobs including bending work at a 90 degree angle, putting in twists, and any time he needs another hand.

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