The leg/Black smith/Solid box vice

The Leg Vice is for heavy-duty work, being manufactured from wrought iron or mild
steel, with cast steel jaw pieces. It is often used during forge work. The long ‘Tommy
bar’, allows for forceful leverage. The vice is used for the hot and cold forming of metal.
It is ideal for holding long pieces of steel because the jaws are well away from the
bench/stand and relatively high from the ground.
They are used when an engineer’s vice would be damaged, by the nature of the work
being carried out. They are often found with their own ‘tripod stand’ or they are
occasionally seen bolted down, on a stout workbench. The single leg is sometimes ‘set’
into the ground, in its own steel collar, giving it extra support.
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With the exception of one position, the jaws are not parallel to each other, because of
the way the front jaw rotates around the hinge bolt. There are times when this makes it
difficult to secure the work. The jaws of an engineer’s vice are always parallel to each
other.
The leg vice is uses, to hold a substantial piece of steel, ready for forming a 90-degree
angle. The steel has been heated to ‘red heat’, on a brazing hearth or in a forge, so that it
is malleable and can be formed more easily. The long piece of steel fits between the jaws
of the leg and vice, without interference from the bench, giving plenty of room. The
heavy blows to the steel, from the ‘large’ ball pein hammer, will not damage this type of
vice, but they could damage an engineer’s vice.
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