Vice identification assistance.

[clemet]

I rescued my grandfather's old vice from his old shop. I am looking for some assistance with identification though. The mount is hard to read. Only thing I can find is a 20 cast in the bottom. The top I can make out Cleveland and Made In the USA. It has 5 1/2 in jaws that open just over 8 inches. And assistance would be greatly appreciated.

 

[neophyte]

It’s a blacksmith’s leg vise.
The style hoes back several hundred years or more.
That is obviously more recent, since it appears to be steel, rather than wrought iron.
Columbian made leg vises, and the red color be consistent.

 

[neophyte]

Here, from an eBay listing.

Vintage Blacksmith COLUMBIA Weighs 50 Pounds Post Leg Stump Vise WITH 4+" JAWS | eBay

Very RARE and hard to find a vise this heavy! Signed on the vise "THE COLUMBIA HARDWARE CO CLEVELAND O MADE IN USA". The condition is nice.the jaws are in nice shape.this is a very solid vise.

www.ebay.com

 

[clemet]

Thanks. Definitely looks like a Columbian based on that picture.

The red is spray paint from something he was painting last.

Only thing I forgot to add is that I remember it being in his shop in the 80s.

Is there any way to tell the year?

 

[neophyte]

Thanks. Definitely looks like a Columbian based on that picture.

The red is spray paint from something he was painting last.

Only thing I forgot to add is that I remember it being in his shop in the 80s.

Is there any way to tell the year?

No clue on age.
Maybe post the pic of the worn logo in one of both of the really long Vise threads.

 

[neophyte]

It looks like the leg vises were in the 1940 Columbian Vise catalog, and not in Catalogs by the mid 1960s, when Columbian was purchased by the Warren Tool Group.
Warren made large railroad prybars and tools, and leg/post vises like this are traditionally made using using similar techniques, so these should have stuck around in the Warren Tool Group catalogs if still made or offered.

 

[neophyte]

It looks like that vise style dates from maybe 1918-1940+/-.
The Columbian leg vises from before 1918 seem to use a different style back mounting plate.

 

[frosty77]

Hi Clemet! I recently acquired a post vise with these EXACT specs and pictures to match yours (5 1/2 jaws and stamped 20 on the bottom and also the exact same Columbian Hardware info/log on the top as yours)(mine was also painted red but I get the impression that the paint wasn't original factory red. But, that's just a guess). I did learn that Columbian Hardware changed their name in 1927 so this was likely made before that? I'm also VERY curious as to approximate year of manufacture and any other information that you may have uncovered? Thanks!
edit: just found this: http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=11508