Welding Tips and Tricks

Hey,

I've been doing some work for a guy who is losing his storage space. He has been selling off a lot of stuff, and he asked me to do some repair work on this Fisher chain vise.

As you will (hopefully) see in the pictures, the jaws have some damage. It looks to me like someone has already had a go at welding them. I don't have the vise with me yet, so for the moment I only have the pictures I've posted. I will be able to have access soon if we need it in order to determine how to proceed.

What he wants is a quality repair to the jaws, including cutting/grinding away any crap and poor quality prior repairs. Then welding to rebuild the jaws as part of a basic overall restoration of the vise.

So... how should I proceed? I could braze it... If I should use a stick which one is best for this purpose?

Thank you in advance,
Steve








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WOW you’re work is going to be rough. It’s cast and it’s old cast that’s been abused. Looks like it’s going to be laced with old stress cracks and deep corrosion. I’d recommend grinding back to good metal. Paint it with a layer of brazing rod then build it up with nickle. Won’t be cheap.

Blacksmith vice in very poor condition. You're in America right? The guy should be able to pick up a good one at swap meet or car boot sale for less than the cost of restoring that one.

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Maybe consider cutting the jaws back to clean metal fill minor imperfections with a nickel based rod pre and post heat then machine new jaws to go over what's left with countersunk Allen's those are cool post vises but weren't meant to be pounded on like a regular post vise that has a large pivot bolt below so having the jaws not solid to the vise won't really affect it like it would with a single pivot box and screw style there neat worth saving you could always make the jaws from brass and save it for intricate work then find another to beat on !

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After looking closer at the one pic I believe the original jaws were tool steel forge welded on you can cheat a similar setup by placing the new jaws in place with a ball bearing in the center then weld your way out so the entire peice is fully welded to the vise .....that's a little bit of work !

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Maybe consider cutting the jaws back to clean metal fill minor imperfections with a nickel based rod pre and post heat then machine new jaws to go over what's left with countersunk Allen's those are cool post vises but weren't meant to be pounded on like a regular post vise that has a large pivot bolt below so having the jaws not solid to the vise won't really affect it like it would with a single pivot box and screw style there neat worth saving you could always make the jaws from brass and save it for intricate work then find another to beat on !

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Thank you all for your thoughts! I appreciate the help!!

After posting the question I was thinking about something like this idea... Maybe put a thin parallel or something between the existing 'jaws' and mark, perhaps .5"/.75" back from each. Then cut away everything back to those lines, and install premade jaws using screws (just like most every other vise).

If I end up welding on it, is there a particular 'nickel' rod I should use? Brand/number?

https://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-us/s ... etail.aspx

Several companies make a version.

I would think lay two peices of angle in there clamp tight and using a thin cut off just follow the edge of the angle then make the new inserts just slightly thinner than that angle was the nickle rods are nice to work with and make good repairs I've fixed alot of old obsolete farm parts with them just get ready they aren't cheap and don't go far if I had to guess you'll be around $120.00 in rods alone for that job [emoji51]

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Thank you! I"ll take this information and your thoughts back to him and see how he wants to proceed.