Got some pix of some of the stuff I have been doing. The following are pix of my old leg vise and the new pieces I made for it. The strap and spring are 1/4 inch thick lawnmower blade. The slotting tool, wedge and keeper are pieces of 1/4 inch plate I have had laying around for years. Got a piece of red oak tree trunk about 4 feet long and 30 inches in diameter, dug a hole about a foot deep and put it on end in said hole. Tamped the dirt back around it and mounted the vise on it with 3 lag bolts. Will get pix of it mounted soon.

Leg Vise with new mounting hardware.

New leg vise pieces. Left to right – Slot opening tool I made. Front leg opening spring. Wedge. Slotted strap. Keeper. Mount, which I didn’t make but heated, beat out and repunched the end hole.

Prior to bending the strap the punch was used to punch holes on both ends of each slot to keep them from splitting when cut open with the chisel. Punched hot. Punch 3/4s of the way through turn over and punch back through and out. Took me 2 heats on each hole. Hope to get quicker…

Again prior to bending the strap the chisel was used to punch through the slots between the punched holes. Done hot. Punch almost through and then turn over and back through. Punched into an aluminum billet I made from some old pistons a couple of years ago.

After the slots were punched through I made this tool to open the slots and allow me to beat on the edges of the strap to open the slot. Just heated one end of the piece of metal and beat the sides in till it would fit across the corners of the hardie hole. Heated the other end and beat it to a wedge shape then ground it to about a 45 degree angle. And yes hitting it on the sides does bend it a bit but if the strap is red hot it does the job it was made to do. A couple of taps with the hammer on the other side and it’s back straight. Good enough to do the job is fine at times… 😉