Interesting armourer's vice

Howdy all,

I found this the other day whilst browsing through a few forums and thought people on here might like to have a look at it.

Its a 16th century armourer's vice in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection

Attachment 319638Attachment 319639Attachment 319640Attachment 319641


Here's a link to a closeup of it.
Jacopo de Ferrara | Armorer's vise | Northern Italian | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Indeed so!
Not only for its antiquity but also for the its ornate finish. Apart from being a useful object- to the armorer anyway- it is also and thing on beauty.

I shot blackpowder firearms a few years back and it interesting to look back on a tool of the armourer- and a major one at that.


Having disassembled that type of firearms it is interesting to look at the screw for attaching the vise to the bench. Knowing the force required to unscrew a barrel for instance, that little screw seems inadequate to hold the vise to the bench top with that sort of force being imposed upon it.

Again maybe there is something about the process I missed. Possibly something like it only being used to take the lock apart or disassemble trigger assemblies or the like.

Still! it is a nice tool.

Thanks for posting it.

Grahame

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Grahame Collins

Indeed so!
Having disassembled that type of firearms it is interesting to look at the screw for attaching the vise to the bench. Knowing the force required to unscrew a barrel for instance, that little screw seems inadequate to hold the vise to the bench top with that sort of force being imposed upon it.

Again maybe there is something about the process I missed. Possibly something like it only being used to take the lock apart or disassemble trigger assemblies or the like.
Grahame

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Indeed it does look a tad inadequate, though as i understand it, i believe most of the heavy work involved in armour making is done at the anvil and on various different dishing stumps and forms, so i'd imagine at least that a vice like that would probably be for somewhat lighter work.

On an unrelated note....how do you think the decorative elements of it have been made up? Forging and heavy chasing, or casting?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Grahame Collins

......knowing the force required to unscrew a barrel for instance, that little screw seems inadequate to hold the vise to the bench top with that sort of force being imposed upon it.

Again maybe there is something about the process I missed. Possibly something like it only being used to take the lock apart or disassemble trigger assemblies or the like.

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Graeme, that vise could be intended to mount like a blacksmith/farrier vise. The vertical iron stake may be missing from the exhibt. On the pictures they seem to use a wooden stick instead. If I am correct, then the main load would have been taken up by a vertical stake, and the horizontal clamp is only there to stabilize the vise. Look at this picture to see what I mean:

Attachment 319665

CBA,
I think you are right.
Furthermore I reckon maybe its not a firearm type armourers vice but more of an an suit of armour type armourers vice.

Grahame

I agree with Chris, it's missing the part that goes down to the floor, I just installed one a few weeks back as a bench vise.. The post has to be constrained in a hole in the floor, or it will twist in use, the mounting to the bench is mostly just to stop it from falling over, and all the force from hammering is taken by the leg/post.

The detail on that museum piece is staggering, I'd guess a combination of casting and forging was used to make the figures and weld them to the body of the vise, when thinking about why someone would go to that much trouble for a vise, I wonder if it was a form of advertising, like showing off to potential customers, look what I can make?

Or it may have been a commissioned piece for a wealthy client who was a blacksmith...

Ray