Hey folks,
No wood involved in this one. Not yet at least. This old WC Toles vise I just found had its brass vise dog pounded down into its hole. Previous owner told me his grandpa (the original owner) did it for some unknown reason. Originally the vise dog was hollowed out partially and had a spring in it. You can see the spring through the set screw hole pictures below.
IMG_4169.jpgIMG_4168.jpgIMG_4167.jpg
The vise also had a handy little slow for a pry bar just incase the vise dog got stuck. Thoughtful engineering, I know. Anyway, I sprayed oil in the hole and let it sit for well over a day, stuck a pry bar in there and tried to gently pry the brass dog up. No go. Try harder. Nope. Really pry on it now. Nothing. Ok fine, hit the pry bar with a hammer! No! Don't do that! You could break something! So here I am now, unsure of how to proceed. Should I drill into the top of the dog and try to extract it like a broken bolt? Or should I apply some heat first and try to pry it out still? I've used heat to loosen stuck bolts before but I don't want to damage anything, and I don't know if vises had any sort of heat treatment that I might damage.
What say the experts?
Reply With Quote