A talk with a farrier about his anvil stand made me check mine

He said his old stand had a hidden crack for months, and the whole thing nearly came down on his foot. I checked my own setup and found a loose bolt I'd missed. How often do you guys do a full safety check on your gear?

3 comments

3 Comments

michaeltorres14d ago

My old vise gave out last week, just a rusty bolt holding the whole thing together.

oliverhernandez14d ago

Rusty bolts can be a symptom, not the cause. A vise under heavy load needs more than one bolt to stay tight. If the main casting or the jaw screws were worn, that single bolt was doing all the work. It was bound to fail under any real pressure. The bolt just showed you where the real weakness was.

vera_lewis214d ago

What kind of work were you putting it through when it finally let go? A single rusty bolt sounds like it was hanging on way past its prime (a real miracle worker, honestly). Did the whole jaw assembly drop, or did it just start spinning freely? Makes me wonder about the brand and how long you had it.