Restoring a post leg vice

[Screwdriver]

You can almost guarantee that burn will get infected if ignored. Feet, socks, and boots are happy breeding grounds for bacteria, so you are not being excessive.

Never underestimate burns, and never ignore them.

Mother/matron talk over, back to work......

It seemed to be healing up ok so I kept cleaning and dressing it for a couple of days then basically forgot about it.

It does look like it has healed really well but judging by the damage, was actually a pretty deep burn!

I'll post a picture if anyone asks so the next reply might put you off your dinner. Basically the wound has deepened into a crater as if I've lost 2-3mm of skin!

 

[Screwdriver]

The next thing I have to do is mount this vice before it falls on something important. Plus I really need a big strong vice out there even before I build the "barrel bomb forge" which is next on the list.

Might as well repost the vice stand here too:

This was my first target design, limited by whatever materials I have "on hand"

It has issues, not the least of which being my largest box section isn't long enough to give me the required height when cut in two. Misses out by over an inch which is too tight to build to.

So I am considering scaffold pole, which I have lots of.

Note the vice is mounted much deeper in the plate to stop it tipping forwards so easily. I have also offset the top plate to allow me either to drop material all the way through the jaws or on the left hand side, drop it onto an extended part of the plate. The "offcut" of my main steel a 1600mm x 300mm 12m thick beam plate acts at a platform either for working on or standing on while twisting/bending in the vice. There's also a bar for strength and for propping your foot on while working.

Basically I model whatever found components I might discover lying around, then compromise the design based on what I've got! That massive plate is still only 300mm wide for example so that's what my mounting plate is.

Much easier than actually getting out there and doing anything...

and it needs to fit in the awkward shape of the forge area.

Which it does or at least it will!

 

[Sarto]

Could you reverse the design of the support and put 2 wheels on it?
Something foldable, to move the vice more easily, but not touching ground when not in use.

Sart0

 

[Screwdriver]

Could you reverse the design of the support and put 2 wheels on it?
Something foldable, to move the vice more easily, but not touching ground when not in use.

Sart0

I could but why would I? It's not a portable vice, it's "moveable". I'd sooner put wheels on my anvil! (I might actually do that).

That vice alone weighs over 100lbs and the massive slab is going to add another 50... You wouldn't want to move it if it had an engine let alone mere wheels. It is a top heavy tripod and the thought of it tipping over in that confined space is not a trivial issue. With the anvil for example, I have considered fitting small lifting brackets to which I can attach a purpose built axle. Then I can just clip the axle on, tilt it slightly which lifts most of the weight onto the wheels and just drag the bugger...

 

[MattF]

I could but why would I? It's not a portable vice, it's "moveable". I'd sooner put wheels on my anvil! (I might actually do that).

That vice alone weighs over 100lbs and the massive slab is going to add another 50... You wouldn't want to move it if it had an engine let alone mere wheels. It is a top heavy tripod and the thought of it tipping over in that confined space is not a trivial issue. With the anvil for example, I have considered fitting small lifting brackets to which I can attach a purpose built axle. Then I can just clip the axle on, tilt it slightly which lifts most of the weight onto the wheels and just drag the ******...

It's no issue. I have a cast iron vice stand specifically designed that way, which would weigh roughly the same with one of my 6" vices on there. I wouldn't think twice about wheeling it around.

 

[MattF]

I am tempted to fill it in but the softer forged steel (?) seems to melt away from the weld leaving a crater.

Iron, not steel.

 

[Screwdriver]

Iron, not steel.

Apparently they can be forged iron or forged steel. This one says it is an Attwood but there's no date I can discover. I was surprised to learn this design hasn't changed since the 1600's!

 

[slim_boy_fat]

@Screwdriver Vice and stand aside, how's the leg healing?

 

[Screwdriver]

@Screwdriver Vice and stand aside, how's the leg healing?

Good question. Not sure really! I'm still waiting for some skin to grow back or I end up getting welded to my sock every day. There's no infection but every morning the dressing is still wet. Spend mornings with it cleaned an uncovered, wait for the bright white "coating" to dry out before applying a dressing. Pretty sure what's left is a hole in the skin with raw meat underneath.

Just goes to show how dangerous a deep burn can be. I don't think I could have attended to it any better or expect a more positive outcome. Just have to wait for the skin to grow back!

From now on I'll be paying a lot more attention to not getting burned in the first place. I think I'll be putting running water in the forge and one of those barrels is going to end up as a basin.

<edit> Link to close up of wound: https://imgur.com/PMQ35yJ

<edit> This is this morning. https://imgur.com/2gWMA8G

See what I mean about having no skin... I am not entirely sure it really ought to look like that.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

See what I mean about having no skin... I am not entirely sure it really ought to look like that

Well I, I have no medical training (just a lot of life experience ) and I don't make a habit of looking at mens's legs, but I don't like the look of that.

Get yourself to either your GP or A & E for faster treatment. No point in being a one-legged hero........

 

[Screwdriver]

Well I, I have no medical training (just a lot of life experience ) and I don't make a habit of looking at mens's legs, but I don't like the look of that.

Get yourself to either your GP or A & E for faster treatment. No point in being a one-legged hero........

My local GP has a nurse on duty, I'll get her to take a look.

 

[cumbriasteve]

I had a very similar burn on my foot but it was not quite as bad as that and I was told one more week without progress and it was going to be skin graft time, I think your well past 'one more week'.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Not directly related (more of a salutary lesson) but Radio 5 Live broadcast an interview this morning with a chap who'd been bitten ( nipped, not chewed ) by his dog.

Developed flu-like symptoms which turned into sepsis. He lost both legs belonw the knee, some of his fingers and part of his face.

I developed sepsis when in hospital isolation during my stem-cell transplant, but was one of the lucky ones. They were pumping me full of antibiotics and taking blood samples every three to four hours, day and night.

Infections are not to taken lightly.......

 

[rtbcomp]

I collected my leg vice on the 5th March 2007, 11 years ago and I knew them as "Leg Vices" before then, although I can't remember when I first encountered them.

 

[mpats]

looks similar to some reasonable burns I ended up with on my neck, didn't have to have skin grafts fortunately but while healing when the scabs came off they looked pretty similar.
Not a bad shout to pop in to see the nurse though, can't hurt anything. It looks like you've taken a decent amount of skin off, it'll take time to heal over fully.

 

[mrsbruce]

You don’t have much fatty tissue on that part of your ankle, so it’s all a bit thin there. I agree, go get it checked, more of a progress thing than anything else. You might just need a different type of dressing, but time for the experts to step in.

I used to have horrible little burns all the time from when I did the paint stripping. Using a heat gun, even with gloves on, I’ve had some corkers, so I empathise.

 

[Parm]

I would definitely recommend you see a doctor or nurse, even more important if you have any other underlying medical conditions. Diabetes for example is the enemy of any healing process

 

[Screwdriver]

I did see the local nurse at the GP, she got a doctor in.

As we suspected, all the skin is gone. That's muscle fibre in the crater. Too late for a skin graft, needed a more comprehensive dressing which I can't take off, got to go back next week to have it replaced. Any sign of an infection in there and it would have been a lot more serious. Dodged that bullet, won't be testing my luck again.

 

[Screwdriver]

Slight change of plan...

I just couldn't bring myself to chop up a lovely (flat) slab of 12mm steel just to mount a cheap old blacksmith vice. So I knocked up a wooden structure to get it out of the way and useable - if not ideal.

It is pretty sturdy but does need outriggers to stop it being pulled over forwards.

And it gives me a chance to do a bit more welding!

I'll put some holes in the frame to allow for staking or bolting to the floor but I am still not sure how practicable that is with a block floor. I guess I could hammer in a long length of rebar and see if that holds.

Once the frame is in place and I like the setup, I can tack on a few more bits of ironwork to stiffen it all up. I'll glue up a decent platform at the top and maybe insert a less robust steel plate top just to keep it flameproof.

 

[Parm]

That looks good, in the long run can you not make something similar with U channel ?