Rare Antique Fractal Vise [Restoration]

This restoration was on an AMAZING vise that was made by the Mantle & Co., most likely in the 1920s. Very little history remains of that company or this vise they made, but the patent can be found here: If anyone has any information on this special tool, please contact me at handtoolrescue@ This vise was found is a fairly poor condition with many holes drilled into it, broken castings, as well as a small jaw missing and swivel base missing. I spent an insane amount of time thinking about how to approach the repairs as I really didn’t want to risk doing something that could ruin things further, so naturally I chose the hardest and most risky option; cast iron welding. I wanted to use pure cast iron rods to torch weld the holes in the vise so that the colour match of the repair would be perfect. Any repairs that were not going to be visible, were fixed with brazing. I also completely re-japanned the whole vise with 5 coats of japanning. Making t