These dies are engraved for embossing.

engraved inlays for stringed instruments

Give me Liberty

This is an engraving vise I grabbed on eBay a number of years ago. I have no idea who made it. The build quality is very impressive. The top spins smoothly on a cassette ball bearing. For more details and photos, I wrote about it on my blog:

http://johnderosier.blogspot.com/2013/09/my-favorite-engraving-vise.html

These photos show the vise, as well as a partial disassembly, just to give an idea of how it is built. Any thoughts anyone might have on origin or what time period it was built would be welcome. My figuring, based on the inclusion of a cassette ball bearing is that it must be a 20th century piece. Beyond that, I'm in the dark.