Wilton vise iron

[seber]

I am reposting this as it was in general tools. Probably the wrong place.
At the last estate sale I picked up a five inch Wilton machinist vise in like new condition for $100. I haven't checked the age yet. I have heard that Wilton originally used malleable iron and at some point switched to cast. Does anyone have any info on whether or when that switch might have happened?

 

[1982fxr]

Not sure but I've heard there's a special place in tool hell for people that start vise threads and deny us pics.

 

[exmaxima1]

I'm just guessing, but based on the number of early Wilton vises with fractured jaw shelves I don't believe they were malleable iron. Further, I recall Columbian vises bragging about "indestructible" malleable iron circa 1960 and Wilton later advertising their vises with stressed parts being malleable iron.

 

[seber]

Sorry, I thought the photo had loaded. It is up now.

 

[RoninB4]

-Not to be a fussy PITA type but cast iron is somewhat a generic term. There are at least 15 types of "cast iron" and malleable is one of them. They all have different properties, malleable is a white cast iron that's been heat treated (annealed) to change the iron carbide back to free graphite, which improves is mechanical properties. Casting is the only way to produce a relatively low cost vise, machining from large "chunks" would be very expensive. The exact composition of the cast material is a company guarded "secret sauce" so competitors won't know and copy or knock. Cheaper vises from China are also cast but are prone to failure. Ask yourself why is that? Different castings of the same size/shape can even be different weights. Why is that?

Won't try to identify the age but it was made at the Schiller Park location where I once worked and is of newer vintage than the older location.

 

[seber]

-Not to be a fussy PITA type but cast iron is somewhat a generic term. There are at least 15 types of "cast iron" and malleable is one of them. They all have different properties, malleable is a white cast iron that's been heat treated (annealed) to change the iron carbide back to free graphite, which improves is mechanical properties. Casting is the only way to produce a relatively low cost vise, machining from large "chunks" would be very expensive. The exact composition of the cast material is a company guarded "secret sauce" so competitors won't know and copy or knock. Cheaper vises from China are also cast but are prone to failure. Ask yourself why is that? Different castings of the same size/shape can even be different weights. Why is that?

Won't try to identify the age but it was made at the Schiller Park location where I once worked and is of newer vintage than the older location.

Cast iron actually is a specific engineering term for Iron that has been cast and chilled leaving carbon flakes. It is true that all types are cast. but if there is treatment after the casting, it will be designated as that type, not as cast iron.

 

[RoninB4]

Cast iron actually is a specific engineering term for Iron that has been cast and chilled leaving carbon flakes. It is true that all types are cast. but if there is treatment after the casting, it will be designated as that type, not as cast iron.

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I've no idea what your "retired engineer" background means and my posting is not meant as an attempt to correct you but rather to inform, if that's possible. Instead of relying on my own body of knowledge I've taken the liberty of consulting/quoting a couple of websites and two reference volumes from my own library that I've found helpful over the years. Perhaps they'll help you too. The following excerpts indicate that the term "cast iron" is not specific as you've flatly stated, but more a grouping by classes of a material. They have varying chemical content and carbon as either free carbon or graphite, or combined carbon or cementite (iron carbide). The quotes taken below certainly do NOT list all of the forms of cast iron but do illustrate that the term "cast iron" is not regarded by industry as a specific flavor unless further defined by alloy content or crystalline microstructure like nodular/spheroidal/ etc. The classes themselves have variations specified by the foundry (or buyer) that is sometimes restricted information, sometimes not.

My original post was rather brief and meant to explain, for those unfamiliar with it, that "malleable" can also be a type of cast iron. This long winded post is still meant to merely inform. I don't know where you've obtained your information from but I've cited my sources below. I hope this helps someone.

Theengineeringchoice-Cast iron is a class of iron-carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and a silicon content of around 1–3%.

Engineeringtechnology- Cast iron is a group of iron-carbon alloys with a carbon content greater than 2%.

Metallurgy by Johnson/Weeks (4th edition from the Amarican Technical Society 1957 pg. 64)- Pig iron, grey cast iron, white cast iron, chilled cast iron, and malleable cast iron are all referred to as cast iron

Machinery's Handbook (20th edition 1978 pg 2166)- The different classes of cast iron include gray cast iron, white cast iron, chilled cast iron, malleable cast iron, and nodular cast iron (ductile)..