Saw vise ID - Stearns'?

[bliorg]

'Afternoon, all - Found this saw vise at a local consignment today. Have been needing one for a while (have a number of old Richardson Bros saws that need some attention), and this'n was just sitting there, looking forlorn. Looks like a Stearns' No 3, but the only text in the casting is "STEARNS' PAT". It'll clean up fine, but I'm just curious if it is an EC Stearns', and if it is at all gloat-worthy (I live in old tool hell)...

Thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[WisJim]

I'm not home for awhile so I have to depend on internet searches rather than look over my assortment of saw vises. The 1924 Stearns catalog, available on the Internet Archive, has a few pages of saw vises. If I remember right, other companies either sold or made saw vises using the Stearns patents. Looking at eBay for prices of sold saw vises should give you an idea of whether you got a good deal or not, but just having a usable saw vise if you need one should make it worthwhile.
https://archive.org/details/ECStearnsCatalogueOfHardware1924/page/22/mode/2up

 

[RTM]

I'm not home for awhile so I have to depend on internet searches rather than look over my assortment of saw vises. The 1924 Stearns catalog, available on the Internet Archive, has a few pages of saw vises.
https://archive.org/details/ECStearnsCatalogueOfHardware1924/page/22/mode/2up

If the above doesn’t work, the #11 or #3 in the catalog may be close also.

Stearns : Hardware, Power Lawn, Mowers, Incinerators : Catalogue No. 34 : E. C. Stearns & Co. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

63 p., illus., 24.8 cm, trade catalog

archive.org

Pretty good vise, whether Stearns or someone else made it.

 

[bliorg]

Thank you both! Definitely looks like a No 3, clone or otherwise. No text on the jaws at all, a lot of file marks, but all superficial. Everything works, and all my sharpening to date has been with a couple strips of poplar kind of lined up in my leg vise; I’m hoping a proper saw vise makes things a little less *******. Will be disassembling this, clean it up best as can be, and probably cold blue and oil. I got this for $9, feel good about it, regardless. Will be a fun, useful little project.

 

[RTM]

Everything works, and all my sharpening to date has been with a couple strips of poplar kind of lined up in my leg vise; I’m hoping a proper saw vise makes things a little less *******.

Just getting one where you can set the tilt makes the job Ssooooooo Much Easier. Filing horizontally vs trying to hold a fixed angle.

 

[bliorg]

Just getting one where you can set the tilt makes the job Ssooooooo Much Easier. Filing horizontally vs trying to hold a fixed angle.

Definitely going to be better than what I’ve been doing, lol.

Flipped the clamp around (was installed backwards) and it mounts on the bench fine, and holds a saw very sturdy. Looking forward to cleaning this up. Need to order some new files…

 

[RTM]

When you slope it top away from you, helps setting the slope.

Terms here.

Blackburn Tools - saw tooth geometry

 

[four.cycle]

Stearns / Edward C. Stearns & Co., 450 Oneida, Syracuse, NY / successor to George N. Stearns & Co. ca. 1877 / patent 84605 Dec 1 1868 William Baxter & 201064 Mar 5 1878 & RE9293 Jul 13 1880 & 203384 May 7 1878 George N. Stearns & 237441 Feb 8 1881 Alva M. Colt & 983176 Jan 31 1911 Edward Carl Stearns / see also Baxter; Greene, Tweed & Co.; and Tower & Lyon / https://amp.ww.google-wiki.info/30347513/1/e-c-stearns-company.html / Aug 30 1923 American Machinist Vol. 59 No. 9 pp 311-312 / http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=803&tab=0 / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/e-c-stearns-co-tools.547355/ /