I might be getting rid of this in the not-so-distant future, so I wanted to go ahead and post it up here. This is a Columbian No. 608 with 8" jaws and weighing in at 180 lbs or so. Like a dummy, I cleaned it up before taking any "before" pictures, so this is all I've got.
It came from a Mac truck mechanic place that went out of business right here in Huntington. It's kind of a funny story how I got it. I found out about the sale on CL on a Sunday night, so at 8 a.m on Monday morning I was knocking on the door. I looked through what I thought was everything and saw a couple cool things, but nothing that I really wanted to buy, so I was about to leave when all the sudden I realized that I had walked right past the tool room. Way back in the corner, I saw this beast hiding on a cluttered and greasy bench and knew that I had to have it. At the time, it was the biggest vise I'd ever seen. When I picked up the price tag, I was heartbroken to see that it was being held for someone even thought they hadn't paid for it, but then I saw that it was only to be held until 9 am that day. So I asked the owner if it was close enough, because it was about 8:50 by that time but he said he wanted to give the buyer until 10 to show up. That was a long hour! At exactly 10, I asked him again and he called the guy and my heart sank again because the guy said he was on his way and would be there in a half hour. That was a long half hour! Then he made me wait ANOTHER half hour just to be sure the buyer wasn't going to show up!
Finally, at exactly 11 am, I threw the cash at him and the vise was mine. Unfortunately, it was still bolted to the bench so I had to run back home and get a crescent wrench because we couldn't find one anywhere in teh shop. When I got back, the original buyer had finally shown up and he was just standing there next to the vise waiting for me. He was pretty aggravated but I didn't feel bad because I didn't do anything wrong. He had his chance. Anyway, I had paid $150 for it and he asked me if I would take $200 for it. As tempting as it was, I had gone through a lot to get that thing and I wasn't about to let go of my prize. So then he said $250. Still no. $300? I probably should have sold it to him, but it was just not for sale. He ended up making me take his phone number and telling me that he'd be willing to go up to $400 or $500 if I ever decided to sell it! Poor fella.
So this thing has been living with me ever since. Without further ado, here are the pics.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/45099362@N02/4728770526/" title="Vise1 by BanjoSavesTheDay, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1419/4728770526_afa30d3536_b.jpg" width="1024" height="683" alt="Vise1" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/45099362@N02/4728772454/" title="Vise2 by BanjoSavesTheDay, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1080/4728772454_89e335fc4e_b.jpg" width="1024" height="683" alt="Vise2" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/45099362@N02/4728127439/" title="VIse4 by BanjoSavesTheDay, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1165/4728127439_4cd0602672_b.jpg" width="1024" height="683" alt="VIse4" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/45099362@N02/4728129263/" title="Vise3 by BanjoSavesTheDay, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1206/4728129263_43723ba03f_b.jpg" width="1024" height="683" alt="Vise3" /></a>
