The VISES of Garage Journal

[autopts]

I'm so excited to be making my first post on this AWESOME thread! I just got back from picking-up an early Reed 203.5 (gave $40 for it but the PO had to think about it for a few minutes). The handles came with a couple extra little bends in them. Love the way these jaws are installed (hot forged). Here she is:

That Reed will look fantastic restored. A great find!!

 

[Nightshift]

Stew, I picked up a pair of 5" Record fibre jaws covers today at A-G and put them on one of my Wilton 5" bullets ... works great! Thanks for the pointer. Cheers, Bill

 

[twohaggard]

on my vise
Recoil Rob - 3 an half yes
lzenglish - its so cheap it has no name! haha

 

[Outlawmws]

[/IMG]

my mini vise mounted to a brake rotor so i can move it all around for welding and whatever

Did that fit right on the bolt pattern, and is the spindle still on the rotor so it spins freely?

 

[twohaggard]

nope drilled holes. an no spindle

 

[PCO6]

Stew, I picked up a pair of 5" Record fibre jaws covers today at A-G and put them on one of my Wilton 5" bullets ... works great! Thanks for the pointer. Cheers, Bill

Bill That looks great. They are a nice feature and they work well. I hadn't thought of doing that but my guess is that would probably fit some other vices too.

 

[5001craig]

That Reed will look fantastic restored. A great find!!

Thank-you Sir!

Yep--As much as I thought I would do it, I'm already over the naked look for her. She needs to look purdy. Was already thinking I need to research primer and paint (already read it ten times but now need to take notes). Hit it a bit with a wire wheel when I got home and already like what's underneath the (probably lead-based) paint.

 

[superspec]

what makes a wilton so special?

 

[bigcaddy]

what makes a wilton so special?

They are a well built piece of equipment that can take a beating and hold up nicely.

I would be content owning just about any American made brand of vise but Wilton's had to go one step further and give the bullet vises some style.
Thats one reason why collectors actively seek them out.

The enclosed screw is another good reason. Good quality vises will cover the screw of the vise on 3 sides but Wilton fully enclosed it keeping it safe from any harmful grit that can damage the internals of the vise.


I'm guilty of collecting them myself.

 

[superspec]

thanks for the explaining that.

 

[autopts]

what makes a wilton so special?

They are a well built piece of equipment that can take a beating and hold up nicely.

I'm guilty of collecting them myself.

thanks for the explaining that.

Bigcaddy had more bullets then you have fingers and toes!! Have him put one in his Will for ya!

 

[jeffhemp]

not much but its all i need.

 

[bigcaddy]

Bigcaddy had more bullets then you have fingers and toes!! Have him put one in his Will for ya!

If you want to claim your Wilton vise after i check out, bring your shovel.

I'm gonna be buried with all of these damn things

 

[nmk_61802]

Speaking of Wilton vises. I just got a 4.5" C1 with swivel. Unfortunately the vise did not have the swivel bolt, t nuts or lower clamps. The previous owner had welded the base to the vise in four places. I separated the two pieces, but still need to find the replacement parts. Does anyone have these available?

 

[Nightshift]

Speaking of Wilton vises. I just got a 4.5" C1 with swivel. Unfortunately the vise did not have the swivel bolt, t nuts or lower clamps. The previous owner had welded the base to the vise in four places. I separated the two pieces, but still need to find the replacement parts. Does anyone have these available?

Autopts (Nick) is your man bro ... he knows where all the Willy parts are Cheers, Bill

 

[losdudes]

I just got a Wilton 746 without the swivel base. Anyone know where I can find a base? The part number for the kit is 2900980.

 

[Fudge]

My WILTON.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bright_industries/6804870688/" title="34-155 by Bright Industries, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7182/6804870688_de308e214e.jpg" width="500" height="308" alt="34-155"></a>

 

[Fudge]

The other side of my Craftsman.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bright_industries/6950984185/" title="34-157 by Bright Industries, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7037/6950984185_67582e789f.jpg" width="500" height="378" alt="34-157"></a>

 

[Richard D]

I bought a '40-ish Ford truck last weekend. Guy also had this Reed vise,
Model No. 205 R Patent 2127008. Bolteded to a piece of 3/4" plate, which is welded to 30" of 6" pipe, with another piece of 3/4" for the base. $125, did I spend too much?

Hope my Reed No. 1C doesn't get jealous.

 

[Canoe50]

Sounds like a good deal for a vintage truck & vise.

 

[Richard D]

The truck was another $200, I gave $125 just for the vise.

 

[Outlawmws]

The truck was another $200, I gave $125 just for the vise.

You **** 2X, and is the stand a factory stand? the mating post flange looks to be cast perfectly, (or did someone buy a second swivel plate, and weld that to the post?)

If factory, the stand is almost cooler than the vise!

 

[demoman]

Dayid - Awsome vise site. That is truely a labor of love. If you could compile all the info in this vise section I am confident there would be an example of 90% of all vises. This is vital information for collectors. Brad

 

[demoman]

Hopefully I didn't step on any toes by doing this - but in my search for information about Reed vises I'd started to build a table of information about them. Somewhere along the line that spun out of control and I started trying to keep track of information about all of these vises - since there doesn't seem to be a good main source of information for many.

That said, I put up a wiki with information from here and other forums about the different vises on them. It's http://dayid.org/mediawiki/index.php/Category:Vise

That's just my personal site, no ads, no money making or anything else, I just like to share information when I come across it and this seemed like a good topic to attack. I'm currently on page 30 of this thread but still chugging away.

Dayid - Awsome vise site. That is truely a labor of love. If you could compile all the info in this vise section I am confident there would be an example of 90% of all vises. This is vital information for collectors. Brad

 

[demographic]

Dayid - Awsome vise site. That is truely a labor of love. If you could compile all the info in this vise section I am confident there would be an example of 90% of all vises. This is vital information for collectors. Brad

Aye, might be worth putting the alternate spelling of Vice in there also, just to catch the old world English speakers as well.

 

[5001craig]

So I broke-down the Reed 203.5 that I picked-up on Friday and found a couple issues...

The PO(s) had used the top of the slide for a bit of an anvil (really didn't look that bad to me). Because of this, the slide was a bit wider towards the top (mushroomed) than it should have been. Repeatedly trying to move the jaw out (open) by the PO removed approximately 1/2 of the acme threads on the spindle and also damaged the main nut. I was able to break-down the vise only after filing the sides of the slide.

I need a new spindle and main nut for my almost beautiful Reed 203.5. Anyone know where to get these two parts? I've looked a bit and don't seem to find them. I believe I have an acme threaded rod but really don't want to weld this together (not sure why but it just seems wrong).

Otherwise, this thing cleaned-up beautifully and will look great after painting (yep--she needs to look purdy and will not be naked). Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Craig

 

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

Speaking of Wilton vises. I just got a 4.5" C1 with swivel. Unfortunately the vise did not have the swivel bolt, t nuts or lower clamps. The previous owner had welded the base to the vise in four places. I separated the two pieces, but still need to find the replacement parts. Does anyone have these available?

I'm sure they are also available elsewhere, but you can get Wilton vise parts from McMaster Carr.

 

[B17E1943]

I figured it's time I throw my Columbian in here. I can't seem to find a model # on it. I think it's a newer model, not vintage - but I could be wrong.

 

[sometoyotaguy]

I'll throw mine in just to have another one in this thread.
American Scale Red Seal No. 54

 

[whelenfan]

that is a very cool American scale.

 

[Low Friction]

Finally finished the clean up of my very vintage 4.5" Prentiss 20. All the original parts were with the vise and in good serviceable condition. The book lists the weight as 65lbs. My scale reads 62lbs. This is my first swivel jaw vise...it'll be interesting to see how useful this feature is.

 

[Fudge]

Dude that things a beast! Nice clean up.

 

[Richard D]

You **** 2X, and is the stand a factory stand? the mating post flange looks to be cast perfectly, (or did someone buy a second swivel plate, and weld that to the post?)

If factory, the stand is almost cooler than the vise!

It's a piece of 6"'pipe 30" long, with 3/4" steel plate welded on either end. Bottom plate is about 18" square, flame cut with holes to bolt it down. It was just buried in the ground however and pretty rusty. Top plate is flame cut to match the swivel base. I took a wire wheel to the whole thing yesterday, and smoothed off all the torch cut edges, and I also welded on a beer holder. Then I brushed on a good coat of rusty metal primer. I will top coat it this afternoon. This is the first thing I have really worked on in the garage since quadruple neck vertebrae fusion last summer. It's good to be back in the shop!

 

[gatewaysysop]

Figured I should add these here for posterity, since I've not seen another one in this thread as of yet.

The mammoth Athol 646, 6" jaws, swivel jaw, swivel base, in all its awesomeness. Will definitely post up again when it's been restored, but for now, enjoy the "before" shots.

 

[TreePointer]

gatewaysysop, I think you could melt down that beast and build an M1 tank with it.

 

[bigcaddy]

gatewaysysop, I think you could melt down that beast and build an M1 tank with it.

Or open a shop repairing M1 Abrams tanks

You could clamp the barrel and unscrew the tank with that thing.

 

[Richard D]

I want it. How much?

 

[gatewaysysop]

I want it. How much?

I'm fairly sure that this one will be buried with me.

For the record, per my other thread, I paid $200 for it, which was the full asking price. Given the rarity and the overall good condition, I'd have gladly given three times what he was asking if I had to, in a heartbeat.

 

[TreePointer]

I'm fairly sure that this one will be buried with me.

If you ever come back to life in a zombie apocalypse, you ain't getting up, lol!

 

[losdudes]

I just got a Wilton 746 without the swivel base. Anyone know where I can find a base? The part number for the kit is 2900980.

One more attempt at a swivel base for a Wilton 746. Does anyone have one for sale?