hollands vise 54

[KLUETCH]

i have a hollands 54 h...it was made in erie pa...it is in very good condition...im looking for some info on it...how old...how rare...what were its uses...whats it worth...it weighs between 150-200 lbs...has a five inch wide jaw...it also has a small anvil on the back side

 

[dirtydogintex]

Like the horn.

Can pipe jaws be inserted?

 

[bigcaddy]

I don't think that vise is in the 150-200lb range. It looks more like 55-75lbs. A Hollands 16 or 28 are in the 200-300 lb range and they dwarf a soda can.

Your vise looks like a fairly general purpose use vise and could of been used at home, in a machine shop, farm or auto repair shop. Its a bit bigger then a typical home use vise.

Condition is everything on vises, then size is second.

Yours is in good shape and i wouldn't feel bad paying 75.00 to 100.00 for that vise. Generally its about .50-1.00 a pound for good quality american steel.

 

[KLUETCH]

yes...however I do not have them

 

[gatewaysysop]

Might be the first Hollands I've ever seen in that particular configuration. Thanks for sharing the pics, very cool. You should add it to the vises of GJ thread, for posterity.

 

[toomanytoyzz]

I don't think that vise is in the 150-200lb range. It looks more like 55-75lbs. A Hollands 16 or 28 are in the 200-300 lb range and they dwarf a soda can.

Your vise looks like a fairly general purpose use vise and could of been used at home, in a machine shop, farm or auto repair shop. Its a bit bigger then a typical home use vise.

Condition is everything on vises, then size is second.

Yours is in good shape and i wouldn't feel bad paying 75.00 to 100.00 for that vise. Generally its about .50-1.00 a pound for good quality american steel.

I agree about it not weighing 150lbs +, but I will say it's probably over 100#'s. My CP No. 975 weighs about 105lbs and is probably the same size. Most of my 50lb. vises look a bit more "size appropriate" next to a can of beer.

All in all that's a REALLY cool looking vise. Has a firefighter feel to it.

 

[Catalyze]

Greetings!!
Well, since the winds have calmed down and I could turn the computer on....
Here is what I can tell you about your Hollands vise.

The vise model number of 54 is a funny (not like a clown) thing. Back in the early 20's Hollands listed a vise with that number. However it is a machinist's vise with a swivel base. It was about 90 pounds to 100 pounds depending on what catalog you read. Now take a Huge leap of years up to 1953 and there it is listed again.

This time it is called a 54 and has become a mechanic's style of vise like the old Charles Parker Big Bear line of service station vises. It is now a combination vise (has pipe jaws built in) but now it also has the anvil horn added on. Parker did the same thing to provide a line of vises that had a robust stationary jaw platform for auto mechanics to bang around on. Your model 54 is more compact, taller, and probably tips the scales at maybe 118 pounds or so.

Is yours rare? I see way more Parkers and Reeds than Hollands vises.
Is yours old? I would guess post WWII since I found it in a 50's catalog.
What is yours worth? Not a clue.......it needs the pipe jaws to be complete and a machine shop would probably have to make them. A complete vise in good condition (like yours) might go $175 or a bit more.

Good luck and thanks for posting it!
Craig

 

[Cushmandoug]

The Holland #54H vice is not, I repeat is not just a #54, there is a difference between the two and I weighed mine prior to mounting the vice on a 10" steel post column and it weighed in at 136# on a certifiable scale. From my research on Holland it appears that the #54 was introduced around 1910 but I could not find out when the 54H was initially produced nor the last date of that production. Mine has the serrated jaws/teeth units that mount in the 3 slots under the main jaws and held by the set screws. One tooth is damaged on one of the three (3) jaws and I may build it back up via welding and re-grind to proper shape, but it has no effect on using it. On the other end on my 12" steel work bench I have a HOLLAND pipe vice m(almost as large as the 54 vice), that can be mounted in several positions, as Holland manufactured the pipe vise base so it could be pole mounted vertically, or bench mounted horizontally. I have over the last 10 years more than once been offered $750 for the 54H vice and stand and the stand was all scrap metal material, worth maybe $60 and my fabrication time. My 2 Wilton $800 vices do not perform as well as the old Holland, and the Wilton's will go before it does.

 

[honza.vosalik]

This is my Hollands 53 1/2 H. I'm in the process of painting it red. unfortunately the pipe jaws are missing. Pretty happy to see another similar vise.

This is actually my very first vise restoration

 

[honza.vosalik]

Another similar vise I have - Charles Parker 995

 

[Quality Hitch]

I found this site as a result of googling "Hollands 54H". I was curious to learn more about the old, heavy vice that was in a building I bought in 2003 to start my business in. This building was a functioning service station from 1953 till 1988 and I suspected that the vice has been in here for a long time. The air compressor in the same building has a tank with a date code of 1950. My vice does have the pipe jaws and it still provides dependable service every day.