The VISES of Garage Journal

[kukko]

Jon,
I had a big 2X Parker that had that 45 degree growth underneath. My machinist cut that out to a 90 degree that vise rested even with the bench. This is the after. I cannot find the before photo.

I don't think I could bring myself to machine off that "growth". I think I am going to make a spacer block to put between the vise and the bench top so I won't have to cut my bench.

 

[jagleaso]

Jon,
I had a big 2X Parker that had that 45 degree growth underneath. My machinist cut that out to a 90 degree that vise rested even with the bench. This is the after. I cannot find the before photo.

That 45 degree angle is there to transfer force of impact to the table rather than to the feet of the vice..... oh well.

 

[psychob0b1977]

This is my latest craigslist find, its a 5" morgan, it weighs a ton and has had a very easy life so far. It even came with smooth brass jaw caps!

 

[Sjensen]

All:
This is my first post. I was cleaning out the basement and came accross a
Howe + FDRY Company, Littlestown Hardware PA Vise No. 150. It appears to have never been used and is in great shape. I am thinking about selling it but I cannot find any information on line about this vise. I wanted to know if anyone had an idea of a fair price?

Thank you
Steve

 

[87Pomona]

All:
This is my first post. I was cleaning out the basement and came accross a
Howe + FDRY Company, Littlestown Hardware PA Vise No. 150. It appears to have never been used and is in great shape. I am thinking about selling it but I cannot find any information on line about this vise. I wanted to know if anyone had an idea of a fair price?

Thank you
Steve

I'm guessing its a small 3.5"? Jaw vise.

If so, $20-35 would be a good price for a Littlestown Vise.

 

[ganymede]

Hard to say without pics but if its the typical exposed screw type, in good condition they usually go for about 10 to 15 dollars around here.

 

[87Pomona]

I sold a Littlestown vise on c-list a few months ago for $35. Someone here wont probably pay that much for a small vise but some on c-list will.

 

[ganymede]

This is my latest craigslist find, its a 5" morgan, it weighs a ton and has had a very easy life so far. It even came with smooth brass jaw caps!

Wow ! Craigslist has been extra dry around here for decent vises . I've been looking daily for a couple of months. Anyway nice piece. It reminds of a Columbian but with nicer lines/contours.

 

[Mark in Indiana]

All:
This is my first post. I was cleaning out the basement and came accross a
Howe + FDRY Company, Littlestown Hardware PA Vise No. 150. It appears to have never been used and is in great shape. I am thinking about selling it but I cannot find any information on line about this vise. I wanted to know if anyone had an idea of a fair price?

Thank you
Steve

Hey Steve,
Can you post pictures?

 

[psychob0b1977]

Wow ! Craigslist has been extra dry around here for decent vises . I've been looking daily for a couple of months. Anyway nice piece. It reminds of a Columbian but with nicer lines/contours.

Tell me about it! I have been looking on craigslist almost daily since july... I picked this one up way up in nh. I always miss out on the good ones. It also seems that around the new england area people are asking ebay prices and not willing to haggle.

Where abouts are you from?

 

[ganymede]

I'm in Cambridge and it seems like the good ones are always just out of transit range.

 

[Tarnished]

Pulled this out of the local CL shuffle.


Stamped 670 on key, so June 1970.

Anyone know when they stopped stamping the guarantee expiration date, and started using the birth date on these things?
Jaws on this one are in good shape.

These Wilton are always sweet little vises, but they sure getting pricey around here. This should fill my 4" quota. Just need a 6" bullet to complete the set....

 

[ZRX61]

The 5 I picked up yesterday...

Including this fine specimen in Battleship Grey

 

[gabbyduffy]

How do you find those monster vises?..... Whats your secret?.... Let me know when you get tired of that Rockisland.........

 

[Adam McLaughlin]

OOOH
Nice Rock Island

 

[Rusty Musket]

I picked up this Parker "Big Bear" service vise last night from craigslist. It's a model #995 and weighs in at a whopping 112lbs! She's missing a tension spring for the main handle and the swivel locking stud but is in decent shape otherwise. I did a 90 minute refresh this afternoon and got her cleaned up a bit.

I have always associated an integrated anvil & horn with lower end vises so I was a bit surprised to find one on this Parker.

(Below) Someone needs to be reminded that the side of a Vise's jaws are not to be used as a guide for keeping your saw cuts straight!

(Below) I took off the swivel base to clean it and was expecting to find some sort of slot for the missing locking stud to engage in. I guess the engineer in charge was once a drum brake designer. The two "shoes" pivot on a single pin and the wedge spreads them when tightened.

(Below) Here she is de-rusted and lightly oiled. There are a few traces of red paint showing through but I am not certain that it was original.

As far as the swivel lock goes, I don't know if this one came with a clamp bolt & sliding handle or the hex style with a separate wrench. I found a bolt and spacer that will work for now.

 

[Geurt]

Awesome thread. Never posted here, thought it was about time.

York 150 I restored for the garage of my Car Club

York 80 I gave to my brother

York 80 I restored for another family member

And from left to right: York 60 for on my service cart (will be fully restored), the York 80 mentioned above, York 100 to be restored and finally the vise I use on my bench, a Polish Bison Bial 100.

 

[demographic]

Awesome thread. Never posted here, thought it was about time.

York 150 I restored for the garage of my Car Club

York 80 I gave to my brother

York 80 I restored for another family member

And from left to right: York 60 for on my service cart (will be fully restored), the York 80 mentioned above, York 100 to be restored and finally the vise I use on my bench, a Polish Bison Bial 100.

I like those York Bullet vice's, I take it they are fairly common where you live?

 

[TIM HOWALD]

My wife says i already have too many vises and that i should try to get some virtues, can you bolt them on a workbench?

 

[Geurt]

I like those York Bullet vice's, I take it they are fairly common where you live?

Not really. The ones you see here I collected in a period of roughly a year. In that time maybe two or three others were for sale. The majority of vises for sale is a mix of Heuer Front's, English made vises and off course a lot of **** chinese pot metal ones.

 

[wxm]

Nice Parker, Rusty Musket! I have a few Parker's, but none has the anvil like that.

 

[gatewaysysop]

Nice Parker, Rusty Musket! I have a few Parker's, but none has the anvil like that.

That a nice one and big too! You don't see that style in that size very often, that one is a keeper!

 

[rusty65]

Here is a photo of my array of vises. Their is a prentiss 255, Wilton C1, Massey clincher, and a little craftsman 5242 from my grandpa.

 

[bigcaddy]

Well the sales sucked this weekend and the only one worth going to was completely pillaged by ZRX61.

With that said, i fell back on CL to find me a new project. As luck would have it, this Wilton vise was just down the street and only cost me a few bucks.

Its in great shape with just a little damage to the castings from a grinder and the jaws are decent. It should clean up nicely

 

[Catalyze]

Rusty - very nice Parker!! That line of vises were "service" vises and a bunch of them ended up in service stations and garages. They were a high end line of do all vises so they had beefed up areas around the anvil and horn. From my catalogs, the drawings all show a wrench/nut lock on the swivel base. Funny thing about them too.....the photos I have of them are all red painted so maybe that was the stock color.

Bigcaddy - very nice Wilton....you don't need it....you don't deserve it.....just send it off to someone (in New Mexico) who could use it....it's your conscience so do whatever lets you sleep at night
Craig

 

[gabbyduffy]

I need some help from my fellow vise experts......... I have an opportunity to buy a bulldog #89.......... 8.5" jaws, opens 14" wide and weighs over 300 lbs. I was told its in mint condition.........
Does anybody know what something like this is worth? I have no idea what is a fair price and whats not..... Thanks for the help.

 

[Adam McLaughlin]

Now this is a great thread

Adam

 

[Rusty Musket]

Rusty - very nice Parker!! That line of vises were "service" vises and a bunch of them ended up in service stations and garages. They were a high end line of do all vises so they had beefed up areas around the anvil and horn. From my catalogs, the drawings all show a wrench/nut lock on the swivel base. Funny thing about them too.....the photos I have of them are all red painted so maybe that was the stock color.

Thanks Catalyze! I have only found one catalog drawing but it does look like it came with the wrench/lock nut combo. If you have a color photo to share, I would certainly appreciate it. -Rusty

 

[ZRX61]

I need some help from my fellow vise experts......... I have an opportunity to buy a bulldog #89.......... 8.5" jaws, opens 14" wide and weighs over 300 lbs. I was told its in mint condition.........
Does anybody know what something like this is worth? I have no idea what is a fair price and whats not..... Thanks for the help.

"stupid money"

 

[ZRX61]

How do you find those monster vises?..... Whats your secret?.... Let me know when you get tired of that Rockisland.........

estatesales.net Sign up for their local email notifications.

I have it's swivel brother:
https://sphotos-b.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/382731_2587111529847_981250831_n.jpg

The new one will end up looking like that one did:

https://sphotos-a.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/383887_2692364601108_815952525_n.jpg

 

[bigcaddy]

I need some help from my fellow vise experts......... I have an opportunity to buy a bulldog #89.......... 8.5" jaws, opens 14" wide and weighs over 300 lbs. I was told its in mint condition.........
Does anybody know what something like this is worth? I have no idea what is a fair price and whats not..... Thanks for the help.

If its in good shape, 1.00 per pound so you are gonna spend close to 300.00

 

[Low Friction]

I need some help from my fellow vise experts......... I have an opportunity to buy a bulldog #89.......... 8.5" jaws, opens 14" wide and weighs over 300 lbs. I was told its in mint condition.........
Does anybody know what something like this is worth? I have no idea what is a fair price and whats not..... Thanks for the help.

Vise scalpers on Ebay have been know to get well North of $1500 for pristine examples like this. They are pretty rare.

 

[gregthor]

Dear Vise friends,
Remember my new Parker 271 1/2 vise from a few pagesback??? Well the project was going really well. I found a swivel handle, I was just ready to buy a bronze cast collar from GJ member btrnuthatch and then I found this crack in the swivel jaw. I am so disappointed. Now I have to decide whether to make a set of book ends like GJ member Mark in Indiana, a lamp or just restore it anyways and forget about the crack. Of course I could never sell it knowing the crack is there.
What do you think book ends, a lamp or move ahead with restoration???
Greg

The crack....

 

[bigcaddy]

Dear Vise friends,
Remember my new Parker 271 1/2 vise from a few pagesback??? Well the project was going really well. I found a swivel handle, I was just ready to buy a bronze cast collar from GJ member btrnuthatch and then I found this crack in the swivel jaw. I am so disappointed. Now I have to decide whether to make a set of book ends like GJ member Mark in Indiana, a lamp or just restore it anyways and forget about the crack. Of course I could never sell it knowing the crack is there.
What do you think book ends, a lamp or move ahead with restoration???
Greg

The crack....

I/m pretty sure i have a 271 1/2 parts vise that i would happily donate to your project but the castings on mine are no better then yours. My stationary jaw casting is really beat and the swiveling jaw has a rather large chunk taken out of that channel that it swivels on. Taking mine into consideration, yours in much better shape.

If you are interested in the collar, PM and i can get it to you.

 

[gregthor]

Hi Bigcaddy,
Thanks for your offer but yours seems maybe rough also. do you think it is better than what I have?
Do you have the main nut for that 271 1/2? I am missing mine. I was going to buy an acme threaded coupling nut and weld a base on it for this vise.

Greg

 

[amaes]

Finished cleaning up my Morgan. Not sure what to do with it now. Maybe trade it.

Before:
https://sphotos-a.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/403395_4146766758370_122561304_n.jpg

After:
https://sphotos-b.**.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/29011_10200576528446571_1650168548_n.jpg

 

[Outlawmws]

Dear Vise friends,
Remember my new Parker 271 1/2 vise from a few pagesback??? Well the project was going really well. I found a swivel handle, I was just ready to buy a bronze cast collar from GJ member btrnuthatch and then I found this crack in the swivel jaw. I am so disappointed. Now I have to decide whether to make a set of book ends like GJ member Mark in Indiana, a lamp or just restore it anyways and forget about the crack. Of course I could never sell it knowing the crack is there.
What do you think book ends, a lamp or move ahead with restoration???
Greg

The crack....

Greg, can you post a better (Larger) pic of the crack? Maybe another sort of quartered from the side shot?

 

[Mark in Indiana]

I agree with Outlaw. To me it looks like it can be saved. However, I haven't seen enough of the damage to form a solid opinion. I like the swivel jaw. You may have a vise that's good enough for your own shop. Anyway, that's my $0.02.

 

[1964kennedy]

can anyone help tell me about this wilton?

a friend of mine has it and is offering it for sale.

I see its a 2 bolt mount,not 4. what is this worth?

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[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/217/imag0359l.jpg/] [/URL]
[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/802/imag0353d.jpg/] [/URL]

 

[rusty65]

Looks like a old 3-4 inch wilton bullet vise made probably in the 60s or 70s and looks like its in very good shape for its age.