The VISES of Garage Journal

[retrobuilder]

Awesome vise on previous posting. truly a clamping tool.

Here is my recent refurbishing of a not too old Craftsman 4" USA vise.

Originally painted gray with U.S.A. lettering. My wife said I should have painted it "craftsman red". Could have but decided on Ford Engine Blue to go with cabinets.

Filed, blocked and true surfaces + oxide cleaning with Cortec rust remover. Re-assembly lubrication of the threads and contact surfaces.

Far from spectacular but will improve the bench setup. Pardon the "Ford color".

 

[aluminum13]

I got a Parker similar to yours and it is a royal PIA to mount.

Here is how I did it:
The base plate with the counter sunk holes goes on top of the table, counter sunk holes up.

To secure the base plate:
Drill holes to match the pattern of countersunk holes in the base plate. Depending how thick your table top is the holes can either go through the top (secure them with nuts), or drill the holes the right size to serve as pilots and drive flat head screws into the table top.

I drilled four holes through my top, used flat head bolts and secured them with washers and nuts, my table top is 1/4 inch steel. I guess they want you to use six screws/bolts or why else have six holes.

Once the base plate is secure, drill a hole a bit larger than the center screw through the table top at the hole at the center of the base plate. The end of the threaded rod with the lease amount of threading screws into the bottom of the vise. Screw the rod into the bottom of the vise.

Set the vise on the base plate with the rod running through the center hole. Get a piece of hardwood about 4 x 4 inches and thick enough to extend beyond the threading on the free end of the center rod, and drill a hole through the wood that will allow the center rod to pass through the it.

The stack from top to bottom:
Vise
Base plate
Table top
Hardwood "shim"
Nut for center rod

Screw the nut onto the center rod. To swivel the vise, loosen the nut and turn. To secure the vise, turn the nut TIGHT.
There has to be a better way...

Thanks, I figured that's how it's supposed to work, though I noticed the pivot on the bottom of the vise (the short cylinder) that sticks through the base plate seems taller than the base plate, so I might need to drill a hole larger than not just the center screw but use something like a 1 inch hole saw for tight fit. I dunno I might be wrong I don't have it in front of me.

If you have enough room under your bench you could weld a handle onto the nut? Probably could benefit from the addition of some washers.

I'm curious what the original application was supposed to be and why they opted for the center screw design instead of just a regular top flange bolt type deal.

 

[Outlawmws]

Awesome vise on previous posting. truly a clamping tool.

Here is my recent refurbishing of a not too old Craftsman 4" USA vise.

Originally painted gray with U.S.A. lettering. My wife said I should have painted it "craftsman red". Could have but decided on Ford Engine Blue to go with cabinets.

Filed, blocked and true surfaces + oxide cleaning with Cortec rust remover. Re-assembly lubrication of the threads and contact surfaces.

Far from spectacular but will improve the bench setup. Pardon the "Ford color".

That came out excellent! And there is nothing wrong with having a color schema, tell your wife "Outlaw said!"

 

[retrobuilder]

Thanks. I considered roll painting raised letters dark blue..like it fine all one color. Second option was Hein Werner Blue/yellow like my jack stands- just a bit too much yellow though.

My son in law thinks I put Lemans stripes on way too much..wait till I post my restored vintage BlackHawk SJ-2 "very soon"!

I'm Looking for an older 5" USA Wilton, Yost, King, etc. to go on other bench side.

 

[Lump]

I am a machinist but sometimes the ole fashion way works good to. This is how I do it. I used a ball end mill to create a radius in a block of steel and drilled a hole in the middle of two more blocks of steel to pinch the handle material. Heated it to cherry red then pounded the block to form the radius end. I promised a customer a pair of swivel handles once and had to come up with a way to make them. Worked pretty well.

Kevin

Wow, nice work there, Kevin. Very clever.

 

[Mohawk Dave]

Hey guys,

I'm picking this up tomorrow. Looks like a Columbian 204 1/2, maybe 205.

But what's up with the knob on the lead screw? (The handle is broke off and laying to the side)

Is that an old Columbian? All the pics of Columbians I see have the cylindrical knob.

 

[jabberwoki]

Yep very neat job Kevin.
Well i got the beastie decreased and found a crack where the set screw for the pipe jaws goes in . So i`ts of the cast iron welder tomorrow.
Looks like the original color was black.

 

[va.grouseman]

Hey guys,

I'm picking this up tomorrow. Looks like a Columbian 204 1/2, maybe 205.

But what's up with the knob on the lead screw? (The handle is broke off and laying to the side)

Is that an old Columbian? All the pics of Columbians I see have the cylindrical knob.

Looks like it's sticking out too far. May be an adaptation.

 

[Mohawk Dave]

Hey guys,

I'm picking this up tomorrow. Looks like a Columbian 204 1/2, maybe 205.

But what's up with the knob on the lead screw? (The handle is broke off and laying to the side)

Is that an old Columbian? All the pics of Columbians I see have the cylindrical knob.

Looks like a Reed screw..no??? $35 bucks...I'll know more in a little bit when I get there.

 

[bat 501]

well i decided to clean up my leg vise and paint it up. here it is all done and put back together.

 

[TreePointer]

well i decided to clean up my leg vise and paint it up. here it is all done and put back together.

Nice. John Deere fan?

 

[rtvinc]

Hey guys,

Is that an old Columbian? All the pics of Columbians I see have the cylindrical knob.

mohawk dave,

I have a Columbian with the spherical lead screw head

 

[Outlawmws]

well i decided to clean up my leg vise and paint it up. here it is all done and put back together.

Nice. John Deere fan?

My instant thought also!

 

[Mohawk Dave]

mohawk dave,

I have a Columbian with the spherical lead screw head

right on. Ok, picked it up, but someone welded a large nut to the backside of the knob, and another on the inside to act as the collar. Almost no slack, so it works. May have been original..idk. And turns out it is a 203 1/2. Really good condition other than the broken handle, custom lead screw fix, and one missing pipe jaw

 

[bat 501]

Yeah I am. How did you figure that out? lol

 

[waybog]

Picked up this Wilton at a business closing sale for $25. I can't seem to find ANYTHING on it searching. It has all these numbers stamped on it that result in no hits on google. I'm guessing it was made in '08 judging by the numbers underneath. Anyone know anything about this thing?



No, but it looks like you got a good buy. What dose it weigh?

 

[Too_Many_Tools]

Well i did end up pulling out that damn pipe jaw insert and took some more pictures of it. I can always shoot more but its a fairly basic pipe jaw insert.

All i had handy was a little Craftsman hook rule measuring in increments of 32nds. Its a bit hard to read but they are quite a tight fit in the vise so i guess it would help to be precise

Thanks for posting the pictures...there is little to no info like this on the site.

Unfortunately they look nothing like the one jaw that I have seen from the Rock Island vise.

What vise did these jaws come from?

The Rock Island vise I am talking about looks like the OLD OLD OLD Reed vises.

 

[bigcaddy]

Thanks for posting the pictures...there is little to no info like this on the site.

Unfortunately they look nothing like the one jaw that I have seen from the Rock Island vise.

What vise did these jaws come from?

The Rock Island vise I am talking about looks like the OLD OLD OLD Reed vises.

These came off a Reed from the 1940s/50s It doesn't have the smashed marshmallow shaped front nut or the very early style that is missing the oil hole and split front collar.

If i come across another one with those style of jaw inserts, ill let you know

 

[slowtwitch]

Hello folks, first of all let me say that my knowledge of vises is minimal. I never really thought about them, other than using them in the shop....holding, banging, heating stuff.

So, I decided to start reading this thread and all I can say is Wow!!! There's a ton of info here !!!!

Anyway, a couple months ago, I was given a couple vises. The one was in decent shape..heck all I did was spray some Gibb's on it and put it to use. The larger vise is missing it's base.

The pic's....

and this little guy.....

The larger vise has 5" jaws and the Wilton has 2 1/2" jaws.

I went and removed the Wilton from the bench and checked the stamp underneath..... the numbers are 6 68.

The large vise has no USA markings, so i take it to be a made in China item. I may machine a new base for it.........

Those are my vises

 

[rusty65]

Cool vises but to be honest on the larger vise I would just drill two holes in the base to mount it with and use the wilton when the rare occasion at least for me when you need a swivel vise.

 

[Too_Many_Tools]

These came off a Reed from the 1940s/50s It doesn't have the smashed marshmallow shaped front nut or the very early style that is missing the oil hole and split front collar.

If i come across another one with those style of jaw inserts, ill let you know

Thanks again for posting the pictures.

As I mentioned...there is little info on pipe jaws on this site so the info contributed to the greater knowledge this discussion has.

If I ever can get access to the OLD pipe jaw, I will post a picture so you know what I am looking at.

 

[demoman]

You should know Reed still sells the pipe jaws for the old style 1c-4c vises as well as the vise jaws. I even bought a set for an 8" a year or two ago.

Could someone post the pipe jaws from the Reed 1c-4c (or equivalent) vises so I can see how they are constructed?

Thanks

 

[Outlawmws]

Hello folks, first of all let me say that my knowledge of vises is minimal. I never really thought about them, other than using them in the shop....holding, banging, heating stuff.

So, I decided to start reading this thread and all I can say is Wow!!! There's a ton of info here !!!!

Anyway, a couple months ago, I was given a couple vises. The one was in decent shape..heck all I did was spray some Gibb's on it and put it to use. The larger vise is missing it's base.

The pic's....

SNIP

Cool vises but to be honest on the larger vise I would just drill two holes in the base to mount it with and use the wilton when the rare occasion at least for me when you need a swivel vise.

on this. you probably already have one hole, and I'd bet there is a center tapped hole for the swivel base pivot bolt. that's three if you drill a hole on the opposite side of the swivel clamp hole.

 

[va.grouseman]

You should know Reed still sells the pipe jaws for the old style 1c-4c vises as well as the vise jaws. I even bought a set for an 8" a year or two ago.

Demoman, Where have you been for the last 2 years? Picked up any more monsters?

 

[slowtwitch]

Cool vises but to be honest on the larger vise I would just drill two holes in the base to mount it with and use the wilton when the rare occasion at least for me when you need a swivel vise.

Great idea, I'll be drilling some holes today

 

[Mark in Indiana]

Hi Vise Friends,

The before and after pictures are of a Parker 924 1/2 that I restored for a charity auction. The auction is for a fellow that I used to work with that has a rare cancer. I can't attend the auction but I hope bidding is strong.

 

[ADSR]

Hi Vise Friends,

The before and after pictures are of a Parker 924 1/2 that I restored for a charity auction. The auction is for a fellow that I used to work with that has a rare cancer. I can't attend the auction but I hope bidding is strong.

Great job and a great cause!

Well done, bud!

 

[balane]

Picked this one up last week off of Craig's List. It was covered in about a quarter inch of house paint. The jaws are a little out of line for some reason, the action is super nice on it though. I decided to leave this one unfinished and put a few coats of gloss clear enamel on it.

.

 

[bigcaddy]

I had some time today after work to finally assemble a couple of vises that have been sitting around for some time now.

The first is my Wilton 450SJ. I almost had is complete last weekend but i forgot the replacement screws, collar, jaw inserts and collar screws.

The rear cap was missing so it was replaced with a Ford front wheel hub dust cover. It fits perfectly and almost looks original. If i gave it some more time, it would of been impossible to tell

The paint is boring Machine Grey but that was close to the original color and i think it looks good.

Thanks for the finger savers, Autopts

 

[bigcaddy]

This vise has been a long time project that has been patiently waiting its complete makeover. This thing traveled all the way from Illinois after being found on a CL ad. It would of never happened without Autopts seeing it and arranging the whole deal for a cheeseburger as payment

I wanted to really do it justice so here it finally is. This might be the best looking vise i've done, second only to its twin i did in red/white a few months ago. These particular Craftsman vises are some of the best looking vises out there.



I didn't notice until it was done that there was a repair on the anvil area. If you look closely, you can see the welds that patched it up. Whoever did the work was extremely skilled, judging by the shape and finished welds on there.

 

[Low Friction]

This vise has been a long time project that has been patiently waiting its complete makeover. This thing traveled all the way from Illinois after being found on a CL ad. It would of never happened without Autopts seeing it and arranging the whole deal for a cheeseburger as payment

I wanted to really do it justice so here it finally is. This might be the best looking vise i've done, second only to its twin i did in red/white a few months ago. These particular Craftsman vises are some of the best looking vises out there.



I didn't notice until it was done that there was a repair on the anvil area. If you look closely, you can see the welds that patched it up. Whoever did the work was extremely skilled, judging by the shape and finished welds on there.

Beautiful job. Now I have my work cut out to even get close to that with my Craftsman.

 

[adamsredlines]

I picked up an bold Reed on Friday aigslist today for $20....figured it was worth that. Will post pics later

 

[bigcaddy]

Beautiful job. Now I have my work cut out to even get close to that with my Craftsman.

Thanks but from what i've seen, this particular style of Craftsman vise, or most Craftsman vises, are always in excellent shape, even after its seen years of use and always look good when done. I bet yours will come out looking fantastic when finished

The way i've rationalized this is since Craftsman is not really a pro brand of tool but something geared towards a homeowner, it was never really going to see the abuse a rail yard/ foundry workers vise would see.

They were used to hold a board that needed cutting, holding a sprinkler head that was busted off by the lawnmower or sharpening some gardening tools.

They were incredibly well built but never saw 10% of the abuse its industrial counterparts endured like Reeds, Wiltons or Parkers

 

[ADSR]

BC, that is awesome!

Well done, sir!

 

[KMScott]

Bigcaddy
That is a real nice job, I kind of got this thing with jaws and was wondering if those on your Craftsman are original and are they rock hard. The serrations look new. I wish we had access to vises like you guys pull in out here in Colorado. Thanks for the post.

Kevin

 

[gabbyduffy]

I posted this FPU vise a few weeks ago when I got it. Decided there was no cleaning it up. New paint and a little work and now I like it much better. One of the jaws was "held on" by an undersized single standard machine screw and a sheared off screw that had to be drilled out. After chasing the 6mm threads and getting appropriate screws it fits great.

Where did you find the screw for the fpu vise?....... I'm currently working on a 6"

 

[bigcaddy]

Bigcaddy
That is a real nice job, I kind of got this thing with jaws and was wondering if those on your Craftsman are original and are they rock hard. The serrations look new. I wish we had access to vises like you guys pull in out here in Colorado. Thanks for the post.

Kevin

The jaws are original and i have 2 more identical vises, all with jaws in near perfect shape. They were not used much and must be quite hard because they do stand up to some use.

 

[Outlawmws]

Great job on that one BC! (I also have my work cut out matching that level with my 5195; Same model! Those are beasts (44 lbs!) for a "smaller" 3-1/2" jaw vise!

 

[Outlawmws]

Hi Vise Friends,

The before and after pictures are of a Parker 924 1/2 that I restored for a charity auction. The auction is for a fellow that I used to work with that has a rare cancer. I can't attend the auction but I hope bidding is strong.

Nice job Mark: Good luck on the Auction!

 

[jabberwoki]

Got it back from the welder turns out it`s cast steel not cast iron like i thought so he brazed it up.
Attacked the rest of it with a beasty wire brush got down to metal very quickly.
So everything has a coat of paint just waiting a day or so then i`ll put it together.
I ordered the missing pipe jaw form viseparts (Thanks Buck) then i`m thinking of getting a good nut and bolt combo and turning the nuts down to a smooth round shape for the clamp nut bars.