Earlier this summer, I saw a local auction picture, that looked like an Emmerts pattern makers vise on an old bench. I was off that day, and had things I should have been doing, but I went to the sale. Sure enough, it was an Emmerts, and also a W.C Toles rapid acting vise on the other end of the bench. I waited through 8 hrs of households and junk ( I did get a never been mounted Wilton Shop King, and a few odd tools), until they got to the basement. I figured they would sell the vises and bench separately, but they sold it as is sat, and I got the whole works for $80. The son of the guy that lived there, said it was in the house when they moved there in 1960, and didn't know where it came from. It was in oil country, and I bet it was out of one of the old oil boom/industrial revolution pattern shops from around the turn of the century.
I cleaned it up, and gave it a couple coats of 50/50 tung oil and mineral spirits to seal it up a little, made room on my wife's side of the garage, and put it to use.... I was going to take some pictures of it finished, but I had stuff all over it in no time, so I just went out and took a couple pics.
The whole jaw plate on the Toles Vise slides up, to clamp with the bench dog, instead of the usual narrow vise dog on wood vises. The bench dog is blacksmith forged, spring an all. The whole thing is a very good set up, that would be hard to improve on, all these years later.
)
But I'll bet it cleans up great!
Looks great! 
