The VISES of Garage Journal

[va.grouseman]

Fruit before leaves, must be a hybrid.
Wire don't rattle good like chains.

 

[Steve V.]

I feel sad for the guy if indeed his Grandfather made it and now he is selling it. He can't be that much in need of the money. And it is not a space issue.

It would have sentimental value to me. I have a hand carved baseball bat that my Grandpa carved in 1931. It's about 4" long.

Steve

 

[Fretters]

Finished the Swindens off today. Just need to decide where to mount her now.

Spring is here…Vises are in full bloom!

Good job Newton didn't pick that tree to sit under.

 

[GETRIDAONE]

Fruit before leaves, must be a hybrid.
Wire don't rattle good like chains.

va, your vises are like giant watermelons grown on a steel vine.

Mark, You must do a lot of polishing to use compound in those big blocks. I like the combo machine idea. Is that your drying and combo spray booth the vise is on.

I like my indoor paint booth

 

[bl00]

That looks great, Fretters.

 

[bl00]

Houdini once escaped from the clutches of four Pittsburg vises.

 

[drivesitfar]

Finished the Swindens off today. Just need to decide where to mount her now.

Good job Newton didn't pick that tree to sit under.

Fretters: man that is one sweet looking old swivel headed vise.

I know you were trying to mount it more in the middle of your bench so you could file or do some jobs with your elbows resting hence the handle modification. what was a surprise to me was the base modification with the 2 layers of polished wood to elevate the vise so you can turn it. it's great to hear an idea in thought mode and then see it in a picture and love the color scheme you picked too

Mark: interesting press you have designed and that is some grinder too. i know you have a mill in that garage because i remember the tow truck picture of you driving down the street with it hanging on the back. how is it performing so far? now is that your drying tree or where some of the parts vises are hanging until you need some from them. very nice looking tree too and sunshine in Indiana today too? it must be close to spring.

Hako: not sure about the Army's vise usage or if that is the reason that good old vise is in your hands now so it's up to you to find the answers. maybe get that old steel to utter a few words to you if you treat it nice. good luck and let us know if you find out anything because not a ton of information available about that company.

 

[Hako86]

Hako: not sure about the Army's vise usage or if that is the reason that good old vise is in your hands now so it's up to you to find the answers. maybe get that old steel to utter a few words to you if you treat it nice. good luck and let us know if you find out anything because not a ton of information available about that company.

Ok, thanks man! I will get that thing to talk and belief me, it will talk... perhaps after giving it a few beers

 

[Outlawmws]

Finished the Swindens off today. Just need to decide where to mount her now.

SNIP

The decision should clearly be:


Mount it on my bench!

 

[Outlawmws]

Mark, please tell me that pipe clamp in the press is just stored there...

 

[wrenchguy]

Re: Whats this 1 vise guys?

Whats this 1 vise guys? Pacific rim?

 

[Mark in Indiana]

^ Outlaw: I didn't give the picture much thought but it does look bad. All of that angle stock was double welded. Originally I used it to press wheel bearings but I needed to make it bigger for other projects.

Getridaone: Those blocks are just some end cuts of wood for blocking, etc. Most of my polishing is done with a scotch brits pad on a buzz bomb. The rectangle tube stock is what I use to adjust the base height of the press. The vise in the right side of the picture is on a Kennedy versa- cart.

Drivesitfar: Vises just came inside and placed in a box with desiccant to battle flash rust on the bare details. This is the first warm day we've had in a while. although I've ran the table axes and spindles, it's been too cold for any milling work…but spring is here.

Fretters: Your combo vise looks great. I really like the wood base idea. I don't mean to ask a dumb question but why is there a D-ring at the handle?

 

[phearlessone]

New guy here. I was told to post my first vise here. You guys have been awesome already.

3 1/2" Wilton #98-350SJ I found on craigslist.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[zoomieport]

New guy here. I was told to post my first vise here. You guys have been awesome already.

3 1/2" Wilton I found on craigslist.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Very nice!

 

[oldldh]

New guy here. I was told to post my first vise here. You guys have been awesome already.

3 1/2" Wilton I found on craigslist.

This newby, Communist, low life, ****-egg-mule...

PAID $ 80.00 FOR THIS 350SJ WILTON!!!

May I be the first to say...

You ****!!!!

However...

Ya Dun Gud, Bubba!!!

 

[Mark in Indiana]

New guy here. I was told to post my first vise here. You guys have been awesome already.

3 1/2" Wilton I found on craigslist.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

With just one vise you belong to the cool kids with Wilton vises club & the cool kids with pivot jaw vises club. What is the date stamp on the dynamic jaw key?

 

[phearlessone]

Haha, I love this place already. It looks like 6-71.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Mark in Indiana]

The date is the end of Wilton's 5 year warranty. So your vise was built in 1966.

 

[Fretters]

What was a surprise to me was the base modification with the 2 layers of polished wood to elevate the vise so you can turn it. it's great to hear an idea in thought mode and then see it in a picture and love the color scheme you picked too

Cheers. The base has just had two or three coats of Linseed oil on it. Thought I might as well use the stuff for its more usual purpose for a change. Decided to go with the oil over any other type of finish for simplicity, combined with the fact that it's a doddle to give it another application if it might need it later on. Plus, with it being an oil it soaks in to some degree, so should probably give better protection than a surface only finish.

The decision should clearly be:


Mount it on my bench!

Fretters: Your combo vise looks great. I really like the wood base idea.I don't mean to ask a dumb question but why is there a D-ring at the handle?

Cheers. With the handle, it's so that I can mount the vice inbound on the bench, away from the edge and have full swing on the handle without having to continually slide the bar type handle through every half turn. The shackle will likely be getting changed for something a bit different later on, but that shackle was the one thing I had to hand which served the purpose with minimal alteration.

That concept of mounting a vice seems not to be one most appreciate the idea of though. What can I say, I'm just quirky.

 

[Fretters]

3 1/2" Wilton #98-350SJ I found on craigslist.

Nice catch. That's a tidy looking vice.

 

[bigcaddy]

New guy here. I was told to post my first vise here. You guys have been awesome already.

3 1/2" Wilton #98-350SJ I found on craigslist.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Here is his bigger, 4 1/2" brother. Can you take a picture of the rear jaw taken apart? I noticed that yours doesn't have any material behind the pivot when mine has a raised step in the casting.

Im curious to see how the casting was changed

 

[oldldh]

His is a tad smaller than yours...

I expect that is the reason...the difference between a 3 1/2" vise and a 4 1/2" vise can be a bunch...

For example, a Craftsman 5195 (3 1/2") weighs 51 lbs, while a 5197 (4 1/2") weighs 77 lbs....

26 pounds or 50% more than the smaller vise...

Just a thought...

( What's the weight and size difference between a Wilton 350S and a 450S???)

 

[autopts]

The date is the end of Wilton's 5 year warranty. So your vise was built in 1966.

Mark, I believe Wilton only had that program with the 5 year GUAR WARRANTY stamped on their vises for a short time ( years or so in the late 50's & 60's.) Wilton by that time had so many dealers with boxed product on the shelf, the stamp was virtually a count down with every day in stock with warranty. They decided to go by buyers invoice by later 60's

 

[zoomieport]

Mark, I believe Wilton only had that program with the 5 year GUAR WARRANTY stamped on their vises for a short time ( years or so in the late 50's & 60's.) Wilton by that time had so many dealers with boxed product on the shelf, the stamp was virtually a count down with every day in stock with warranty. They decided to go by buyers invoice by later 60's

I agree with Nick.

Also, on the earlier models (the 1940's for example) the "5 year theory" is not true at all, it was the "actual" date of manufacture, not the warranty expiration date. I believe this to be true anyway...

Take care!
ZOOM

 

[drivesitfar]

Zoomie and Autopts while you are on the subject do you know when the first Wilton bullet vise was produced? was it 1941 when I think I read that Wilton first started making vises or was it sometime after WWII?

I've had a 1945 C1, but have never seen a bullet older than than the one I have that is a 1946.

also on the ones that did have the warranty with the 5 year date on them i have seen some with EXP stamped on the slide and others in those years you mentioned with just the date. I did have one with a EXP 1962 that would have been a 1957 production date that i saved a picture of that was on another C1.

any thoughts or any place to read up on some of this or did somebody start a thread that i can't find?

thanks

 

[zoomieport]

Here you go...

 

[Hako86]

Today I have been searching on the Internet for some vises that look similar to mine. I came up with this one:

I'm talking about the vise on the left page, upper left. Other vises that look about the same as mine are the older Prentiss.
What are you thinking? Both vises, the one in the pic and the Prentiss are early 20's models. Could this indicate that my vise is from the same period???

I also took some better pics of mine. I cleaned and lubed it all up yesterday (the outside is still dirty though).

 

[t4runner]

Here's my before and after Reed 203. No need to bore you with all the paint removal and wire wheeling.

 

[Fretters]

That's a tidy restore you've done there.

 

[balane]

Nice job, looks great. Reeds are wonderful, easily on my short list of favorite vises.

 

[balane]

Haha, over $1150 after shipping! Score!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261418716906

 

[oldldh]

Haha, over $1150 after shipping! Score!

To paraphrase "The Mask"....


Somebody Stop Me!!!!

I call this the "P.T.Barnum" Syndrome...

 

[EOC_Jason]

Haha, over $1150 after shipping! Score!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261418716906

 

[jgreen-fsi]

Guys I need some help. I semi-restored my grandfathers vise (see post 13746) and there is a large gap on the screw where the handle attaches. It makes for a lot of slop. How can I tighten this? I put some heat on it thinking there might be loctite, but no luck. I can see a few threads but it won't budge. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Fretters]

Put a spring between the washer and the front jaw.

 

[EOC_Jason]

Put a spring between the washer and the front jaw.

^^^ I agree... Washer - Spring - Washer... Just enough to hold tension, you don't want to have to fight it when opening / closing.

 

[Mark in Indiana]

Mark, I believe Wilton only had that program with the 5 year GUAR WARRANTY stamped on their vises for a short time ( years or so in the late 50's & 60's.) Wilton by that time had so many dealers with boxed product on the shelf, the stamp was virtually a count down with every day in stock with warranty. They decided to go by buyers invoice by later 60's

Autopts & Zoom: Thanks for the info. This is new to me. So is my Pat. Pend Wilton a '45 or '40?

 

[drivesitfar]

Mark,
pretty sure the old ones are date of production so yours is most likely a 1945. also i don't think Wilton was in business until 1941 that is the date on the box that Zoomie posted. i'm still getting up to speed on these too and I've owned maybe 15 of these awesome vises at one time or another over the last few years and still own a few.

is yours a small bullet or a C1?

 

[zoomieport]

Autopts & Zoom: Thanks for the info. This is new to me. So is my Pat. Pend Wilton a '45 or '40?

They weren't in business until 1941, so I think it's a 1945...

 

[zoomieport]

Mark,
pretty sure the old ones are date of production so yours is most likely a 1945. also i don't think Wilton was in business until 1941 that is the date on the box that Zoomie posted. i'm still getting up to speed on these too and I've owned maybe 15 of these awesome vises at one time or another over the last few years and still own a few.

is yours a small bullet or a C1?

Looks like you beat me to it, lol!