CudaChick1968
Member Emeritus
I blame Cudachick for setting this train of thought off....![]()
![]()
Heh hehhhhhhhh ... at least I'm good for somethin.
I blame Cudachick for setting this train of thought off....![]()
![]()
That slide guard for the Reed sure looks like a casting, and looks like it was made oversize to fit more than 1 size vise. I really wonder if it was a factory produced item?
Jim
That slide guard for the Reed sure looks like a casting, and looks like it was made oversize to fit more than 1 size vise. I really wonder if it was a factory produced item?
Jim
He also had a 4" jaw Wilton in a dark burgundy with the square body and tube, not the bullet shape. Should I have snatched it up?

Got a Wilton 1740 missing jaws for $10. Bolts are broke off in the jaw, getting tired of these.
lol, the obvious question is, why did you buy it then, your addiction wouldn't let you pass it up eh?
This time.![]()
So I think I got a pretty good deal on this one. Late yesterday I saw this posted on Craigslist , a Wilton Power Arm Jr with the black vise attached, $50.00.
I really liked the Wilton Power ARM but it had been cleaned up and was bare metal. The vise I figured for a throw away pacific rim junk vise, BUT, when I got to the guys house I realized this was an exceptionally clean Millers Falls Co miniature bench vise. I've only seen these as clamp ons. This one is PERFECT and looks unused. The seller had repainted it but I saw it was originally red, regardless I am super jacked that this vise is as nice and tight as it appears, so for $50.00 i think I did very well.
He also had a 4" jaw Wilton in a dark burgundy with the square body and tube, not the bullet shape. He offered it for $100 but it wasn't a very big vise at all, it just had wide jaws. Maybe 9-10" tall. Should I have snatched it up?
Well guys, I'm the proud new owner of this beautiful Morgan 80, I will be calling Morgan tomorrow and ordering new jaw pads ($105) and sometime soon the swivel kit ($275) which will bring the total weight up to 212 lbs. I'm not going to lie, I paid dearly to buy this vise, I was probably bidding against another member on here. (if so, sorry bud, I knew from day one this vise was coming home to me!)
![]()
![]()







Joe, the M-F is actually from a clamp on, but with a swivel base. My son's model making vise is one of those, also sans base/clamp. Dang near everyone back on the day made that style vise. A week ago I got one branded Stanley and Pat Pend., so Stanley may have been the originator of that design...
Has anyone seen one of these German Vises, 12" jaws, weights 700 lbs. A good friend of mine Tom from Texas sent me these pictures.I have more to share from Tom but not tonight. He is a member called Sandman54 but had problem loading the pictures. I wish I knew more about this System Kensche. Just looking at it you can tell it is a big guy.

AndrewH I have a set of jaws for your Morgan 80 that are new and would let them go cheaper, PM me if interested.
Am I missing something? 
Picked up my first vise today at the scrap yard. 25 bucks brought it home where I cut the custom mount off, cleaned it up some, and lubricated the slide.
![]()
![]()
That 80 does not appear to take the C-type of jaw?Am I missing something?
![]()
No, not missing anything Outlaw, One thing for sure is the Morgan 80 needs a rectangle set of jaws. I was misled when I picked these jaws up from the Golden Pile in Colorado, they were tagged Morgan 8" unless Morgan built two different vises. Check the Morgan sketch, their jaws are the T style. Andrew you might want to clear this up when ordering.
Outlaw, I have enough on my plate without building a complete vise, I would love to replace his jaws though. Serrating a 12 inch set would be challenging.
Has anyone seen one of these German Vises, 12" jaws, weights 700 lbs. A good friend of mine Tom from Texas sent me these pictures.I have more to share from Tom but not tonight. He is a member called Sandman54 but had problem loading the pictures. I wish I knew more about this System Kensche. Just looking at it you can tell it is a big guy.
That vise looks lots better after removing that ugly base! Nice score what jaw width?
snip- Some aspects of the Kensche pattern have merit, in terms of weight and rigidity, but it still has the major failing of leg-vises, generally, in that the jaws are not parallel except when nearly fully closed.
The sad thing is that it could have been a much better vise with a little bit more first-cost investment in tooling for its production.
Imagine, if you will, that vise set up as a 'chain-vise', with a slot broached in the lower area of the fixed jaw, engaging tongues cast/machined in the movable jaw. The two screws and chain would then keep jaw parallelism, and, with a relatively fine pitch Acme threading of the screws, would have tremendous holding power, as well as the weight and rigidity of that basic design.
I'd not be surprised that, should you make the first-cost investment in patterns and tooling, such a vise would sell in small but worthwhile quantities today, for the remaining little bit of heavy production and maintenence work still being done in this country.
(I thought seriously of purchasing the old Oliver pattern vise line from Kindt-Collins, when they wanted to sell the line, meaning patterns, tooling, spares, etc., but I'd have run into too many legal problems trying to make anything like that here in California. Bill Kerfoot was the one who bought the Kindt-Collins vise, and is likely doing well with it, selling parts, and complete new vises under his 'Hopewell' brand. This is another example of a high quality, but specialised product item, very useful for those who will see the long-term recovery of the original capital cost.)
cheers
Carla
Getridaone:another quality addition to your vise wing and i really like how you make that old steel shine.
Filson:Just curious if you were selling all those little vises to make room for the 208 you said you bought on Ebay. did you buy the Reed 208 to make a twin to the green one we all have enjoyed pictures of? it's been a couple weeks an maybe longer and thought i'd ask if that was a moving moment that you blurted out that you bought it since you were moving across state or do you now have twin 208's? Any pictures to share or it didn't happen?
Epossum: pretty much exactly my thinking about these old vises values. you have a great point.
Andrew:you mentioned that you can still buy that 8 inch Morgan new so hoping you still ended up getting a good price for the one you bought with so many missing parts. Morgans are a great vise to use and they have great looks too.
Getridaone:another quality addition to your vise wing and i really like how you make that old steel shine.
Filson:Just curious if you were selling all those little vises to make room for the 208 you said you bought on Ebay. did you buy the Reed 208 to make a twin to the green one we all have enjoyed pictures of? it's been a couple weeks an maybe longer and thought i'd ask if that was a moving moment that you blurted out that you bought it since you were moving across state or do you now have twin 208's? Any pictures to share or it didn't happen?
Epossum: pretty much exactly my thinking about these old vises values. you have a great point.
Andrew:you mentioned that you can still buy that 8 inch Morgan new so hoping you still ended up getting a good price for the one you bought with so many missing parts. Morgans are a great vise to use and they have great looks too.