The VISES of Garage Journal

[nochina1966]

My Columbian D44....estate find for $8, the swivel base was totally seized, had to keep hitting it with PB Blaster and smacking it around for a week, but it finally broke loose.


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[bigcaddy]

It's all I got at the estate sale. I almost didn't see it or should I say understand it and let it sit. It's the first one for me. Now when I see them and the price is right I'll come on down!

I don't know what you paid but I've got a feeling you did well with your purchase. I've bought/sold a few jewelers engraving vises before and they can bring in some serious money if accessories are included that little cannonball is worth quite a bit and being a Dixon makes it all the better

 

[RustnGrease]

I thought i did good with my two, but you sir, did wayy better!

 

[biscuit141]

lol, biscuit, I see you're still thinking about that 974 1/2, rest easy, I'm going to go pick it up tomorrow or Saturday so you can purge it from your memory!

Haha, OK Andrew. Since I'm new at this and your a veteran, explain how this works. So the seller lowered his price to $80 online, did you buy it for less? At the original price you passed, so I see it's worth it now. I'm assuming you will have a new set if jaws made? How much will that be? $150-ish? So you'll have about $230 or so into this? I'm just trying to wrap my head around the costs so I'm better prepared in the future.

 

[PinchPoint]

I don't know what you paid but I've got a feeling you did well with your purchase. I've bought/sold a few jewelers engraving vises before and they can bring in some serious money if accessories are included that little cannonball is worth quite a bit and being a Dixon makes it all the better

I thought so because I cant find any for sale. I hope it goes for a nice tidy sum!

 

[AndrewH]

Haha, OK Andrew. Since I'm new at this and your a veteran, explain how this works. So the seller lowered his price to $80 online, did you buy it for less? At the original price you passed, so I see it's worth it now. I'm assuming you will have a new set if jaws made? How much will that be? $150-ish? So you'll have about $230 or so into this? I'm just trying to wrap my head around the costs so I'm better prepared in the future.

I will be picking it up in the morning. As for price, I'll say that I'm not paying the $80. It's all about knowing when to jump, I know that 98% of people are not going to buy a vise that has a nearly irreplaceable jaw pad missing. Patience is the key in the vise world, sometimes you wait too long and miss out and sometimes you wait just long enough, fact is, all the fun is in the hunt! Whether or not I have a new set made or I hold off and wait for a used set, I'm not sure. There's also a 3rd option. Someone on eBay has made 4.5" polyresin Parker jaw pads for $29 so I may go that route for the time being or I'll just let it sit until I make up my mind.

Forgot to add, I have a set of 4.5" jaw pads from a non swivel Parker I bought a while ago and if I can fit them on a swivel vise I most certainly will.

 

[jaker10]

I picked up this Monarch 219 tonight. Gave $60.00. Hope I didn't give to much. It's marked PVCo NY, Is this the Prentiss vise company ???? I think it's in pretty nice shape. Can anyone tell me how old this thing is ??? I think I'm just going to clean this one up and put it on a shelf in the garage.

 

[drivesitfar]

you paid too much so i'll pay to have it shipped to me and Paypal you the money. are you serious?? it's almost a 100 year old vise so if it's in decent shape you have another keeper.

yes it was made by Prentiss and speaking of that did you ever look under the brass badge of the Bulldog you bought a while back??

nice and of course we always need several pictures or it didn't happen.

 

[AndrewH]

Anyone on here a Hollands vise expert or know a bit about them? If so please shoot me a PM.

 

[jaker10]

I picked up this Monarch 219 tonight. Gave $60.00. Hope I didn't give to much. It's marked PVCo NY, Is this the Prentiss vise company ???? I think it's in pretty nice shape. Can anyone tell me how old this thing is ??? I think I'm just going to clean this one up and put it on a shelf in the garage.

I'll try again.

 

[jaker10]

Yes under the badge is a 1/2 inch hole.

 

[drivesitfar]

Jaker: nice Monarch and my offer still stands if it's too heavy for your shelf. looks like all original and a quick look says it's in great shape too.

interesting that under the brass badge on the Prentiss bulldog was a hole.

 

[jaker10]

you paid too much so i'll pay to have it shipped to me and Paypal you the money. are you serious?? it's almost a 100 year old vise so if it's in decent shape you have another keeper.

yes it was made by Prentiss and speaking of that did you ever look under the brass badge of the Bulldog you bought a while back??

nice and of course we always need several pictures or it didn't happen.

No **** 100 years old?? I had no idea.

 

[bigcaddy]

I thought so because I cant find any for sale. I hope it goes for a nice tidy sum!

A couple hundred at least. Victor was the other brand I was thinking of but Dixon is a god name. Somewhere I have a dozen or so of their silver working hammers that I picked up from a retired silversmith. That purchase included 4 of those engraving vises

 

[biscuit141]

I will be picking it up in the morning. As for price, I'll say that I'm not paying the $80. It's all about knowing when to jump, I know that 98% of people are not going to buy a vise that has a nearly irreplaceable jaw pad missing. Patience is the key in the vise world, sometimes you wait too long and miss out and sometimes you wait just long enough, fact is, all the fun is in the hunt! Whether or not I have a new set made or I hold off and wait for a used set, I'm not sure. There's also a 3rd option. Someone on eBay has made 4.5" polyresin Parker jaw pads for $29 so I may go that route for the time being or I'll just let it sit until I make up my mind.

Forgot to add, I have a set of 4.5" jaw pads from a non swivel Parker I bought a while ago and if I can fit them on a swivel vise I most certainly will.

So, out of curiosity, will I ever stand a chance of finding a vice on CL before you get to it? Believe me, I love the thrill of the hunt, I have acquired many tools that way, vises are just new to me so I am learning. Hopefully I can stumble upon one of the amazing estate sale deals members have been posting here lately.

 

[PinchPoint]

A couple hundred at least. Victor was the other brand I was thinking of but Dixon is a god name. Somewhere I have a dozen or so of their silver working hammers that I picked up from a retired silversmith. That purchase included 4 of those engraving vises

Thanks bigdaddy this helps make my day even better. I'm glad I took my time and found this and decided it was worth the price. They couldn't find it easy on the net. So they didn't know how to price it. I only could go by what I saw. I saw something of value. Built like a tank and clean! If I get two I will have done great...

 

[PinchPoint]

So, out of curiosity, will I ever stand a chance of finding a vice on CL before you get to it? Believe me, I love the thrill of the hunt, I have acquired many tools that way, vises are just new to me so I am learning. Hopefully I can stumble upon one of the amazing estate sale deals members have been posting here lately.

Most are beat to chit. But you will run across nice ones from time to time. I missed a great Prentiss for 15.00 on a bench. Not sure what it was worth. But it looked like 200.00 to me.

 

[AndrewH]

So, out of curiosity, will I ever stand a chance of finding a vice on CL before you get to it? Believe me, I love the thrill of the hunt, I have acquired many tools that way, vises are just new to me so I am learning. Hopefully I can stumble upon one of the amazing estate sale deals members have been posting here lately.

Ha, I'm hardly the only competition in our area. I've been beat to vises so many times I can't even count anymore. I work 7 days a week, 10 hours a day. If I beat you to anything it's only by sheer luck or great timing.

 

[KMScott]

Wrapped up the 5 inch T-style jaws on my Colombian 205, came out pretty nice, took two nights of fitting. Made the pipe jaws to. I will try to match the green when I paint it, any suggestions on the color.

That is a nice Monarch 219 Jaker10

It might have been a mistake by pinchpoint but I like your new name bigdaddy, oldie changed his avatar this week!!

 

[joe.striper]

OK, sorry to bother you all again, but this time I'm stumped. I called on an old drill press I saw on CL and in the course of the conversation the older gentleman with whom I was speaking mentioned he had a couple of old vises in his shop that he really didn't want to sell. After a while he offered to send me a couple of pics. I asked him jaw width on the blue swivel jaw vise and he said 4" but he said he couldn't read the names on either. He offered them to me for $75 and $100 respectively.

Based on what I could make out, the little one is a parker 973 1/2. The larger one?? I poked around for a couple of hours but couldn't match it up. The swivel jaw vise has aluminum jaws, which I found interesting.

The seller said both the bases move freely, the Parker has the wrench attached and the swivel jaw moves freely as well. So, can you guys please give me a little help? Thanks so much. I posted one pic on its side so you could see the #'s better.

Picked up these two vises last night as promised. First was, as I thought, a Parker 973 1/2, good jaws, no repairs or welds, used but not terribly abused. Broken back part of slide, unfortunately.

The quandary is with the 4.5" swivel jaw. First there are almost no markings, second the thing weighs a ton (I've got to weigh it but I'm guessing 80 lbs +), all bolts/allen keys/threads are American SAE, very well made with machined swivel interfaces, tight tolerances, aluminum jaws. I tore the entire thing down tonight, not a single mark anywhere on ANY casting. Only marking is on each individual part which is marked APGV - 100 followed by an A/B/C, different on each part.

Initially I thought this was an import but the SAE threads/bolts say no to me.

I almost passed on this vise BUT it was so odd and so nicely made I figured I'd just keep it ( making it vise #4 for me). I've got Vise-itis BAD.

OK Garage Journal Braintrust help a guy out.

 

[Chadwilliam1]

Are both of these vises the same? If not which one is recommended?

http://store.snapon.com/Mechanic-039-s-Vises-Vise-Mechanic-039-s-5-1-2-Jaw-P637195.aspx

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0076P9P4Y/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[oldldh]

Are both of these vises the same? If not which one is recommended?

http://store.snapon.com/Mechanic-039-s-Vises-Vise-Mechanic-039-s-5-1-2-Jaw-P637195.aspx

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0076P9P4Y/?tag=atomicindus08-20

As far as I know---

Yes, they are the same vise...

 

[va.grouseman]

Previously posted by KMScott.

Wrapped up the 5 inch T-style jaws on my Colombian 205, came out pretty nice, took two nights of fitting. Made the pipe jaws to. I will try to match the green when I paint it, any suggestions on the color.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Beautiful job KM. 0 tolerance. Which is the more dreaded, the rough milling or the fine tuning?

 

[72CZ]

KMScott; Wrapped up the 5 inch T-style jaws on my Colombian 205, came out pretty nice, took two nights of fitting. Made the pipe jaws to. I will try to match the green when I paint it, any suggestions on the color.

Those look Great Kevin !!!

.

 

[KMScott]

Beautiful job KM. 0 tolerance. Which is the more dreaded, the rough milling or the fine tuning?

Thanks VA, the fine tuning is the most dreaded, what really helped me is all the injection molds I built in the past, all the inserts I had to hand fit to close tolerances makes fitting jaws a little easier. Plastic flashes around a .001, the jaws can be fit looser then that. The problem with the Colombian was the T-Slot was not cut perpendicular to the face. Next time I will face the front and re cut the slot on the same set up. Then the fitting would have been pretty easy, but the down fall is the slot width would not be a standard width any more.

One issue that took time was removing all the pins from the four vises, I could not get a good hold on the jaw supports to drive out the pins, so I welded a slide hammer to each pin and pulled them out that way, a old trick I used years ago when some one installed a dowel pin in a blind hole.

Thanks 72CZ.

 

[FMC1959]

This is a Parker 134 "Big Bear" service vise. Its a 4" stationary and its beefy! Coming in at 76 lbs it has a 1" diameter spindle. For its age, its in nice shape.

Autopts, that is an absolute beauty! I have only see the artist conception pics in the old parker ads, first pic of a real one I have seen. From the adds, they were marketed to service station and small machine shops, I think only came in 4 & 5 inch (swivel & stationary).

For a 4" coming in at 76 lbs, it's a beast...or appropriately a "Big Bear". Is it going on the Bay?

 

[jkeller]

Just to be a little different, I noticed the name plate on this vise the other day when I was moving it to a new pile in my storage shed, I'm guessing it's an earlier example of a Columbian..

 

[72CZ]

Columbian 204 1/2 picked this one up last weekend.
Anyone know if the ones with 204 1/2 "without the M2" below it are newer then the ones with it?

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Here's one with the "M2"

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[FMC1959]

Picked this sad guy up today.Too bad the static jaw is busted at the casting.
I will clean it up and part it out sadly the parts are worth more than the vise in its current unusable state: (

If anybody needs parts for a Parker 974 send me a note and I'll try to accommodate you.
I will be soaking the loose parts in EvapoRust over the weekend.

Will the jaws of a 974 fit a 974 1/2? I am assuming no that one is 4" and the other is 4.5"? Or am I wrong.

It has been my experience that you should not count on a set of Parker Jaws fitting another Parker vise of the same width. I have made jaws for the same two Parker 6" vises at the same time and the jaws did not interchange, in fact the jaw faces had a gap either on the top or bottom of the faces and not just a little.

Kind of needed some info from whoever has played around with Parkers. I have a Parker 105 (4 ½” jaws) that is missing the Parker “half washer", screw handle retainer. For sure a 205 would fit, being the same vise with a swivel. I would guess the model that replaced it, the 954 ½ & the 974 ½ should probably fit. I am wondering how much size difference there is in the body of a 974 (like alinc100’s ), if the screw handle retainer would fit.

If it does, I would be interested in buying yours if you are selling it for parts.

If the consensus is that it would not fit, there was a guy on this thread, can’t remember if it was months or years back, that made them, anyone remember who it was?

Thanks
Franco

 

[KMScott]

Franco
Maybe btrnuthatch can help you, I have a couple of his collars as examples from his 272 Parker, a little different then the 974-1/2. I to will need a few collars and have not looked into fabricating them yet.

Jon Jacobs, a member here has built brass collars for Parker's and maybe he can help you.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=162181

 

[joe.striper]

http://hudsonvalley.craigslist.org/tls/4536003071.html

i love the description of the vise in this ad: " VERY LARGE bench vice. nick named "ball buster". the extra long handle lets you really put
down some force on whatever your working on. "

Prentiss? i called but no reply yet, although if i buy another vise I'm divorced...so feel free to call.

 

[FMC1959]

Thanks Kevin you got it. It looks like btrnuthatch could rpobably help also, but it was this thread by Jon Jacobs I remebered seeing.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=244707

If nothing comes up of the used parts variety (slim odds), I will prbably see if Jon would be interetsed in making/selling me one.

 

[drivesitfar]

KM: you have some great talent making those old vises shine and taking and posting those awesome close up pictures. just curious if a shorter punch might have helped to drive the pins up from under the jaw? looks like there is very little room there to work similar in ways to the Parker vises.

Chad: Wilton does make Snap On's vises so yes they are probably almost exactly the same. funny Snap On's site you posted the link for doesn't list the weight of it's vise where Wilton (via Amazon) lists theirs at 52 pounds. so $10 per pound for a new vise and some of the guys are upset paying $3 or $4 per pound for an old US made one. of course the new ones do come with a warranty.

 

[JeremyBurke]

Gentlemen of the vise. I need a little help. I am restoring a Craftsman 5186 (my first attempt at this). I was wondering the best way to repair these gouges?



Or is it better to just leave the vise alone paint it up and use it? Feel free to follow the link in my signature to the thread I started about it and add your $0.02. Thanks in advance.

 

[wrenchguy]

Gentlemen of the vise. I need a little help. I am restoring a Craftsman 5186 (my first attempt at this). I was wondering the best way to repair these gouges?



Or is it better to just leave the vise alone paint it up and use it? Feel free to follow the link in my signature to the thread I started about it and add your $0.02. Thanks in advance.

i use allmetal body filler i got on the shelf left over from other projects. some guys jb weld too.

 

[AndrewH]

Gentlemen of the vise. I need a little help. I am restoring a Craftsman 5186 (my first attempt at this). I was wondering the best way to repair these gouges?



Or is it better to just leave the vise alone paint it up and use it? Feel free to follow the link in my signature to the thread I started about it and add your $0.02. Thanks in advance.

I use JB Weld sometimes, depending on how deep it is. Personally, I'd leave those ones alone, just gives the vise character in my opinion.

*nevermind*

 

[oldldh]

Just "a funnin' around" on a Friday afternoon...

What if---

Craftsman had "finished" the 519X series of vises???

5196............4 inch................60 pounds
5197............4 1/2 inch..........77 pounds
5198............5 inch..............107 pounds---a 78% increase in weight for one inch increase in jaw width!!!

Therefore a---

5199...........6 inch...............191 pounds
5200...........7 inch...............339 pounds
5201...........8 inch...............604 pounds

All this would be assuming a 78% increase per inch width growth...

Just in case, the Starrett 925C weighs 103 pounds, and the 926C- 205 pounds...So the progression seems realistic...

I've got to remember to take my medication, especially on Fridays...

 

[DXN1EL]

What about the Ridgid F45? At $220

 

[FMC1959]

Columbian 204 1/2 picked this one up last weekend.
Anyone know if the ones with 204 1/2 "without the M2" below it are newer then the ones with it?
Here's one with the "M2"

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Not sure if anyone got back to you, not a fact but a guess on my part, the M2's are newer. If you look at the current crop of Columbians for sale, 200 series combo vise, 500 series machinist stationary, and 600 series machinist swivel, they are all M3.

Pretty sure the previous generation was M2 and the non "M" models probably date back to when they introduced these models

 

[72CZ]

Thanks!
I was thinking "M2" could mean second model or something
like that.

.