The VISES of Garage Journal

[jakemac]

Lots of driving today! Traffic sucked as they closed I-91 in VT for four exits...and as they say, cant get there from heah!

In any event I fell into this today. A Craftsman rotary cross slide vise...for $135. In phenomenal condition. Now here is the quandry...which do I sell? As you may remember I just last week I bought my Craftsman XY table, now I have two.

Both Craftsman, both really cool, one old school one new school. Both do the same job. Whichever I sell will get the vise heads mounted onto it. I really am torn and no I won't keep both.

So which is it? Betty or Veronica????

Veronica (round) is the keeper. Betty will look good on the 150 when you sell it. Veronica will give you more options when using your Rockwell. Keep the jaws with the round one. Let the new owner of the 150 figure out replacements.

 

[drivesitfar]

GarageGuy: do you have any more pictures of the middle Wilton (or looks like a Wilton made vise) with the white on the jaws. it looks pretty stout and it doesn't look like it says Wilton on the side. do tell? Also are you wire wheeling the paint off your Wiltons and then using BLO (boiled linseed oil)? very nice line up BTW.

GET: so you saw that Prentiss 98 in person today. very cool and do you have any more pictures or were blindfolded and had your cameral taken away before you were able to see that rare vise? is it bigger than your Reed 108 or 208 that i think you own? thanks for the quick response to my ask for pictures of a huge Prentiss.

Wrench: nice looking vises and check the vise repair 101 thread for some more pictures of your Reed's parts and pieces because there are a few on there besides Jeremy's.

 

[Strapwrench]

. Anybody have a clue about this one? I've not seen another like it, but maybe didn't look hard enough. No markings I can find, and at least 40 years old or more.

 

[454ragtop]

Anyone in boston need a Wilton. Just saw this on CL.
Wilton bullet vise bench vise 4 inch jaws $80

http://boston.craigslist.org/sob/tls/4988404448.html

~Veeps

Not too far from me, was interested till I saw the jaws welded on, pass. Think the seller is a vise flipper, I've seen a few listed with that same location on the map.
Jim

 

[drivesitfar]

Strap: welcome to the vise thread and that has become a very popular vise as of late. check back to last week's postings and Joe Striper found out the company that makes them that is here in the US and also found out a new one costs about $550.

I can't remember the name of it because it doesn't interest me much other than it is made in the US.

cheers

 

[454ragtop]

. Anybody have a clue about this one? I've not seen another like it, but maybe didn't look hard enough. No markings I can find, and at least 40 years old or more.

Welcome, looks like the Milhoff, or something similar, we discussed a couple days ago. Unfortunately at the speed this thread moves at, you may have to go back 20 or 30 pages to find it.
HTH, Jim

 

[mike_paxton]

. Anybody have a clue about this one? I've not seen another like it, but maybe didn't look hard enough. No markings I can find, and at least 40 years old or more.

Strapwrench:

Milhoff made both the double swivel and single swivel versions of these type of vises.

See post 27894 by Joe.Striper on the literature he got on the company/vises.

Mike

 

[Garageguy54]

GarageGuy: do you have any more pictures of the middle Wilton (or looks like a Wilton made vise) with the white on the jaws. it looks pretty stout and it doesn't look like it says Wilton on the side. do tell? Also are you wire wheeling the paint off your Wiltons and then using BLO (boiled linseed oil)? very nice line up BTW.

GET: so you saw that Prentiss 98 in person today. very cool and do you have any more pictures or were blindfolded and had your cameral taken away before you were able to see that rare vise? is it bigger than your Reed 108 or 208 that i think you own? thanks for the quick response to my ask for pictures of a huge Prentiss.

Wrench: nice looking vises and check the vise repair 101 thread for some more pictures of your Reed's parts and pieces because there are a few on there besides Jeremy's.[/QUOTE


Yes , the vise in the middle is a Wilton 840 marked"Acme Tool Co." New York. I posted it on page 1384 of this thread. I use a wire wheel to take the paint off then I use t-9 boeshield(available at Sears )to keep the rust off the surface. I recoat every couple months.GG54
Sorry about the pic

 

[drivesitfar]

GG: i thought it should say ACME on the side of the Wilton made vise, but when i blew up the picture the second letter looked like a D. thanks for the Boesheild picture and I've heard it works great.

i have a ton of naked steel that doesn't do well in unheated dry storage during the winter months and i was going to buy a fair amount of Fluid film cans to spray the steel that didn't have BLO on it. it's not easy having a raw steel addiction as a few of you might know.

 

[joe.striper]

Not too far from me, was interested till I saw the jaws welded on, pass. Think the seller is a vise flipper, I've seen a few listed with that same location on the map.
Jim

I know the seller on these vises. He is learning, I'm trying to teach him. He is a source for me and i buy what he DOESN'T advertise.

He comes across a TON of old iron. He is a nice guy, really. I know he will take less on that Wilton. Nice doorstop?

 

[RADcustom]

Thanks for all the "you *****". It IS amazing the things people and businesses scrap out. This is the forth Wilton that has been found there by myself or a friend. So far two 1765's, a c1 and the 800.

I was able to spend a little time with another interesting vise. Here is a teaser to see who can recognize it.

 

[Garageguy54]

GG: i thought it should say ACME on the side of the Wilton made vise, but when i blew up the picture the second letter looked like a D. thanks for the Boesheild picture and I've heard it works great.

i have a ton of naked steel that doesn't do well in unheated dry storage during the winter months and i was going to buy a fair amount of Fluid film cans to spray the steel that didn't have BLO on it. it's not easy having a raw steel addiction as a few of you might know.

It is very tough keeping the rust off of the bare metal, but I enjoy recoating the vises It's relaxing. I took a closer look at the Wilton 840 marked "Acme Tool New York" and I see Acme Tool but I will strip it down soon and post pics. I will take a look with the old paint off.

 

[ChargerRT]

Hey guys here is a couple more pictures of the baby bullet on page 1441 that I recently got... date looks like it says 9-47... am I correct in my thinking that that means September of 1947?

Also does anyone know why someone would tack weld the washer to the nose???

 

[JeremyBurke]

... date looks like it says 9-47... am I correct in my thinking that that means September of 1947?



Also does anyone know why someone would tack weld the washer to the nose???

9-47? I would read that as September 1947.

Tack welded washer? My guess is they lost the dust cap and were improvising. And also they hated having nice things so they had to ruin it.

 

[vintage nut]

I bet you could probably grind off the tacks pretty easily, and after paint and a new dust cap I doubt you could tell

you can never have too many tools

 

[ChargerRT]

Does anyone have a lead on getting a dustcap for this little guy?
I want to take it back to it's former glory

 

[vintage nut]

I recall hearing dust caps for wheel bearings work, at least on the bigger ones. I'm not sure about the baby bullets though.

you can never have too many tools

 

[ChargerRT]

Hmm I will grind the tack welds off and see what it looks like... surely it isn't serving a purpose?

 

[drivesitfar]

Charger: unless the previous owner used to drop the Baby Bullet on it's nose a lot and kept denting the dust cover i can't see why the washer was needed. the dust cover looks like its under the washer and if it's damaged maybe they sell freeze plugs at the auto store that are small enough. KMScott our master machinist for all our vises made some for his Baby Bullets that are a lot more solid than those that came from the factory so maybe he has one to sell you if he has an extra one or can make more.

it should clean up nicely and thanks for showing your date stamp. yes September 1947 is when it left the factory.

GG: thanks for the better picture and the advice about keeping rust at bay.

 

[drivesitfar]

Charger: i saved pictures of KMScott's baby bullet dust covers he made a while back that are far and above what a factory cover would look like so here are the pictures. i'm not sure he is selling any of these, but i thought the pictures were worth showing again because he does amazing work in his shop.

some of the guys buy wheel bearing covers from Etrailer.com for their bullets and not sure if they make small enough ones for the baby bullets.

good luck

 

[vintage nut]

I'll just put an offer out here in case it can help anyone. I can run a lathe and mill alright, but I'm definitely not anywhere close to KMScott. However through my knifemaking I have a really nice heat treating setup. If anyone ever needs some steel hardened, I can do it for you. I have a computer controlled kiln that will handle anything (tool steel, springs, stainless, ect) except high speed steel. Hardening jaws and making springs is pretty easy for me, so hopefully I can help someone with a vise or other project sometime

you can never have too many tools

 

[joe.striper]

Veronica (round) is the keeper. Betty will look good on the 150 when you sell it. Veronica will give you more options when using your Rockwell. Keep the jaws with the round one. Let the new owner of the 150 figure out replacements.

And the winner is...VERONICA. Sorry Betty, hit the road!

 

[Fretters]

T'was the logical choice, Stripper. You'd have been foolish to ditch the rotary option.

Does anyone have a lead on getting a dustcap for this little guy?

Core, (welch, freeze), plugs are your simplest option. A local motor factors should have something to fit.

 

[ChargerRT]

Vintage hopefully I can grind the spot welds off tonight and if I do need a dustcap... Think that might be a project you might want to play with?

 

[joe.striper]

Just finished this little 3.5" Ridgid that came on the cart I bought in PA. Nice and clean to start with.

 

[joe.striper]

Also finished this Palmgren 610 i got last Friday in NY.

 

[vintage nut]

Vintage hopefully I can grind the spot welds off tonight and if I do need a dustcap... Think that might be a project you might want to play with?

I could definitely give it a shot if you can't find anything!

you can never have too many tools

 

[bigcaddy]

Does anyone have a lead on getting a dustcap for this little guy?
I want to take it back to it's former glory

freeze plugs have a slightly different side profile but ive seen other members make one from a round piece of steel and a ball bearing on a swage block using a press to make it domed.

 

[write2dgray]

Just finished up this Rock Island 574. Princeton University color scheme as we're living in the area currently, finish paint is Valspar MAX Flat Black and Husqvarna Orange Tractor.

Fashioned a replacement shoulder bolt from a 1 ½” long 7/8”-14 bolt with a washer and “modified nut,” shaped to proper diameter and thickness. It’s a perfect fit .

Now to get her bolted down and put back to work!

 

[scottmoli]

I have a Charles Parker model NO. 429. I can't find much info on it. It's big & heavy (about 80lb). Was wondering what was it used for. It rotates at the base & the jaw rotates.....https://books.google.com/books?id=Z...wBQ#v=onepage&q=chas. parker 429 vise&f=false...... this is the only info I could find.Thanks Scott

 

[bagged89s10]

Just finished this little 3.5" Ridgid that came on the cart I bought in PA. Nice and clean to start with.

Also finished this Palmgren 610 i got last Friday in NY.

Nice work Joe! You've been busy pumping out vises.


~Veeps

 

[KMScott]

Charger, here is a drawing if you want to cut a baby endcap on a lathe. Just use a file to smooth the high spots until it is smooth.

Great example on how to make a shoulder bolt write2dgray. Should mention that when it is tight there is a.010 to an .015 gap or so for a nice base spin.

 

[write2dgray]

Thanks, and nice tip KMScott on the shoulder sizing. I sized to press fit initially, then polished her smooth until she spins freely without any slop. I'm sure it's a better fit with less slop than the original and should breathe another lifetime of use into this vise.

 

[dutchgray]

Got this one today.
View media item 50133Its your standard English type No3 4" jaw.
No name, no made in England on it, but its well made, cast in nut and its not seen any abuse.
From old catalogues I think it may be a Parkinsons handy vise, but I'm not completely sure.

 

[CwazyWabbit]

Is that a reg design number on the side?

 

[Fretters]

If that says RD No. 689821 on the side, definitely a Handy. The leadscrew nut is part of the main casting too, not a separate piece, if you have a ganders. I picked the same model up a year or two ago, painted in that same battleship grey. This is it now.

That one sits on its own little bench at the side of the No.7 now, and has become my other daily use type vice. They're a nice sturdy vice.

 

[dutchgray]

Fretters & CW

Yeah it is Rd 689821.
It thought it probably was a Parkinsons but thanks for confirming, its in great shape and is obviously quality so it had to get bought. I did notice the nut was part of the static and the underside detail is very nice too.
View media item 50135

 

[bigcaddy]

I have a Charles Parker model NO. 429. I can't find much info on it. It's big & heavy (about 80lb). Was wondering what was it used for. It rotates at the base & the jaw rotates.....https://books.google.com/books?id=Z...wBQ#v=onepage&q=chas. parker 429 vise&f=false...... this is the only info I could find.Thanks Scott

The vise you have was just a innovation to set Parker ahead of other vise companies. It just made it easier to reach whatever odd angle you could think of.

 

[Fretters]

its in great shape and is obviously quality so it had to get bought. I did notice the nut was part of the static and the underside detail is very nice too.

You definitely chose well with that vice. Lovely vices to use. Very smooth in operation, and they definitely didn't skimp on metal with them. Out of the Woden's, Record's etc. which I've tried/used in the past, this is definitely my favourite in use of the plain screw types I've used so far.

 

[dutchgray]

Shame they seem so uncommon and with out the name on very hard to search for, without looking at every advert. It does work nice though, even in its current pretty dry and dirty state, and it has almost no slop in it.