The VISES of Garage Journal

[Shiftless]

Here is a new to me Wilton 4" I picked up off craigslist today.

I'll be doing a full rehab on it, and i'll update this post.

Nice find! And welcome to this board. (You do realize it is addictive...)

 

[drivesitfar]

TJ: so you are not selling the P98? then whatever you want to do with it is ok by me and BLO is my vote if you are taking a pole. so why not strip both the C series vises and paint one your florescent green and maybe put one of those Snappy stickers on it and see how it does? you sold your little Tradesman for maybe more than a new one sells for so you do have the skills.

ALL: a few members were trying to get a color match for the original 519x vises and i found one today as i cleaned off one of my benches. this is a pretty pristine 5196 that i bought last year and it was in pretty nice shape and surprisingly missing it's original handle.

i also was taking apart my Reed 404.5 tonight and found my Craftsman slotted socket worked great for that huge screw under the swivel's base to remove it.

 

[oldldh]

I've been wrong before...

And...

I will be again...

But...

I believe this 5196 still wears it's original paint...

This vise sold for a tad north of $ 300.00 on Ebay about 18 months ago!!!

 

[Outlawmws]

They changed paint colors over time. Oldldh, did they happen to list the date on that one? I suspect late in the production but...

 

[drivesitfar]

Outlaw: mine is dated May 1952

 

[econotrk]

Thanks Ted, sure made things easy for me being in such nice condition.

I'm thinking that the next move is checking the lead screw. It goes from very nice to too tight to be pleasant to work with.


Hopefully its not the screw, even if it does got a little whop in it. it can be straightened, does the dynamic jaw slide in and out with ease with the lead screw out of the jaw

The dynamic jaw does slide in and out smoothly without the lead screw. I'm taking it apart today to check the screw for straightness.

ALL: a few members were trying to get a color match for the original 519x vises and i found one today as i cleaned off one of my benches. this is a pretty pristine 5196 that i bought last year and it was in pretty nice shape and surprisingly missing it's original handle.

Drives, that's the color that was on my 5198, not quite as blue as the original paint one Oldldh shows. Maybe they made a color change when they changed from the badge style to the cast in Craftsman name style. Mine is dated 3-54.

 

[joe.striper]

Here is the second of the 2 pics I found. Google said they came from page 22 of this thread but I didn't find them there...I took them from google images

I just got a text from the Fisher Norris museum : Hi Joe Yes, it's an early Fisher double screw vise. 'Yes, it is missing the gears, and chain. If you are near there and offer about $50 for the parts, buy it for me. It is pretty much worthless as it is.'

I'm going to call the seller today and see if I can work something out...problem is that without the old parts it is nearly impossible to know what to remanufacture. I'll just deliver them to the museum at my cost.

 

[bigcaddy]

Big Caddy:
I heard that you were away but thought I should alert you to a big Wilton bullet possible a C2 listed on the LA Craigslist for $60 San Gabriel Valley
Be careful with the guy. One of us should pick up this bargain and it won't be me.

I've been on vacation and saw that CL post as I was in the air. Since I was headed to the far reaches of the earth with no phone or wifi, there wasn't much I could do. When I finally got to the house, the ad was gone so I didn't give it a second thought

Now that the ad is back up and I'm in Michigan, I'll see if I can get a friend to swing buy and pick it up

 

[CwazyWabbit]

...problem is that without the old parts it is nearly impossible to know what to remanufacture. I'll just deliver them to the museum at my cost.

The bottom gear is there in the picture, the top gear should be exactly the same so you could copy that. Getting a chain would be the problem, how is the chain tensioned?

 

[bigcaddy]

Anybody in the Charlotte, NC area?

There is a Wilton 9400-9450 w/o a base for 50.00 on there. It's been there for a while but I don't expect it to last

 

[zoomieport]

I've been on vacation and saw that CL post as I was in the air. Since I was headed to the far reaches of the earth with no phone or wifi, there wasn't much I could do. When I finally got to the house, the ad was gone so I didn't give it a second thought

Now that the ad is back up and I'm in Michigan, I'll see if I can get a friend to swing buy and pick it up

Bigcaddy,
Welcome to "The Mitten", "The Great Lakes State", "the home of Zoomieport"!
Sorry about the weather... I hope you are here for fun, happy to have you here for a visit! Lots of good micro-brews, golf courses and lakes/beaches to checkout!
I hope you are here for fun and not business... Enjoy!
What part of this Beautiful land are you visiting?

Take care,
ZOOM

 

[bigcaddy]

Does anybody has decent advise for arranging CL deals for out of state purchases? I've done deals where I will end up at their location for some reason are another but never a true out-of-state deal.

I've got the shipping part down but how are you taking care of payment? Money order by the post office? I've found some items I want to buy but the logistics are making it a pain.

I've got a close friend in the area but he's so busy with work and kids I don't even want to bother him at the moment. If I did, then he's saddled with it and has to make the trip to the ups store so I don't want to involve him.

 

[bigcaddy]

Bigcaddy,
Welcome to "The Mitten", "The Great Lakes State", "the home of Zoomieport"!
Sorry about the weather... I hope you are here for fun, happy to have you here for a visit! Lots of good micro-brews, golf courses and lakes/beaches to checkout!
I hope you are here for fun and not business... Enjoy!
What part of this Beautiful land are you visiting?

Take care,
ZOOM

We are in TC/Elk Rapids for the duration of the stay and it's all pleasure on this one. I'm not much of a drinker but we were at Shorts brewery last night for dinner which is a pretty well known (busy!) spot considering its location. Lots of strange beer and great food

I'll be doing some morel hunting today and then just screwing around town for a while or enjoying the view from the back porch, pic attached. It's gonna be a nice stay

 

[zoomieport]

We are in TC/Elk Rapids for the duration of the stay and it's all pleasure on this one. I'm not much of a drinker but we were at Shorts brewery last night for dinner which is a pretty well known (busy!) spot considering its location. Lots of strange beer and great food

I'll be doing some morel hunting today and then just screwing around town for a while or enjoying the view from the back porch, pic attached. It's gonna be a nice stay

That is my favorite part of the whole State (in the summer)! I'd move there, but the winters up there are brutal, lol!
Take a cruise around Grand Traverse Bay, West up to Northport or East up to Petoskey, the drive and the views are truly beautiful! (Plus you cross the "45th parallel ", which I for some reason I think is cool...).
Have fun!

Mike

Edit: Torch Lake is cool too...

 

[bagged89s10]

TJ: so you are not selling the P98? then whatever you want to do with it is ok by me and BLO is my vote if you are taking a pole. so why not strip both the C series vises and paint one your florescent green and maybe put one of those Snappy stickers on it and see how it does? you sold your little Tradesman for maybe more than a new one sells for so you do have the skills.



ALL: a few members were trying to get a color match for the original 519x vises and i found one today as i cleaned off one of my benches. this is a pretty pristine 5196 that i bought last year and it was in pretty nice shape and surprisingly missing it's original handle.



i also was taking apart my Reed 404.5 tonight and found my Craftsman slotted socket worked great for that huge screw under the swivel's base to remove it.

Drives, is that an actual socket? I need to find me one because I still can't budge the swivel screw on my athol.

Edit: found them and they are called drag link sockets. Very cool

 

[wrenchguy]

Bigcaddy,
Welcome to "The Mitten", "The Great Lakes State", "the home of Zoomieport"!
Sorry about the weather... I hope you are here for fun, happy to have you here for a visit! Lots of good micro-brews, golf courses and lakes/beaches to checkout!
I hope you are here for fun and not business... Enjoy!
What part of this Beautiful land are you visiting?

Take care,
ZOOM

alot of antique wood speedboats around there too

 

[jreb10]

Drives, that's the color that was on my 5198, not quite as blue as the original paint one Oldldh shows. Maybe they made a color change when they changed from the badge style to the cast in Craftsman name style. Mine is dated 3-54.

You guys must have better "color eyes" than me! I think it is really difficult to judge subtle color differences between on-line photos. Just the background difference between Drives and Olds photos (one light, the other dark) can make you think there is a color difference.

Add to this the possible differences in color rendering for both the photos and our different display screens and those colors look pretty close to me!

Let's keep the Craftsman 519X original color discussion going. I'd like to know the best matches, even though I may not use them, and enjoy looking at 519X vises in any color!

You would think that the color would have been some kind of standard Craftsman color that was used on other tools as well, like drill presses or table saws. Does anyone know if that is true?

 

[drivesitfar]

JReb: mine is a little dirty and i turned off the flash on one picture trying to get close to real color. it's sort of a blue grey and when i get it cleaned up i'll take more pictures and maybe even take it to a good paint store to get a color.

speaking of 519x's i just found this one that caught my eye because it has the # on the side and doesn't look the same. any thoughts? now this 5197 looks like it was made by Columbian vise company, but not the other ones i like a lot better like Econ's 5198 that he just finished spiffing up.

BC: Paypal and Fastenal, but you have to BEE CAREFUL if you don't know the person. if they can get it to Fastenal on a pallet or some Fastenal stores or warehouses have pallets to install vise there then that might work for your trips across the US. Looks like you are having fun.

 

[joe.striper]

My Athol 102 1/4 restored. Nicely made little vise. Some people will really like the color, I'm not a fan. Hammerite red. Missed that little dab of red on the end of the spindle.

 

[drivesitfar]

Joe: that one does look like nail polish so i guess that nice guy in LA was talking about you.

nice job as per usual lately

 

[vintage nut]

Drives, I posted a reply about the sockets you used in the other thread. Called a drive link socket (or drag link socket, as another posted in this thread)

you can never have too many tools

 

[vintage nut]

Although it seems drag link socket is actually the more proper name.

you can never have too many tools

 

[classicJackets]

Folks in Charlotte . NC, here's a Wilton for $50. 3 hours each way is a little longer trip than its worth for me to make from here in SC.
http://charlotte.craigslist.org/tls/5050170774.html

edit: but if it ends up coming home with someone here in SC, I could make ya a little richer off it..

 

[454ragtop]

As to that Craftsman vise OEM color, on my monitor at least, it looks like a dead ringer for Plasticote T10 Machinery Gray, one of my favorite colors and brands for OWWM and OMWM. Real nice bluish gray, nice to work with, covers well, dries fast.
Jim

 

[joe.striper]

Joe: that one does look like nail polish so i guess that nice guy in LA was talking about you.

nice job as per usual lately

Im calling that color Internet Red. In life it is much more burgundy than the red it shows here.

 

[topop101]

Need some help on this one...

 

[drivesitfar]

TOP: looks European so maybe the boys across the pond can help you. it looks old and stout so buy it and then we'll figure it out if not too expensive.

Joe: it did look red to me and not like Fretter's Burgundy vices he posts.

454: sounds good to me on the color and i too like it

Vintage: thanks for knowing the name of one of my old tools.

Bagged: hope it helps if you have one or can find one to use

 

[topop101]

TOP: looks European so maybe the boys across the pond can help you. it looks old and stout so buy it and then we'll figure it out if not too expensive.

Joe: it did look red to me and not like Fretter's Burgundy vices he posts.

454: sounds good to me on the color and i too like it

Vintage: thanks for knowing the name of one of my old tools.

Bagged: hope it helps if you have one or can find one to use

Drives It's my guess as well. I'm out. I'm straight up US only in my collection. Except for a post vise I only bought because of the man who owned it. No offense to the guys on here from outside the US, I just like the treasures from the American industrial revolution.

 

[Fretters]

Need some help on this one...

Closest I've personally seen to that style are the Irimo's.

 

[FMC1959]

Got my 5198 together and took some pics. I really like some of the 51xx vises where guys painted the lead screw rings, it just didn't work for me though. I tried red, grey, a combination of both, in the end I like it better without. Maybe just the wrong color for painted rings.

I need a little help with a tightness issue in the lead screw. The vise nut spins freely on the screw. The lead screw turns freely in the slide, but when together there is a tight spot that got a bit better by leaving a bit of play in the collar. But any looser it gets sloppy. Thinking maybe the lead screw has a bend in it?

Econo, that is a beauty! I usually like when all the bare steel parts are polished, but the patina yours has is fantastic. Also agree with you about the rings, I have seen some with the painted rings I really like, but yours looks perfect as is.

If it was my vise, I couldn't be happier with the look. It just looks "all business", no BS.

 

[topop101]

The first of a Reed group I'm putting together. Here's the 204 1/2 A. Next in line is a 104 1/2 , followed by a Reed pipe vise. I call this my industrial package. Swivel ,fixed and pipe. The jaws on this one are very nice thanks to having copper plates over them, That's what the tapped holes in the sides of the jaws are from. The fixed 104 1/2 has smooth jaws so this should be a nice set up .

 

[Outlawmws]

Has anybody ever seen one of these?
Seller says no markings except for the number 4 and a smaller number 86
I would assume 4 inch jaws and a stated 50 pounds of weight.
Blacksmith?

Drives : That's exactly what I was wondering! And why have 2 main screws? Some wooden clamps have two screws to clamp up tapers for gluing but what is going on with this guy?

To me that looks like it should have been a chain vice and half the parts are missing.

Outlaw: mine is dated May 1952

Yep, based on the nameplate 50's makes sense, or even as early as '48 or as late as '57 based on the catalogs. The cast in Craftsman is more difficult to place

 

[econotrk]

Econo, that is a beauty! I usually like when all the bare steel parts are polished, but the patina yours has is fantastic. Also agree with you about the rings, I have seen some with the painted rings I really like, but yours looks perfect as is.

If it was my vise, I couldn't be happier with the look. It just looks "all business", no BS.

Thanks FMC, that's the look I was aiming for. I love the polished look too, but I didn't want to doll this one up.

 

[econotrk]

You guys must have better "color eyes" than me! I think it is really difficult to judge subtle color differences between on-line photos. Just the background difference between Drives and Olds photos (one light, the other dark) can make you think there is a color difference.

Add to this the possible differences in color rendering for both the photos and our different display screens and those colors look pretty close to me!

Let's keep the Craftsman 519X original color discussion going. I'd like to know the best matches, even though I may not use them, and enjoy looking at 519X vises in any color!

You would think that the color would have been some kind of standard Craftsman color that was used on other tools as well, like drill presses or table saws. Does anyone know if that is true?

There's a lot of talk about the "correct" color match for old Delta machinery over on the OWWM site. The conclusions seems to be that over the years the mix varied quite a bit on color. People have multiple machines with the same color that when place beside each other there is quite a difference.

The paint I used on mine was close enough that when I put a dab on the original paint, it was hard to find at certain angles. It is lighter but doesn't paint darken with age?

 

[Shiftless]

I just got a text from the Fisher Norris museum : Hi Joe Yes, it's an early Fisher double screw vise. 'Yes, it is missing the gears, and chain. If you are near there and offer about $50 for the parts, buy it for me. It is pretty much worthless as it is.'

I'm going to call the seller today and see if I can work something out...problem is that without the old parts it is nearly impossible to know what to remanufacture. I'll just deliver them to the museum at my cost.

Thanks Joe!
I wrote to the sellers yesterday to tell them they had a chain vise with damage and missing parts. (Work down the price, right?) I heard back from them last night thanking me for the info and asking me if I was still interested in it "as is"
I told them I was but to sell it to Joe and it would go to a good home.

 

[Henrik5]

Hello,
still posted it in the german Tools Thread but this Thread fits better.
Its D.R.P. (Deutsches Reichs Patent) and must be fabricated between 1928-45.
Nice Greetings,
Henrik

 

[Craptain]

Henrik that is beautiful. And a very good looking vise.

Sent from my LG-D801 using Tapatalk

 

[bluebolt]

speaking of 519x's i just found this one that caught my eye because it has the # on the side and doesn't look the same. any thoughts? now this 5197 looks like it was made by Columbian vise company, but not the other ones i like a lot better like Econ's 5198 that he just finished spiffing up.

Drive's, the 391 prefix means it a Made In Japan Columbian. Solid vise but not as desirable as a USA made one of course.

 

[drivesitfar]

Henrik: nice looking vice and welcome to the forum

TOP: so if you see a vise like Henrik's or if that one was reasonable you posted earlier i might be interested. i'm 100% Norwegian so i'm flexible on buying quality as much as where it was made from both sides of the pond. hell if we found out China or Japan made a better quality 300 pound vise with their thousands of years of technology i might be in that line to buy it if i could afford it. i'm sure they can make good steel, but the importers buying tools for us don't want to pay the price to get us some.

it would be nice if we had the factories here, but i think the attorneys let that ship sail a long time ago. i probably should delete this and will if it's too political.

BB: thanks and was wondering what happened to that vise

 

[jreb10]

As to that Craftsman vise OEM color, on my monitor at least, it looks like a dead ringer for Plasticote T10 Machinery Gray, one of my favorite colors and brands for OWWM and OMWM. Real nice bluish gray, nice to work with, covers well, dries fast.
Jim

Just to add one more comment on this 519X color question, I recently painted my 5191 with Valspar Cobalt Cannon, as it seemed a pretty close match to some of the remaining paint:



Today I compared the last bit of remaining paint from my 5195 (on the top of the swivel lock screw) with Valspar Cobalt Cannon and Plastikote T10 that I just received.



To my "in-person" eye the T10 is just slightly lighter than Cobalt Cannon. Maybe both of them could be a touch bluer. I doubt anything else not custom blended will be a closer match.