The VISES of Garage Journal

[anndel]

Hi Anndel: Welcome to the thread. I'm not an expert on vises. I only joined this thread a couple of months ago so take this with a grain of salt. I know that Yost Co. is in Michigan. Here's a link to their official site.

http://www.yostvises.com/mechanics-...-reversible-combination-vise-swivel-base.html

I think Yost is still made in the USA but I'm not certain. Someone else here will probably know or it might be on the Yost site.

As far as this particular model, the jaws are wide and the reversible jaws are a nice feature. It might suit your needs well but, from what you wrote, I assume you want a general service vise. If so, I think you could find a suitable vise on Craig's List for a lot less money. One caveat though, the CL vises with 6" jaws will probably be a bit more expensive so ask yourself if you actually need wide jaws. I've lived quite happily with a 3 1/2" jaw vise.

You should also be aware that vises can easily become an addiction so beware.

p.s. What area are you from? Do you own any vises already? If you do, we like pictures of vises so please post some. Again, welcome to the thread

Thanks CRSINMICH, I bought a used Wilton 3-1/2 from ebay for $50. Craigslist in Hawaii doesn't have much and someone wanted $250 for a used Columbian.

 

[joe.striper]

Flowers spontaneously spring back to life in mid-winter when you walk by, don't they. Go on, you can admit it. You're among friends.

Great find bagged.

Jake, Veeps and I had lunch yesterday and he farted, it smelled like wildflowers! He pisses beer and can bring small animals back to life!! I am honored to call him 'friend'

 

[CRSINMICH]

bagged: They quit following you around. Now they plan ahead and just hitch-hike as you pass by. You absolutely, positively ****!

anndel: That's great that you finally got one. We'll need pictures ASAP please.

Riley: I thought I'd let you know that vise fever may eventually subside somewhat. I passed on a C1 today for no better reason than that it was $350. There might be hope after all.

Mr P: Quite the dealer now. They come, they go. I went to a sale today and for the first time in a long time I didn't buy a vise (see above). I did buy a 1000 lb chain hoist though but that's for another thread. I plan on using it to move my vises around. My back isn't getting any younger. Now that I think about it, neither am I.

 

[bagged89s10]

Just got home and weighed it while on a conference call. Lol

Weighs a little over 59lbs.

 

[Thrumcap]

Well alrighty. I just lined up a Columbian 608 8" for $60 if my French was ok. Road trip!



Thrumcap

 

[Shiftless]

Smashing the vice trust

Old film poster for sale SF Bay Area $850

 

[Shiftless]

Well alrighty. I just lined up a Columbian 608 8" for $60 if my French was ok. Road trip!



Thrumcap

You ****!

 

[noisenormajean]

bagged: There might be hope after all.

Well said, sir. Scarcity only temporarily outweighs practicality.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

[dkroth]

Well alrighty. I just lined up a Columbian 608 8" for $60 if my French was ok. Road trip!



Thrumcap

Don't the French Canadians speak metric?

 

[CRSINMICH]

Thrum: Your post went up while I was editing my previous one so...p.s. YOU **** TOO!

By the way "trois et demi" is not EIGHT in English.

 

[Thrumcap]

Don't the French Canadians speak metric?

Oh, I hope we were both parlez Imperial
Thrumcap

 

[Thrumcap]

Found this on the way to pick up my son on the side of the road. Ok, not really on the side of the road. There was a guy with a table set up on the side of the road at a gas station. Parker 823-1/2. Smooth faced jaws look unused. Has the wrench too. $40 for the heaviest 3-1/2" vise I've ever seen?

Those jaws are immaculate, which is huge. Intact garter, with the wrench... At $0.65/lb or $0.30/kg, on a chance encounter.......yep, you totally ****.
Thrumcap

 

[xxaler]

good to know Fastenal still works great for my shipping across the US. my back is still sore. not sure what to tell you about the badge. pretty sure it was riveted and some guys drill them out to keep the badge in tack then tap some threads in the hole and re install with some small screws. if anybody has removed and replaced the badge on a Rock Island vise please post here or on the vise repair 101 thread.

I deal with tags like that all the time at my job. I use a 1/32" drill, then have a tin of brass tack rivets I use to hold down our pump tags. You can actually order than through McMaster Carr, but I'm pretty the ones I use were made well before I was a twinkle in my daddies eyes.

Saving them is really easy, use a really light duty painters tape all over the tag and press is down really tight so the rivets lump is well exposed, center punch it dead-nuts center, then run a small series drill through it, start with a 1/64" drill, work your way up until it's free. I've been doing it for years saving pump tags to make something for the other millwright I work with when he retires.

Oh, I hope we were both parlez Imperial
Thrumcap

Might as well drive on over and see me, I'll give you double what you payed for it!

 

[va.grouseman]

Originally posted by Shiftless.

va:
Try this link...
http://api.viglink.com/api/click?fo...ey=8d1879ea4db6639656bbe1af129db4fc&libId...
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Thanks Shift.---I use his site as reference all the time, sure would hate to loose it.---The two links I had aren't working anymore.


Thrum,---That is a steal on the 608.---That's all I use in my shop and I got no complaints at all.---Clamps and swivels with one finger.---You might can still find a base for that one if you wanted a swiveler.---Either way you are stealing it.---The voids are pretty big in the jaw towers, but the metal is a good quality.---Turned mine upside down and filled the pre-heated towers with hot lead.---It's solid as Gibraltar now.---Still ain't going to abuse it.---I just ain't going do that to a good vise.

 

[va.grouseman]

Well Jrobb,---I just checked Dayids List on the RI 577, and he says it's 145 lbs..---Now I am going to have go back and weigh mine again because I thought it was heavier than that.---I'll let you know if I stand corrected.

 

[jakemac]

By the way "trois et demi" is not EIGHT in English.

Are you sure ? That always worked for me at The Kennedy in St. George.

 

[CRSINMICH]

Are you sure ? That always worked for me at The Kennedy in St. George.

Oui monsieur

 

[Burgerkong]

Well alrighty. I just lined up a Columbian 608 8" for $60 if my French was ok. Road trip!



Thrumcap

Etau, gotta really learn to search in other languages on kijiji. Based on location, I'm much closer so I should be able to get there before you.

 

[Nuts]

Hey Outlaw -it was my observation while working with them is that the Taiwan vise has more range of movement then the versa vise as you can see in one of the pics it rotates 360 on base where versa does not ,also the base is larger and more substantial then the versa -not that weight means a lot but Taiwan vise is 5-lbs heavier and yes fit and finish in my humble opinion is better .

In the fifth pic, the center section looks offset, if you turn it over it might swivel 360.


Nuts

 

[bagged89s10]

Jake, Veeps and I had lunch yesterday and he farted, it smelled like wildflowers! He pisses beer and can bring small animals back to life!! I am honored to call him 'friend'

Thanks Joe! You're not a bad guy to have as a friend either.
Always great talking tools and trading vise parts! Did you buy that Columbian?

bagged: They quit following you around. Now they plan ahead and just hitch-hike as you pass by. You absolutely, positively ****!

Thanks. It's funny because at first I drove by it and wasn't going to stop. Then I decided to turn around and check it out. Good thing I did!

Well alrighty. I just lined up a Columbian 608 8" for $60 if my French was ok. Road trip!







Thrumcap

You ****! Great find.

 

[steelkilt]

Hi again all. This is one of two fixed jaw Reed vises that I have been restoring. I don't have any better photos but there were two 3/8" chips out of the jaws. Special thanks to Kevin Scott who mailed me a bunch of different rods to try out to repair the chips. I brought the vises to a friend that did the welding for me. I suppose that the repair can be detected in "just the right light" but, I'm very pleased and I find this to be the best method of repair so far. I'm fairly handy with a dotco to bring the welds down. I asked the friend exactly which rod was utilized (Kevin sent 4 or 5 different types to try out) and he stated "the shiny one". I'm thinking it was Eutectic 680 but maybe inquire from Kevin for a more thorough tutorial. Thanks Kevin

<a href="http://s1126.photobucket.com/user/steelkilt2/media/20151026_165129_zpsbxuhuvsu.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1126.photobucket.com/albums/l611/steelkilt2/20151026_165129_zpsbxuhuvsu.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20151026_165129_zpsbxuhuvsu.jpg"/></a>
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[CRSINMICH]

Steelkilt: In case you didn't see my post to bagged yesterday I told him that he and a number of other members had made it difficult to keep coming up with superlatives to describe their restorations. I decided that it would be easier to make a numbered list so that I could just say, "Wow what a #6", or "That's a definite #8". So, in that vein I can only say to you "Terrific #5 and #3 and exquisite #12!

Seriously though, you did another fine job. I'm envious of the lettering - again.

 

[AaronR1]

Hello all, the names aaron and I'm new to this site and forum. Thanks for having me, I've already seen alot of neat things on here in just the past hour of membership.

Well the reason I stumbled upon this forum is because I was researching a vise that was left in my garage at a house I purchased. I have searched high and low, obviously in the wrong places because I can find nothing on this vise.

To me it looks to be older, maybe antique not sure, but the vise is a red Columbian Cleveland 603 1/2 with a 3 1/2" jaw there are some spots missing paint with a little rust covering them, not serious rust no pitting or anything like that just pretty much surface rust. I'm by no means an expert in this field but other than the minor paint issues I don't see any other issues with it at all. So I'm here to pick your brains and find out any info you have for me. Things like age, value, anything interesting really. I never really thought about there being what I would call vise enthusiasts out there but I think I have found them here. If anyone has any info for me I would love to hear it and greatly appreciate it. All I know now is that I can find alot of info on the Colombian 603 1/2 with a 3 1/2" jaw but everything has either an m2 or m3 following the 603 1/2 I'm guessing those are not the same as mine but not real sure. So please help. I can post pics in the next couple days if its something interesting and if anyone wants to see it. Thanks.
Also I forgot to mention that this vise has no anvil and it does have a swivel base, if this makes any difference. Thanks again. Aaron.

 

[bagged89s10]

Those jaws are immaculate, which is huge. Intact garter, with the wrench... At $0.65/lb or $0.30/kg, on a chance encounter.......yep, you totally ****.

Thrumcap

Thanks.

 

[bagged89s10]

Hi again all. This is one of two fixed jaw Reed vises that I have been restoring. I don't have any better photos but there were two 3/8" chips out of the jaws. Special thanks to Kevin Scott who mailed me a bunch of different rods to try out to repair the chips. I brought the vises to a friend that did the welding for me. I suppose that the repair can be detected in "just the right light" but, I'm very pleased and I find this to be the best method of repair so far. I'm fairly handy with a dotco to bring the welds down. I asked the friend exactly which rod was utilized (Kevin sent 4 or 5 different types to try out) and he stated "the shiny one". I'm thinking it was Eutectic 680 but maybe inquire from Kevin for a more thorough tutorial. Thanks Kevin



<a href="http://s1126.photobucket.com/user/steelkilt2/media/20151026_165129_zpsbxuhuvsu.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1126.photobucket.com/albums/l611/steelkilt2/20151026_165129_zpsbxuhuvsu.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20151026_165129_zpsbxuhuvsu.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s1126.photobucket.com/user/steelkilt2/media/20151026_165215_zpslwwducbc.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1126.photobucket.com/albums/l611/steelkilt2/20151026_165215_zpslwwducbc.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20151026_165215_zpslwwducbc.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s1126.photobucket.com/user/steelkilt2/media/20141216_161639_RichtoneHDR-1_zpsltzsyi69.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1126.photobucket.com/albums/l611/steelkilt2/20141216_161639_RichtoneHDR-1_zpsltzsyi69.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20141216_161639_RichtoneHDR-1_zpsltzsyi69.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s1126.photobucket.com/user/steelkilt2/media/20141216_161603_RichtoneHDR-1_zpsb3m3nq5f.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1126.photobucket.com/albums/l611/steelkilt2/20141216_161603_RichtoneHDR-1_zpsb3m3nq5f.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20141216_161603_RichtoneHDR-1_zpsb3m3nq5f.jpg"/></a>

Looks very nice.
Do you have a close up of the jaws after your restore?

 

[dutchgray]

Another local pick up this week
View media item 546784 1/4" post vice give or take, for £15. Quite rusty but its not stuck solid.

 

[CRSINMICH]

AaronR1: Welcome to the thread. I don’t have a lot of knowledge of vises, but I can tell you that your Columbian is a good, solid vise and well worth what you paid. From the little research I did on 603½ I think that the lack of an anvil means that it is an older model. I’ll let the more experienced guys tell you more. You’ll have to be a little patient. They’re all sleeping now except for the chaps across the Atlantic. Which brings up the question – where on the planet are you? It’s nice to know where members are in case hot deals come up in their area. Don’t be hesitant about asking questions and please post some pictures as soon as you can. Try to show as many angles as you can. You never know what might be important in figuring out a problem or answering a question. Again, welcome to the thread.

 

[vintage nut]

I'll have to get some pictures up later today. Just finished off the wilton mechanic's vise I found in a ditch a few months ago. It must have had an interesting life.... Judging by the "eng room" done with letter stamps on the top of it, I'm guessing it spent part of its life on a ship.
My dad made new jaws for it (nothing fancy, just smooth unhardened jaws, as it will always be used with covers) in addition to swivel handles to replace the nuts it came with. For the paint I used this gold pearl vht brake caliper paint. Really tough stuff once you bake it on, and it looks good too.
Once the sun decides to come up I'll get some pictures.
Now to find a place to mount it....

Sent from my C1904 using Tapatalk

 

[CRSINMICH]

I'll have to get some pictures up later today. Just finished off the wilton mechanic's vise I found in a ditch a few months ago.

Sent from my C1904 using Tapatalk

Nut: Found it in a ditch??? You and bagged - I swear. Bagged doesn't have to look for them and you don't have to pay for them. Of course, Joe still takes the cake. He doesn't have to look for them or pay for them and they deliver themselves to his driveway already mounted on a stand.

 

[bagged89s10]

So my next restore is going to be this Columbian 203-1/2. One side of the jaws are worn so I'm going to attempt to hand file them. I spent 15 min to test out how it will come out. I'm using my checkering file held up at a 30 degree angle to get the lines filed. One line at a time but this file does a nice job of cutting. The key is to get the first pass straight, which is the hardest part. As you can see, some of my first passes veered off. Once I get all the lines done, I will go deeper and I think they will turn out ok. These jaws seem as soft as Parker jaws.

 

[CRSINMICH]

Hello all, the names aaron and I'm new to this site and forum. Thanks for having me, I've already seen alot of neat things on here in just the past hour of membership.

Well the reason I stumbled upon this forum is because I was researching a vise that was left in my garage at a house I purchased. I have searched high and low, obviously in the wrong places because I can find nothing on this vise.

To me it looks to be older, maybe antique not sure, but the vise is a red Columbian Cleveland 603 1/2 with a 3 1/2" jaw there are some spots missing paint with a little rust covering them, not serious rust no pitting or anything like that just pretty much surface rust. I'm by no means an expert in this field but other than the minor paint issues I don't see any other issues with it at all. So I'm here to pick your brains and find out any info you have for me. Things like age, value, anything interesting really. I never really thought about there being what I would call vise enthusiasts out there but I think I have found them here. If anyone has any info for me I would love to hear it and greatly appreciate it. All I know now is that I can find alot of info on the Colombian 603 1/2 with a 3 1/2" jaw but everything has either an m2 or m3 following the 603 1/2 I'm guessing those are not the same as mine but not real sure. So please help. I can post pics in the next couple days if its something interesting and if anyone wants to see it. Thanks.
Also I forgot to mention that this vise has no anvil and it does have a swivel base, if this makes any difference. Thanks again. Aaron.

Everyone: I didn't want Aaron's first post to get buried. Can any of you help him with information about his Columbian 603 1/2?

 

[bagged89s10]

Hello all, the names aaron and I'm new to this site and forum. Thanks for having me, I've already seen alot of neat things on here in just the past hour of membership.

Well the reason I stumbled upon this forum is because I was researching a vise that was left in my garage at a house I purchased. I have searched high and low, obviously in the wrong places because I can find nothing on this vise.

To me it looks to be older, maybe antique not sure, but the vise is a red Columbian Cleveland 603 1/2 with a 3 1/2" jaw there are some spots missing paint with a little rust covering them, not serious rust no pitting or anything like that just pretty much surface rust. I'm by no means an expert in this field but other than the minor paint issues I don't see any other issues with it at all. So I'm here to pick your brains and find out any info you have for me. Things like age, value, anything interesting really. I never really thought about there being what I would call vise enthusiasts out there but I think I have found them here. If anyone has any info for me I would love to hear it and greatly appreciate it. All I know now is that I can find alot of info on the Colombian 603 1/2 with a 3 1/2" jaw but everything has either an m2 or m3 following the 603 1/2 I'm guessing those are not the same as mine but not real sure. So please help. I can post pics in the next couple days if its something interesting and if anyone wants to see it. Thanks.
Also I forgot to mention that this vise has no anvil and it does have a swivel base, if this makes any difference. Thanks again. Aaron.

Welcome to the board. Can you post some pictures?

 

[vintage nut]

Nut: Found it in a ditch??? You and bagged - I swear. Bagged doesn't have to look for them and you don't have to pay for them. Of course, Joe still takes the cake. He doesn't have to look for them or pay for them and they deliver themselves to his driveway already mounted on a stand.

Yep, saw a round rusty thing in the ditch while driving home from work. Decided to pull over a take a look. Turns out it was the bottom of a swivel base. Flipped it over, and there was a wilton vise attached to it!
Might I add its the only wilton vise I've ever seen on the island?

Sent from my C1904 using Tapatalk

 

[CRSINMICH]

[QUOTE
Might I add its the only wilton vise I've ever seen on the island?
[/QUOTE]

Only if you want to rub it in some more.

 

[vintage nut]

It must run in the family or something... My dad finds even more stupidly good deals than I do.... Like a 4.5" reed 32 combination vise for 40 bucks canadian.... After the exchange rate thats probably 50 cents a pound.

It's sort of a constant competition between us to see who can find the most unbelievable you **** deal. I've probably found some more incredible deals, although when you factor in the quantity of you **** deals, he's far ahead

Sent from my C1904 using Tapatalk

 

[Mark in Indiana]

Hello all, the names aaron and I'm new to this site and forum. Thanks for having me, I've already seen alot of neat things on here in just the past hour of membership.

Well the reason I stumbled upon this forum is because I was researching a vise that was left in my garage at a house I purchased. I have searched high and low, obviously in the wrong places because I can find nothing on this vise.

To me it looks to be older, maybe antique not sure, but the vise is a red Columbian Cleveland 603 1/2 with a 3 1/2" jaw there are some spots missing paint with a little rust covering them, not serious rust no pitting or anything like that just pretty much surface rust. I'm by no means an expert in this field but other than the minor paint issues I don't see any other issues with it at all. So I'm here to pick your brains and find out any info you have for me. Things like age, value, anything interesting really. I never really thought about there being what I would call vise enthusiasts out there but I think I have found them here. If anyone has any info for me I would love to hear it and greatly appreciate it. All I know now is that I can find alot of info on the Colombian 603 1/2 with a 3 1/2" jaw but everything has either an m2 or m3 following the 603 1/2 I'm guessing those are not the same as mine but not real sure. So please help. I can post pics in the next couple days if its something interesting and if anyone wants to see it. Thanks.
Also I forgot to mention that this vise has no anvil and it does have a swivel base, if this makes any difference. Thanks again. Aaron.

Welcome to the group. It's always great to see new enthusiasm for old iron.

 

[KMScott]

Hi again all. This is one of two fixed jaw Reed vises that I have been restoring. I don't have any better photos but there were two 3/8" chips out of the jaws. Special thanks to Kevin Scott who mailed me a bunch of different rods to try out to repair the chips. I brought the vises to a friend that did the welding for me. I suppose that the repair can be detected in "just the right light" but, I'm very pleased and I find this to be the best method of repair so far. I'm fairly handy with a dotco to bring the welds down. I asked the friend exactly which rod was utilized (Kevin sent 4 or 5 different types to try out) and he stated "the shiny one". I'm thinking it was Eutectic 680 but maybe inquire from Kevin for a more thorough tutorial. Thanks Kevin

I like success stories, glad one of the TIG rods worked for you. 680 is a rod I like to use on steel I have no idea what it is, great for dissimiliar metals and rated at 140,000 lbs tensile strength so your welder friend must have had experience with that rod.

Nice job on the restore steelkit. I see why you wanted to fix your Reed. Thanks for the kind words.

Another note is the cast in jaw inserts are hard as a rock, probably around 60+ Rockwell, very hard, yes the serrations will last a life time but will chip very easy. It would have been a extra step on the assembly line to heat the jaw insert up to 500-1000 degrees depending on the steel type to bring the hardness down to a more stable hardness like 54-56 Rockwell. At this hardness the jaws are still hard but will not chip like glass.

 

[Rileysan]

Another local pick up this week
View media item 546784 1/4" post vice give or take, for £15. Quite rusty but its not stuck solid.

Good price but I hope it's restorable. I appears to have been stored on the bottom of the English Channel!

Brian

 

[Outlawmws]

I didn't' think it looks that bad Riley; I'd have been all over that for that kind of money.

Aaron, as has been said, Pics help a lot to ID your vise better, and this is GJ; We love pics. Most likely a machinist vise (I have a 604-1/2) and Columbian doesn't get the love it deserves generally, probably because Columbian is fairly common, although yours is probably an older model at a guess.

 

[Fretters]

Dutch: Nice. Glad to see you've finally managed to drop on one, and at a good price too. That'll clean up a treat.

I didn't' think it looks that bad Riley; I'd have been all over that for that kind of money.

Same here. It looks worse in the photo than it likely is. The problem we have with leg vices over here, (anvils to a degree too), is finding the ones which haven't become garden ornaments over the years. Trying to find ones which are still in their native setting inside old outbuildings, workshops etc. is not easy, and especially as you go further down South, peoples inclination to use old blacksmith, farm equipment and machinery as garden/driveway ornaments seems to intensify. On the rare occasions I venture South, I can usually see more equipment adorning driveways and such than I could ever hope to find full stop around here.