The VISES of Garage Journal

[72highboy]

Dinner and a Movie, Greet with Flowers...

Ha, she was greeted with a sandblaster, maybe I'm doing it wrong.

In her new home

Gonna be across the new bench from Big China... Who is patiently awaiting her *edit: bigger, like that bad a$$ athol* US replacement

Cheers

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[va.grouseman]

Some really nice specimens posted today fellows.---I love all the pictures.---I can read them so much faster than words.

 

[G-ManBart]

Hello all,
Been watching this thread for a while, all these vises are awesome.
I just finished this Woden I found, 186B/2, 3.5" jaws. I don't know too much about them but it was nice and smooth so I figured I'd put some work in to it. Does anyone know how to date this?
Jaws were pretty used but I cleaned them up and gave some more life, also made some aluminum jaws and will most likely get most use as a light duty soft jaw.
Now that I'm probably hooked, I need to keep a look out for Wilton's and Parker's.

Cheers

Nice job on the Woden...love the styling of the English vises!

 

[tysonh]

Hello all, I thought I would share my yard sale find, I picked up this vise on a local for sale site, well to be honest, my wife found the listing just browsing around.

A Wilton C2 made in March 1977 in pristine shape, little rust, all in working order and is complete with the exception of one pipe jaw. This thing weighs every bit of the advertised 105#! I've owned it for probably a year now but this past week I powder coated it to what I hoped was the original Chile Verde Green color. Its now back together and again mounted up on the bench. When I first saw the pictures of if online I knew exactly what it was and we rushed down to meet guy selling it. It turns out it has a story with it. It was used in the maintenance shop by the sellers father in our local lumber mill now a much smaller scale operation. Needless to say, I gladly paid him the asking price of $20!

If anyone has the pipe jaw and are willing to part with it I'd like to buy it from ya.



https://scontent.**.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/p526x296/13775431_10208809221563153_6041616469237424069_n.jpg?oh=0c17c8601583b6d421f173aaced03b40&oe=58213267

https://scontent.**.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13782019_10208809224923237_243511141484608641_n.jpg?oh=3e9322073aba53158435afb22d887018&oe=582D3A29

https://scontent.**.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13709801_10208809221923162_6858777811364739349_n.jpg?oh=b48ac5baa3d31961e23c88d11d5de852&oe=57EBF3F0

https://scontent.**.fbcdn.net/v/t1....=d8b9b892a2eceaacc41de851eb696e8e&oe=582E0282

 

[tysonh]

One more picture, just look at how well those original jaws mate up unreal. I'm proud to be its steward for now.

https://scontent.**.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13718522_10208809222283171_4826482115914284471_n.jpg?oh=d8b9b892a2eceaacc41de851eb696e8e&oe=582E0282

 

[drivesitfar]

Tyson: well done and Wilton C2's are maybe one of my favorites. if i could only have one vise in my shop that one would be high up on the list if not the one. also welcome to the forum and hope you stick around to share some of your skills and maybe a learn a couple things. i seem to learn at least something every day since i joined.

GMan: WELL DONE to you also. that's an oldie and happy to hear it wasn't all goobered up under the dirt. if you decided to mount it to a bench or stand that 45 degree angle can make it a bit challenging, but some here have figured out some cool ways to do that without cutting up their benches so ask if you haven't seen any of them.

 

[IHmachinery]

Hello all, I thought I would share my yard sale find, I picked up this vise on a local for sale site, well to be honest, my wife found the listing just browsing around.

A Wilton C2 made in March 1977 in pristine shape, little rust, all in working order and is complete with the exception of one pipe jaw. This thing weighs every bit of the advertised 105#! I've owned it for probably a year now but this past week I powder coated it to what I hoped was the original Chile Verde Green color. Its now back together and again mounted up on the bench. When I first saw the pictures of if online I knew exactly what it was and we rushed down to meet guy selling it. It turns out it has a story with it. It was used in the maintenance shop by the sellers father in our local lumber mill now a much smaller scale operation. Needless to say, I gladly paid him the asking price of $20!

If anyone has the pipe jaw and are willing to part with it I'd like to buy it from ya.



https://scontent.**.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/p526x296/13775431_10208809221563153_6041616469237424069_n.jpg?oh=0c17c8601583b6d421f173aaced03b40&oe=58213267

https://scontent.**.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13782019_10208809224923237_243511141484608641_n.jpg?oh=3e9322073aba53158435afb22d887018&oe=582D3A29

https://scontent.**.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13709801_10208809221923162_6858777811364739349_n.jpg?oh=b48ac5baa3d31961e23c88d11d5de852&oe=57EBF3F0

https://scontent.**.fbcdn.net/v/t1....=d8b9b892a2eceaacc41de851eb696e8e&oe=582E0282

Great find! And a great vise. Powder coating looks very nice.


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[joe.striper]

I want to publicly acclaim that Meatsis has obviously sold his soul to SATAN! Want to know why? Ask him!

 

[KMScott]

Great find! And a great vise. Powder coating looks very nice.
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Please share the spec:s on the powder coat powder, make and color code. Thanks in advance. Very nice job. I will look this weekend and see if I have a used C2 Pipe jaw for you, I might have shipped it off to balane last month.

 

[meatsis]

I want to publicly acclaim that Meatsis has obviously sold his soul to SATAN! Want to know why? Ask him!

Funny guy!!!
Well I've picked up a few laarge vises these past few months. The first one was the Big Athol 628. I finally finished cleaning her up. Just wire wheeled it and gave it a few coats of BLO. Not only is it massive but it works great too. Super smooth and responsive when turning the handle. One finger operation. Love it!
Here it is with a 3 1/2 inch Parker for size reference.

 

[tysonh]

Please share the spec:s on the powder coat powder, make and color code. Thanks in advance. Very nice job. I will look this weekend and see if I have a used C2 Pipe jaw for you, I might have shipped it off to balane last month.

I went out and had to refresh my memory the stated color is weathered verde green sk1031. I bought it off ebay from the seller powderbythepound. They have a website but for the life of me I can't find in on their site sorry to say. I hope that helps I don't have an RAL number for you. If you use it, be sure to have as consistent of an application as you can I suggest shooting all the parts near to each other as any variance will show up as different tones of the color.

Thanks for taking a look for the vise jaw, if you have one I'll do a partial trade on the left over powder I have

 

[CrotalusAtrox]

Funny guy!!!
Well I've picked up a few laarge vises these past few months. The first one was the Big Athol 628. I finally finished cleaning her up. Just wire wheeled it and gave it a few coats of BLO. Not only is it massive but it works great too. Super smooth and responsive when turning the handle. One finger operation. Love it!
Here it is with a 3 1/2 inch Parker for size reference.

Sum of a beech that thing is a monster.

 

[CrotalusAtrox]

Picked up a pretty old Athol No. 94 today (predecessor to the 615 1/2 as I understand it). It's got 5.5" jaws and sure feels like it weighs 100+lbs. The fact that it says AM Co tells me it's pre-1920 based on what I've seen posted in various places.

Other than what look like a couple of bites from a hacksaw on the slide and a bit of a bend in the handle it's in pretty decent condition. The seller said it sat in the back corner of their shop for 20 years and was in his father's garage for at least 20 years before that, but never mounted on a bench. It definitely had at least 40 years of dirt and dust built up on it!

That is a nice Athol miss the 4.5 I sold

 

[drivesitfar]

Meatsis: is that the combination of the two 8 inch Athol vises you bought or is that just the one you bought a few months ago and you still need to put the Long Island Athol in line to be spiffed up?

hard to believe just how big those 8 inch old USA made vises are until you see then with a good size vise that it dwarfs. how heavy is your Athol? i'm guessing 270?

 

[meatsis]

View attachment 569857And then came the Athol 618 on ebay that also came with a sweet little arbor press. Same exact vise, just without the swivel base. I haven't cleaned that one up yet. Here they are next to each other when I was cleaning up the 628. That's the only pic I have of it right now. Like Demoman said the pictures really don't these big vises justice. They look like 4 inch vises in the pic. View attachment 569857

 

[honza.vosalik]

That's a "you ****" price! Nice score

Attaching two more pictures after dust cleanup.
Both sets of jaws literally in perfect condition!

 

[FMC1959]

Meatsis, an 8" Athol is a rare find, to have both a 618 and 628 puts you in a pretty exclusive club. Beautiful vises you have there

 

[meatsis]

Oops picture didn't show on the last post

 

[joe.striper]

View attachment 569857And then came the Athol 618 on ebay that also came with a sweet little arbor press. Same exact vise, just without the swivel base. I haven't cleaned that one up yet. Here they are next to each other when I was cleaning up the 628. That's the only pic I have of it right now. Like Demoman said the pictures really don't these big vises justice. They look like 4 inch vises in the pic. View attachment 569857

Dont exhale yet kids...Meatsis aint done yet with his tale of acguisition! C'mon Meat, spill it....BTW, rumor has it he had to 'sweet talk' two elderly women, if you get my drift, in order to acquire the first 8" Athol

 

[meatsis]

And then there's this one. Here's another 8 inch Athol no. 97 that I picked up yesterday. This vise turned out to be 5 min from the house I grew up in. It's missing the original handle but other than that it's in really good shape. This one is almost identical to the 618. Same dimensions and all. The only difference I see is the "anvil" part on the 618 is over an inch thicker than the 97. 8 inch athols are not common to see. I can't believe I've acquired 3 in the last few months. The 628 is definitely getting mounted.

 

[meatsis]

Dont exhale yet kids...Meatsis aint done yet with his tale of acguisition! C'mon Meat, spill it....BTW, rumor has it he had to 'sweet talk' two elderly women, if you get my drift, in order to acquire the first 8" Athol

Haha you're thinking of the Reed 106. Those sweet ladies loved me though!!!

 

[meatsis]

Here's the 3 of them together

 

[KMScott]

Really nice collection Meatsis, pretty nice location for vises. I always ponder if IBM did not move my parents to Colorado in the 60's then my home town of Poughkeepsi would have been right in the middle of you and Joe. Very nice.

 

[meatsis]

Really nice collection Meatsis, pretty nice location for vises. I always ponder if IBM did not move my parents to Colorado in the 60's then my home town of Poughkeepsi would have been right in the middle of you and Joe. Very nice.

Nice. I'm about 15-20 min from Poughkeepsie. a few years ago I actually bought a really nice butcher block workbench with a really old 4 inch bullet attached to it. I was told it came from the IBM building

 

[drivesitfar]

Meatsis: nice 8 inch vise pics.

it sounds like maybe there is a certain guy with initials JS that wishes he had an 8 incher?

Honza: now that your Wilton C0 is all spiffed up would you like to double your money?

Outlaw: you seem to have the vise dating figured out.

 

[meatsis]

it sounds like maybe there is a certain guy with initials JS that wishes he had an 8 incher?



I hope we're talking about vises here

 

[drivesitfar]

Meatsis: of course we are.

speaking of 8 inchers just how many of them do you own now?

 

[G-ManBart]

Now I'm really kicking myself for not bidding on the Athol 618 that went for $140 on an auction recently....ugh. I thought "that's an 8 hour round trip to pick it up"....clearly I'm a wuss.

 

[honza.vosalik]

Meatsis: nice 8 inch vise pics.

it sounds like maybe there is a certain guy with initials JS that wishes he had an 8 incher?

Honza: now that your Wilton C0 is all spiffed up would you like to double your money?

Outlaw: you seem to have the vise dating figured out.

Haha, someone from GJ recently sold one for $350.

https://m.facebook.com/Madeinusatoo...=1570570019920788&comment_tracking={"tn":"R"}

 

[Oregon rock crusher]

Thanks for showing off all those 8" Athol vises Meatsis. And here until now I felt quite adequate sporting my 616 around the shop....humbling it is. Ed.

 

[meatsis]

Now I'm really kicking myself for not bidding on the Athol 618 that went for $140 on an auction recently....ugh. I thought "that's an 8 hour round trip to pick it up"....clearly I'm a wuss.

I thought about bidding on that one also. But it would've been more like a 12 hour round trip for me. Besides, that vise was pretty trashed anyway.

 

[trijeff]

Been workin on vises again here and there, here's the latest:

Pulled out the Prentiss 98, baby Prentiss wanted to help out



Got this Athol 614 a while ago for $25, going to a friend as a gift. First Athol I've worked on, really like the extra heavy duty jaw support. Also like the spring loaded handle, eliminates all backlash. Casting is a bit rough, and don't like the area where the slide passes through the dynamic (machined "tabs" instead of using the entire opening as the contact points), but overall very solid construction. Sort of like a Reed and a Prentiss got together with maybe some Rock Island thrown in.

 

[meatsis]

Meatsis: is that the combination of the two 8 inch Athol vises you bought or is that just the one you bought a few months ago and you still need to put the Long Island Athol in line to be spiffed up?

hard to believe just how big those 8 inch old USA made vises are until you see then with a good size vise that it dwarfs. how heavy is your Athol? i'm guessing 270?

Drives,

The first one I bought was the 628. When I got it it actually had the main screw from a Parker in place of the original. So when I saw the 618 on ebay I jumped on it because it was all original and I wanted the screw/handle assembly for the 628 to make it complete. So now the 628 is gonna replace the Parker 958 I have mounted on a stand in my shop. I haven't actually weighed all the pieces but I'm pretty sure it's just over 300 lbs. does anyone have any old Athol ads with these big boys listed?

 

[Craptain]

Meatsis, I don't have any ads but I do have a very good scale. Just whip it down to me right away and I will weigh it for you.


Sometime in the next few years......

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[G-ManBart]

I wasn't planning on taking this picture, but it sort of seemed an interesting comparison with the Wilton 600 next to the Athol 94 so I snapped a quick one. In some ways the Athol is more substantial even though it has 5.5" jaws to the Wilton's 6" jaws. Picking them both up, the Wilton is heavier...need to get a scale in the shop.

 

[meatsis]

Meatsis, I don't have any ads but I do have a very good scale. Just whip it down to me right away and I will weigh it for you.


Sometime in the next few years......

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Thank you for the offer. That's very nice of you.

 

[FMC1959]

Drives,

The first one I bought was the 628. When I got it it actually had the main screw from a Parker in place of the original. So when I saw the 618 on ebay I jumped on it because it was all original and I wanted the screw/handle assembly for the 628 to make it complete. So now the 628 is gonna replace the Parker 958 I have mounted on a stand in my shop. I haven't actually weighed all the pieces but I'm pretty sure it's just over 300 lbs. does anyone have any old Athol ads with these big boys listed?

Athol ads & brochures have been pretty scarce. There was this post by Carla...
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2514894&postcount=21

Her post was a response to gatewaysysop thread on the 628 he had found, a good read...
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=162924

 

[FMC1959]

Carla's post...

"Hello, gateway,

According to some old catalogue data, your Athol #628 was listed as.....

8" jaw width, opens to 12-1/2" and a weight of 300 lbs.

It was advertised in the 1930 Ducommon catalogue for $98.00, with the notation 'not carried in stock, shipped from factory'

A 1940 Garrett Supply catalogue lists it at $98 also, suggesting that not many of those might have been sold during the depression years.

It may interest you to know that the competition's product, the Reed #208, was listed as 8" jaw width, 12" opening, and a weight of 278 lbs., a little bit lighter than your Athol.

I had one of those great heavy beasts myself, some years ago, which was in a 'lot' of surplus 'stuff' we purchased.

Mine was also an Athol, but the 'plain base', not the the swivel base variety like yours, tho. I thought seriously of having my helper do a really nice refinish on it, and keeping it as an 'objet d'art', i.e., a display decoration.......but reality prevailed, and I sold it to a local metalworker who had 'fallen in love' with it.....and, more to the point, had a real need for it in his work.

cheers

Carla"

 

[meatsis]

^^^BINGO^^^ THANkS FMC!!

 

[IHmachinery]

Here's the 3 of them together

All I can say is, "wow"!


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