Just got a Wilton Vise

[pb57]

I check craigslist everyday and what do you know, I found an excellent 3 1/2 Wilton vise dated 1967. It was only $80.00. I would buy them all day long at this price and condition. It pays to be keep watching.

 

[WWShop]

Congratulations on the vise and you paid a great price. Any plans on cleaning it up or just leave it as is?

 

[pb57]

I will probably just clean it up some. Its in its original paint and looks pretty good yet. I have another larger one that I use daily and restored that one. What model is this one? thanks Paul

 

[AngryBeaver]

I've been looking daily for a month. Best deal was a 4" for 200 but it was 3 hours away lol

 

[WWShop]

Wiltons are so damn expensive in my area. Someone is trying to sell a similar model to the OP's for $280 in the next town over. I just roll my eyes.

 

[Zeke]

I don't understand the fascination. Yes, very cool design, but when things get popularized by the Internet, **** it.

 

[txlonghorn1989]

Nice vise. Congrats!

 

[thehorse13]

Nice grab. If you are patient and wait for the right deal, Wiltons can be found for a sane price.

 

[VintageOkieDriver]

I got a newer 4" Wilton at an estate sale about 2 months ago for $40.

 

[G-ManBart]

I will probably just clean it up some. Its in its original paint and looks pretty good yet. I have another larger one that I use daily and restored that one. What model is this one? thanks Paul

That's a 9350...can't quite make it out, but that's what should be just under the static jaw.

 

[ducksface]

Nice grab. If you are patient and wait for the right deal, Wiltons can be found for a sane price.

Absolutely a fact, as presented here weekly by people like the OP.
Congratulations on having patience and not caving in to the ransomesque pricing put forth by some.

 

[Shiftless]

pb57:
You got a good deal on a great vise.
By all means keep that original paint.
Here's what I do to vises with original paint.
As far as cleaning goes, I would suggest taking out the dynamic jaw, scrubbing the painted surfaces with Simple Green and clean the slide with mineral spirits or WD40. Relube the main screw and slide with light grease and you'll be good to go. The original paint will look better if you rub on a coating of boiled linseed oil and then wipe off the excess, Let that dry and harden in the hot sun if you are in a hurry.

 

[G-ManBart]

I don't understand the fascination. Yes, very cool design, but when things get popularized by the Internet, **** it.

There is some of that, but it's also the fact that only Wilton is still offering essentially the same models, so people can look up what they go for new and that partially justifies the used prices. I can usually refurbish a Wilton and put it in someone's hands for half of what new would cost....that math is hard to argue with.

 

[txlonghorn1989]

Nice grab. If you are patient and wait for the right deal, Wiltons can be found for a sane price.

So what is a "sane price" for a 50-70 year old Wilton C-1 bullet vise? Is $150 fair market value? Is it $100? Just curious as I love these vises and trying to figure out what's fair and what's a good deal. Thanks!

 

[JimNC]

I don't know what a sane price is exactly, I got my 400 for $100 and a set of wrenches that I didn't need. Still looking for a 3" one to go on my gunsmithing bench, willing to pay significantly more, but they seem hard to find.

 

[G-ManBart]

So what is a "sane price" for a 50-70 year old Wilton C-1 bullet vise? Is $150 fair market value? Is it $100? Just curious as I love these vises and trying to figure out what's fair and what's a good deal. Thanks!

It really depends upon the condition....straight handle, all the parts there, good jaws, both pipe jaws, no cracks in the swivel base, etc, etc.

Unrestored, with all the parts, and no damage, they tend to go for more like $250. All cleaned up, painted, polished, etc....more like $350-400 which is around half of retail.

The C-series vises command a premium over the machinist models. They aren't as common, cost more than the machinist vises, and some folks won't buy a vise without pipe jaws. All of that pushes demand, and prices, up.

 

[thehorse13]

So what is a "sane price" for a 50-70 year old Wilton C-1 bullet vise? Is $150 fair market value? Is it $100? Just curious as I love these vises and trying to figure out what's fair and what's a good deal. Thanks!

Gman-Bart gave the proper answer. I will add that prices seem to fluctuate by region. What might cost 100 bucks here might double in the pacific northwest for example.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[txlonghorn1989]

It really depends upon the condition....straight handle, all the parts there, good jaws, both pipe jaws, no cracks in the swivel base, etc, etc.

Unrestored, with all the parts, and no damage, they tend to go for more like $250. All cleaned up, painted, polished, etc....more like $350-400 which is around half of retail.

The C-series vises command a premium over the machinist models. They aren't as common, cost more than the machinist vises, and some folks won't buy a vise without pipe jaws. All of that pushes demand, and prices, up.

G-ManBart,
Let me ask you what you think a C-1 Wilton vise is worth made in the mid-40s. It doesn't have a swivel base, the jaws will need to be replaced, covered with rust and the handle has a slight crook.
Thanks!

 

[1982fxr]

Someone should go to Home Depot or lowes and buy one of those top grade heavy duty industrial bench vises for $79.99, then take the piece of Chinese ******* **** home and break it while trying to sharpen a pencil.

And then come back here and tell us how these old Wilton bullets are worth exactly scrap value.

 

[thehorse13]

I picked up this 1966 three inch Wilton bullet the other day for 100 bucks. A good cleaning and paint job and it's as good as new.

 

[G-ManBart]

G-ManBart,
Let me ask you what you think a C-1 Wilton vise is worth made in the mid-40s. It doesn't have a swivel base, the jaws will need to be replaced, covered with rust and the handle has a slight crook.
Thanks!

That's a tough call without pictures, but I think the way I would attack it is to work backwards. If you want a swivel base, it's going to add around $140 for a new assembly if you can't find a vintage used one. One note....the current swivel bases will work, but they look different than what this vise would have had originally. A set of jaws will be around $65 from KMScott (user name here) if you use his "GJ" code for 10% off. That puts you at around $200 in parts to get a complete vise. A new handle would add another $75 or so if you aren't set up to straighten the one on the vise now.

I've seen a number of clean vintage C-1s go for $300-350 lately, so you'd have to get the vise for $100-150 to be in that ballpark. Keep in mind those weren't restored, just solid without any damage.

The unfortunately reality is that vise parts are expensive and you can usually buy a complete vise cheaper than you can buy an incomplete vise and then buy all the parts.

 

[txlonghorn1989]

That's a tough call without pictures, but I think the way I would attack it is to work backwards. If you want a swivel base, it's going to add around $140 for a new assembly if you can't find a vintage used one. One note....the current swivel bases will work, but they look different than what this vise would have had originally. A set of jaws will be around $65 from KMScott (user name here) if you use his "GJ" code for 10% off. That puts you at around $200 in parts to get a complete vise. A new handle would add another $75 or so if you aren't set up to straighten the one on the vise now.

I've seen a number of clean vintage C-1s go for $300-350 lately, so you'd have to get the vise for $100-150 to be in that ballpark. Keep in mind those weren't restored, just solid without any damage.

The unfortunately reality is that vise parts are expensive and you can usually buy a complete vise cheaper than you can buy an incomplete vise and then buy all the parts.

Thanks a LOT for the quick education!!! Much appreciated.

 

[bluebolt]

I will agree with G-ManBart on pricing, I sell vises at the Pate swap meet in Fort Worth every year. I do not restore vises, just clean and lube them, sometimes they get new jaws. I have seen an increase of what people will pay for a Wilton in the last few years.
This year I sold a decent late C1 with copper jaw covers for $300, I had $350 on it, the earlier 1947 C1 I brought with missing pipe jaws and needing a new handle was $250 and no one was too interested. Last year I sold a decent 1950's 9500 Bullet for $350.

 

[txlonghorn1989]

That's a tough call without pictures, but I think the way I would attack it is to work backwards. If you want a swivel base, it's going to add around $140 for a new assembly if you can't find a vintage used one. One note....the current swivel bases will work, but they look different than what this vise would have had originally. A set of jaws will be around $65 from KMScott (user name here) if you use his "GJ" code for 10% off. That puts you at around $200 in parts to get a complete vise. A new handle would add another $75 or so if you aren't set up to straighten the one on the vise now.

I've seen a number of clean vintage C-1s go for $300-350 lately, so you'd have to get the vise for $100-150 to be in that ballpark. Keep in mind those weren't restored, just solid without any damage.

The unfortunately reality is that vise parts are expensive and you can usually buy a complete vise cheaper than you can buy an incomplete vise and then buy all the parts.

Got some pics. What do you think a decent offer on this vise would be? I'm wondering why there are some holes around the pipe jaws that seem void of the metal rods? Is that an issue? Anything you see that will need to be addressed with this vise?

Appreciate your help and advise.

 

[G-ManBart]

Got some pics. What do you think a decent offer on this vise would be? I'm wondering why there are some holes around the pipe jaws that seem void of the metal rods? Is that an issue? Anything you see that will need to be addressed with this vise?

Appreciate your help and advise.

That one would have to be extremely cheap for me to buy. The spindle is being held in by the collar that has been welded to the front of the dynamic jaw, which looks to have sections missing.

You probably can't even take the spindle out of it if you wanted to. The main body looks okay other than the fact it was welded to a table at some point. The nut, tail cap, dust cap and pipe jaws are worth saving as well. I do worry when I see a worn vise that has the pins sticking out of the side in the tail cap...sometimes that means the tail cap was damaged.

I might give someone $50 for it since I know I would be able to use some of those parts to save other vises, but I probably wouldn't go any higher and I wouldn't plan to use it as a complete vise.

 

[txlonghorn1989]

That one would have to be extremely cheap for me to buy. The spindle is being held in by the collar that has been welded to the front of the dynamic jaw, which looks to have sections missing.

You probably can't even take the spindle out of it if you wanted to. The main body looks okay other than the fact it was welded to a table at some point. The nut, tail cap, dust cap and pipe jaws are worth saving as well. I do worry when I see a worn vise that has the pins sticking out of the side in the tail cap...sometimes that means the tail cap was damaged.

I might give someone $50 for it since I know I would be able to use some of those parts to save other vises, but I probably wouldn't go any higher and I wouldn't plan to use it as a complete vise.

Thanks for the comments G-ManBart! I'll pass on this one as I know he'd never go that low. Listing it amongst the "antiques". :-\