The VISES of Garage Journal

[txlonghorn1989]

My latest restore - Prentiss No 53 It's going to be my "new" shop vise

That's a beauty eK!!

 

[txlonghorn1989]

Txlonghorn, both styles of Reeds are prized vises, but the (R) revised runs a little heaver than the earlier version.---For instance, I have the #208R which weighs 291 lbs., and the earlier #208 weighs 278 lbs..---I can't name you one vise lover that wouldn't ****** either one in a blink if they had occasion.---Reeds of every size and make are top of the line IMO, where vises are concerned.

Thanks va! I hope to own one some day. I have to say that I really love the look of the old Prentiss vises like that one eddieK posted this evening. That's just a classic look IMHO as a rank vise amateur.

 

[jrobb316]

Very nice, simple and clean eK. Makes me not want to send my Prentiss 92 down the road in a few days but its already spoken for.

 

[GETRIDAONE]

It was suggested that I post this tiny, humble vise in this thread instead of the vintage section, since it would have the greatest chance of being identified here. The handle bar is a one piece casting and one of the arms is broken off.

You have a Luther Grinder vise. The ad is from 1917 and shows a wing nut on the bottom screw instead of the later round knob on yours.

 

[gman007]

You have a Luther Grinder vise. The ad is from 1917 and shows a wing nut on the bottom screw instead of the later round knob on yours.

Get You nailed it, Amazing!

How did you even identify the vise? Did you already know what it was and then looked it up and found the ad or how ????

After your identification I looked it up in the vise spreadsheet and indeed most of the Luther model names start with V (this one is V60) and all are clamp type!

V103
V17
V20
V22
V22
V22 1/2
V23
V25
V72
V72 1/2
V73
V73 1/2P
V91 1/2
V92
V92 1/2
V93

and but V60 is not listed

Dads
You might want to give the specs for this V60: jaw width, jaw opening, weight, base-type (clamp), screw (exposed), category(clamp) to be added to the vise spreadsheet.

By the way now you have to find the matching Grinder

 

[GETRIDAONE]

https://patents.google.com/patent/US1271009A/en

And the patent for it.

 

[drivesitfar]

Get: thanks for showing up with the catalog page and the brand name (Luther) for that little clamp on vise. i have a few of these, but not very many so don't know much about them.

ALL: just curious cause I didn't really think Milwaukee made the clamp on Dad's posted, but did maybe Milwaukee buy out Luther since Milwaukee uses the V in their model names?

 

[Bcom]

My latest restore - Prentiss No 53 It's going to be my "new" shop vise



I had started cleaning it up before I realized I had not taken a before pic

It looks like the same vise in your profile pic

 

[eddieK]

It looks like the same vise in your profile pic

Yeah - same model in much better condition.

 

[akasrick]

ALL: just curious cause I didn't really think Milwaukee made the clamp on Dad's posted, but did maybe Milwaukee buy out Luther since Milwaukee uses the V in their model names?

Don't know
Possibly Luther Versioned their model numbers
while the other company Versioned their part numbers to go along with the changing models?
Which brings me back to an Eclipse vise,
where the waters are further muddied by a Eclipse vise on eBay looking to have a serial number with no V numbers.
Parker had a Eclipse line maybe it lapsed and others sought to capitalize?
Whatever I bought it and now have something to think and search about.

akasrick

 

[davethorik]

Nothing too exciting, but I did get these for free today.

The exposed screw vise is a 4" no. 5177 (no other markings), I think it's supposed to be a swivel base as there is only a hole on one side of the base. Also noticeably bent.

The other is a Stanley USA no. 700 clamp-on corner vise. Missing the clamp pad but otherwise serviceable.

 

[Razorhunter]

Guys, are all the old Starrett/Athol and Reed vises made of ductile iron?
Also, which vises were cast steel?

 

[va.grouseman]

Razor, the official Reed site says that the Reed Yoke Vises are made of ductile or malleable iron.---I know that the old USA Columbians were made of ductile iron but I'm not sure about Starrett/Athol.---Someone else can weigh in on that.


https://www.reedmfgco.com/en/products/vises/

 

[va.grouseman]

Was anyone watching the little #101 vise on EBay.---It looks like a mini Rock Island Auto-lock.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-MI..._trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&autorefresh=true

 

[gman007]

Was anyone watching the little #101 vise on EBay.---It looks like a mini Rock Island Auto-lock.

VA: I was watching it after you posted it here! . Were you surfing the high speed train again?

So who got it? Anyone from GJ?

 

[va.grouseman]

Yea, I got on by auto-bid, and thought I was betting kinda wild, but the last second snipers went by me so fast that my bid didn't even register.---I didn't realize what a safe ride I was on till it was over.---But I did get to taste that sweet adrenalin.


Don't know got it, but if it is a Rock Island, I've got his big brother.

 

[FallibleFlyer]

Hope this isn't out of place...

Anyone have an FPU vice? Debating purchasing this one:

 

[va.grouseman]

Fallible, they're good well built vises and quite sought after.---That one is in real good shape from what I can see.---If the price is reasonable, I'd jump on it.---Check it out real good first for unseen cracks.

 

[trijeff]

Great vises, not a YOU **** price but prob fairly close to value. That one is in pretty good shape for sure. Maybe try to knock off a few bucks and you're sitting pretty.

Also, not the greatest idea to put in the actual CL link, if it was a you **** deal then you gave it away to the lurkers. Just post the pics and deets but no link.

 

[joe.striper]

Hope this isn't out of place...

Anyone have an FPU vice? Debating purchasing one

Great Vises, VERY well made.Only issues is that 80% of them,
especially in these bigger sizes, have broken gibbs. So hurry and buy it!

Also, free advice, NEVER post a link to anything you are interested in buying on this page, instead ask questions about the maker. Almost everyone here is great but there are always a few. A few years ago I saw a CL vise I wanted. Called the seller, agreed to pay their asking price, posted a pic, but not the ad, on here. Three hours later seller called me to say that someone offered them more money and our deal was off! Was it a GJ guy?
I think so because the CL ad was f'd up and you couldn't find it through ANY of the usual searches.

 

[FallibleFlyer]

Ha, point taken and changed. Though if someone here beats me to it, I won't be offended.

 

[twertsy]

Good morning All

While obviously the object in the attached photo is NOT a vise , I found it interesting that per sellers claim presumably it was made by "Columbian Hardware & Vise Co. of Cleveland, Ohio". Personally I did not know that Columbian made anvils as well as vises. Seller also claims "It was made for Export to European countries"

It seems like a pretty nice anvil at fairly reasonable ($5.5/lb) price (as the anvil prices go)

"275 lb. "COLUMBIAN" DOUBLE HORN CAST STEEL BLACKSMIT - $1500"

https://southbend.craigslist.org/tls/d/275-lb-columbian-double-horn/6525788480.html

The 1918 ad Jeff posted on my main Columbian page claims they are the worlds largest maker of Vises and Anvils. https://toolarchives.com/node/77

 

[gman007]

The 1918 ad Jeff posted on my main Columbian page claims they are the worlds largest maker of Vises and Anvils. https://toolarchives.com/node/77

Twertsy Thank you very much for the link, it is very interesting information. To be honest I had seen small Columbian 10-15 lb (jewelers) miniature anvils (mainly for sale on eBay) but for sure did not know that Columbian made full size (several hundred pound) anvils. In my post I should have qualified my statement that I was referring to full size anvils (not jewelers/miniature).

Now I am by no stretch of imagination an anvil expert or collector but old anvils (full size and not miniature) that I often see for sale are names such as Arm and Hammer, Fisher, Fulton, Hay Budden, Peter Wrigh, Trenton, Vulcan etc and before this listing I had never seen a full size Columbian for sale. Which brings us to question that if Columbian was the largest Makers of vises and anvils, then what happened to all these full szie anvils as they seem to be more rare than other brands (I suppose they could have been making a lot of jewelers/miniature anvils but not full size ones)

 

[twertsy]

Twertsy Thank you very much for the link, it is very interesting information. To be honest I had seen small Columbian 10-15 lb (jewelers) miniature anvils (mainly for sale on eBay) but for sure did not know that Columbian made full size (several hundred pound) anvils. In my post I should have qualified my statement that I was referring to full size anvils (not jewelers/miniature).

Now I am by no stretch of imagination an anvil expert or collector but old anvils (full size and not miniature) that I often see for sale are names such as Arm and Hammer, Fisher, Fulton, Hay Budden, Peter Wrigh, Trenton, Vulcan etc and before this listing I had never seen a full size Columbian for sale. Which brings us to question that if Columbian was the largest Makers of vises and anvils, then what happened to all these full szie anvils as they seem to be more rare than other brands (I suppose they could have been making a lot of jewelers/miniature anvils but not full size ones)

I believe, but may be wrong, Columbian made all Trenton anvils.

Sent from my VS990 using Tapatalk

 

[Maui]

Razor, if the vise was manufactured prior to 1940, it was not made from ductile iron.

Maui

 

[brothernov]

Dont see these every day:

https://springfieldil.craigslist.org/tls/d/stewart-handyworker/6527244265.html

 

[Outlawmws]

The Handy worker for posterity:

I would love to find one of these and set it up for things like gunsmithing...

And the ad:

STEWART HANDYWORKER VISE IN GOOD CONDITION. OPERATES SMOOTHLY - NO WOBBLE, TIGHT. TEETH ON GEARS ARE ALL THERE - THREADS ON SCREW ARE GOOD. SCREW HOLES HAVE GOOD THREADS, 12-24 NO CRACKS OR BREAKS HANDLE IS GOOD(not original). ANY QUESTIONS, JUST ASK.

This was originally made to include a drill, grinder and anvil

$550 OBO
What you see is what you get.

 

[NJVice]

Saw this one today at a swapmeet, and I let it go. Someone else probably needs it more. Craftsman, $30

If it work good, i would have grab it .for 30.00 buck

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[va.grouseman]

Thanks Outlaw for doing the posterity thing.---It makes it easy to reference current photos rather than having to dig through several thousand pages of posts, and also a lot of the earlier pics were lost to the Photobucket hostage situation.---KMS is doing an excellent job on the Vise Info Channel also.---And I can't leave out Twertsy's fine work on the Tool Archive Channel/Site.---My hat's off to all of you gentlemen and all the many fine historians we have contributing to this worthwhile endeavor.----------THANKS TO ALL.

 

[NJVice]

If it work good, i would have grab it .for 30.00 buck

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

NJ VICE. LOOK LIKE ROCKISLAND TO ME. JUST a guess!.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[454ragtop]

NJ VICE. LOOK LIKE ROCKISLAND TO ME. JUST a guess!.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Talking to yourself?

 

[GETRIDAONE]

Rock Island restoration with new handle and a lot of grinding to top of jaws and supports to clean up hammer and hacksaw abuse. I gave up after three rounds of soaking and heat applied to jaw screws. I broke a tip and twisted another impact bit. I drilled out the screws and toward the end they just backed out easy. I guess it just relieved the pressure on them.
I painted the Birtman tag black and buffed off the lettering with a dremel. The color is Krylon black hammered that is really gray

 

[SRU1436]

BETRIDAONE: Great restoration, you did a fantastic job and I really like the color. I have a Rock Island 542-bx that I am waiting to restore as it is my daily user. I was wondering about the color but after seeing yours I think I found the color to use.

 

[Outlawmws]

That's odd, My Rust-oleum Hammered black was pretty black...

Dang, I don't think I have a single pic of it.. that's odd...

 

[drivesitfar]

GET: great job on your Rock Island. did you paint the tag in place or remove it to paint and clean off the lettering? Also i'm guessing you meant that you painted the badge and maybe the Rock Island cast lettering the Krylon black cause the vise looks grey? your new handle looks fantastic too.

Well done!!

VA: I think that little Rock Island you were watching and getting some juices flowing on Ebay was the one that Rusty posted last week. cool little vise that is for certain.

ALL: I put some steel plate under the corners of my stout shelving unit on my 1.5 inch rubber gym mat flooring (great for my back BTW) and as you can see i need to empty the shelf so i can remove the 1.5 inch mats from under it before they sink in farther and my OCD doesn't like things that are not level either.

 

[Outlawmws]

Drives, I'm not following why you used the rubber mats under those to begin with? just to get them spaced up near 2"?

 

[GETRIDAONE]

SRU, Thanks

Outlaw, I knew it was dark gray because I had painted another vise with it. Why they call it black, who knows ??

Drives, I did leave the tag in place because I didn't want to mess it up trying to take it off. It had two coats of paint on it. I got the paint off and polished the edges best I could. I masked the outside and then sprayed the center part black and then buffed off the letters.

The next project Prentiss gives new meaning to "Barn Fresh" Check out the corn inside after removing the slide.

 

[exmaxima1]

That's odd, My Rust-oleum Hammered black was pretty black...

Dang, I don't think I have a single pic of it.. that's odd...

Outlaw, here's a pic of Rustoleum Hammered Black, and it is indeed very black.

 

[drivesitfar]

Outlaw: because the 350 pound bench behind it was on the mats (that's where I stand a lot and these mats are awesome. so the mats were in place and I didn't want to spend time cutting them. live and learn.

anyway i'm moving the bench out to put in a 900 pound bench from my shop and i'll eliminate the 1.5 inch mats from under that bench so i can get this shelving unit just on the 3/4 inch rubber horse mats that are a lot denser that i have on my entire 2 car garage (used to be my gym for me and my boys).

 

[va.grouseman]

Drive, Paul Hogan would say, ("Now that's a bench").