The VISES of Garage Journal
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Outlawmws
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With 3.99 to spare!
It looks like a great little vise but the price seems excessive to me. I’m going to find one in an antique store some day for twenty bucks, I can feel it.
chrisnazzy
Well-known member
I was $225Smitty
So were you a bidder on this Prentiss 18 that went the other day for $227?
Other than the big no. 23, isn't an 18 the only other missing Prentiss swivel jaw in your vise family?
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Thanks for commenting! Yea I used some O-Ring grease, it made my fingers slippery
the shaft is just under 3/4” and the ball is just over 1 1/2” (why do I feel like I’m talking dirty?) so the O-ring has really got to stretch a lot. You folks inspired me and I tried again with a 20mm I.D. of 3.5mm section. I used some of the ideas and finished up putting the O-Ring on a socket and kept transferring it to the next bigger socket. It became comical! I finally got the o-ring on my 27mm socket and transferred to the a scrap of thin wall aluminum tubing which I beveled the inside to try to match the ball some and then got my wife to push down on the tube while I transferred the o-ring to the ball with three bits of thin welding wire. It’s on! Except it isn’t 20mm on the inside anymore, it grew to about an inch id and got skinny 
I’ll order some silicone rubber ones and try those.
I like that jewelers Prentiss vise but not nearly as well as the person who “won” the bidding. How much is that per pound?
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trijeff
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Yep, that's exactly what I got mine for on CL. They're out there. Too bad missing out on the 18.
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Thanks. Yeah it was a bitter pill to swallow. I was actually bidding while driving on the freeway in Visalia. Luckily I didn’t crash the car.
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Heavymetal
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Here’s a good pic of my athol.I love the general build of it. Super heavy but all the parts are smooth and dense. It makes even other good vises seem rough and not balanced.Just a classy piece of “Heavymetal. Are all Athols a step above most of the other brands?
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va.grouseman
Well-known member
Smitty, you are pert-near a prophet.---You need to be playing the lottery.---Why you could hire out as a price consultant.---Boy that's almost crazy money on the little swiveler.
Smitty, don't you be doing that texting and driving thing.---It would have been bad if you won the bid and totaled your car.---Now if Bobby Bear was writing a song about an episode like that, it would go something like this, (Well I totaled my car while placing a bid, it rolled 5 times, I broke 6 ribs, but I won it boys, that makes me the winner).
Smitty, don't you be doing that texting and driving thing.---It would have been bad if you won the bid and totaled your car.---Now if Bobby Bear was writing a song about an episode like that, it would go something like this, (Well I totaled my car while placing a bid, it rolled 5 times, I broke 6 ribs, but I won it boys, that makes me the winner).
va.grouseman
Well-known member
Trijeff, tell me you did not get one of those little Printess swivelers for a Jackson
.---You know what kind of deal that is don't you.
.---You know what kind of deal that is don't you.Yeah, the way the bibbing was going it looked like it was going to sell for a lot. The price seems quite high to me but it’s probably somebody filling a hole in a collection.Smitty, you are pert-near a prophet.---You need to be playing the lottery.---Why you could hire out as a price consultant.---Boy that's almost crazy money on the little swiveler.
Smitty, don't you be doing that texting and driving thing.---It would have been bad if you won the bid and totaled your car.---Now if Bobby Bear was writing a song about an episode like that, it would go something like this, (Well I totaled my car while placing a bid, it rolled 5 times, I broke 6 ribs, but I won it boys, that makes me the winner).
I really need to stop bidding and driving. I did like your song though.lol
trijeff
Well-known member
Yep! Funny story behind that one. Came up on CL at a time when my wife was about to pop with our first child and we were moving at the same time. Or should I say I was moving. It was a local move and we were having some work done on the house before we moved in, so I thought to myself "I'll just take a truckload every day on the way to work". Longest move ever, and I literally moved every single thing myself.Trijeff, tell me you did not get one of those little Printess swivelers for a Jackson
Right when I/the work on the house get done BOOM kid pops out. Everything went well but it was a week in the hospital. This vise pops up on CL and I'm thinking to myself there's just no way I can get this thing and stay married. So I muscle up all my restraint and don't contact the seller.
But then it's up the next day. And the next. Holy camole, gotta figure something out. So, on the day a lot of her family visits I sneak out to go "check on the new house". Swing by the seller's place and it was my first "just leave the money under the mat" deals. It was literally sitting out on a bench right next to the front door. Couldn't slip the 20 under there quick enough.
When I got back to the hospital everyone said that I looked refreshed and really happy. Of course it was having our first child but, I gotta tell you, snagging that vise certainly put a little extra spring in my step!
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va.grouseman
Well-known member
Trijeff, that is one more yarn my friend.---Mighty trusting folks you chanced upon there.
Shiftless
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trijeff:
Thanks for sharing that great story. That would be a fitting lead off story for a new thread of bargain tool buying stories.
Thanks for sharing that great story. That would be a fitting lead off story for a new thread of bargain tool buying stories.
Sorry for the cross - post, but it was recommended that I post this on this thread for better exposure;
Saw this vise at a junk shop this morning and was wondering if someone on here could school me on it a little. Never saw a spring loaded vise this big before. It's hinged at the bottom, about 12"+ tall and the Jaws are only about 3" wide. The only markings on it are the "NO 34" across the hinge at the bottom.
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I think your vise photos are cool. I have little clue on it’s history but from what little I have seen, that is the design more common to a vise from before 1900. That could be a nice look back at history but not a great tool for current use. I suppose that type of design is more light weight and the use on something like a cart seems plausible. Should you find more, please share. It seems this forum gets stuck on the wonderful tools created from 1900 to 1970 or there abouts. I would like to know more about the evolution of the technology and I think the hinged vise was an important part of that. A blacksmiths vise seems like it would have to include a leg and almost by necessity would be wrought. I am no expert so take what I say with that in mind.
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gman007
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TJ
That is indeed a great story and is definitely even ballsier than one of my stories.
Two summers ago I had to sneak out of my son's HS graduation party for a "quick" 45 min trip (each way) to pick up a really nice Parker 974 (bought it for $60) . I was able to make it to seller's place in record time (30 minutes). But on the way back I got stuck in a nightmare construction traffic for over 1 hour. My son was too busy with his friends and did not even notice but to put it mildly my wife was none too pleased about it.
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Heavymetal
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fang123
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I finally got around to pulling this vise out of the shed it has been in at my parents house, well now a house I own. I have not been having a lot of luck finding out much info on it. It's a Parker 375, 6 inch jaw and opens over 10 inches. It has got to weigh at least 150 pounds. Anyone have any idea an around about year of manufacture on this thing?
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fang123
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davethorik
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Is the rear swivel jaw free?
fang123
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fang123
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GETRIDAONE
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fang123
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DarkMonohue
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I believe it is customary to place a can of beer in the smaller vise when photographing a smaller vise inside an enormous vice for scale.
That's super cool.
Replacement jaws were available at "a trifling cost".
That is an amaizing vise, I love that it has a story. I would want to take a close look at the main nut as a roll pin doesn’t seem period to the vise. Who ever was in there didn’t use a nail so that’s good!
I had an old Gipsy show up on my doorstep today so I decided to let him in. He has 4” jaws and weighs 28 lbs. He doesn’t say much but that’s because he’s 110 years old. He looked a bit tired and rusty so we cleaned him up and welcomed him to the family.
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I had an old Gipsy show up on my doorstep today so I decided to let him in. He has 4” jaws and weighs 28 lbs. He doesn’t say much but that’s because he’s 110 years old. He looked a bit tired and rusty so we cleaned him up and welcomed him to the family.
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Is cool, needs beer can also! Is it forged or cast?
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gman007
Well-known member
Smitty
Despite being 110 years old this Gipsy dude is still one good looking Fella
(I wish I look half as good at 55 )Nice addition to the family and great cleanup job too
Thanks Gman, keep working on your patina.Smitty
Despite being 110 years old this Gipsy dude is still one good looking Fella
Nice addition to the family and great cleanup job too
davethorik
Well-known member
That was a good guess on the weight. Very cool vise, I don't know if I've seen many Parkers like that let alone a fixed base swivel jaw which seems to be a way less common setup than a double swivel.
Seems like most people inherit Littlestown type homeowner vises. You got lucky!
fang123
Well-known member
I put the roll pin in it. That was the only thing wrong with this vise since I was a kid (I'm 50 now) the pin was sheared. I don't remember that vise ever being used. It was in a shed mounted to a bench. I don't know where the vise came from, if my Dad put it there or if it was there when they bought the house. The Craftsman vise in the pics is a made in Japan version that was my vise when I was a kid. Dad had the made in USA craftsman version on the bench in the garage. It was the only vise we used, and I still have it too.
KMScott
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Fang, nice vise there. I have the 275 swivel base with close to your same specs. Love to find one like yours. Nice find.
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fang123
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It has been so long since I looked at that vise, that I didn't even know it was a Parker until 4 days ago.
wrenchguy
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Josh C
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. Just thought I’d throw em up for your amusement
I need to quit looking at this thread. You folks are a very bad influence.
No more looking at vises, I already have Vices...