The VISES of Garage Journal

[Smitty]

Thanks VA I'm stoked to not only have one but 2 of these unicorns! The missing lock wrench on the black one will probably be near impossible to find, but the blue one is about 85% condition, has the wrench, a couple chips but no breaks.
So I have a beater and a show queen. Although this repair is at least 25 years old, I believe the gentleman said he retired from Goodyear in the late 90s and been in use in his shop since...i think it's fine.

Here's a pic for Smitty...its hard to photograph but these vises aren't just squares, they taper towards the rear, instead of a step in the side. Not shown, the rear of swivel jaw has the taper too. So that is a unique part.

I have a couple of smaller Prentiss vises made in Meriden and they have the same tapered body style. I never noticed until you pointed it out.

 

[va.grouseman]

I know I'll never be able to afford one of those Swane Robinson Metal Former vises that I want so bad, but they are up in that crazy money now.---So I settled for a little offset jewelers vise.---Those Limeys are darn good machinest says I.

Has 2'' jaws and weighs 2 lbs.

 

[KMScott]

VA, got your self a winner there, just love the copper jaw setup. Pretty well engineered.

 

[MayerMR]

Put the vise and press into storage. I've decided against selling the vise for now.

Attached is a pic of repair to foot. Looks brazed.

Doesn't look bad, round off the edges and it would be hard to even notice.

 

[testwerke]

Friend of mine picked this up for me. Curious if anyone knows any history of the company or quality of the vise. Plan to clean it up and put it in service in my garage.

CB&F Co No. 30
Lancaster PA

 

[Smitty]

I know I'll never be able to afford one of those Swane Robinson Metal Former vises that I want so bad, but they are up in that crazy money now.---So I settled for a little offset jewelers vise.---Those Limeys are darn good machinest says I.

Has 2'' jaws and weighs 2 lbs.

Nice pick up VA. Surely you must be approaching one of each status.

 

[Shiftless]

Friend of mine picked this up for me. Curious if anyone knows any history of the company or quality of the vise. Plan to clean it up and put it in service in my garage.

CB&F Co No. 30
Lancaster PA

I betting Champion Blower and Forge

 

[gman007]

I know I'll never be able to afford one of those Swane Robinson Metal Former vises that I want so bad, but they are up in that crazy money now.---So I settled for a little offset jewelers vise.---Those Limeys are darn good machinest says I.

Has 2'' jaws and weighs 2 lbs.

Va
Nice score

 

[NC Rick]

my post leg vises get used mostly at this cluttered metal shaping area. I mostly use this one to hold various dollies like this T dolly for forming sheetmetal over with a hammer. The anvil in a columbian.

I love your raised shape, it’s very cool! I have some local buddies who do metals art here in NC, I can’t do it but I appreciate it a lot.

 

[Loydski29]

Scored this Wilton on the FB market place for 10 bucks! it’s in great shape for its age! Can’t to get it cleaned up!


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[chrisnazzy]

Scored this Wilton on the FB market place for 10 bucks! it’s in great shape for its age!

Wow!

You **** pretty hard for that one. A very early 3" Wilton in what appears to be excellent shape for $10 might only be trumped by the baby bullet for $2 that (if memory serves me correctly) Outlaw found at a yard sale.

Congrats

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

 

[gman007]

Scored this Wilton on the FB market place for 10 bucks! it’s in great shape for its age! Can’t to get it cleaned up!

Loydski
Amazing score! You definitely ****

 

[honza.vosalik]

Wow!

You **** pretty hard for that one. A very early 3" Wilton in what appears to be excellent shape for $10 might only be trumped by the baby bullet for $2 that (if memory serves me correctly) Outlaw found at a yard sale.

Congrats

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

I found a baby bullet for $5 back in 2016

 

[Smitty]

Re: Loydski
Nice pick up, you scored big time. I can’t wait to see it cleaned up.

 

[Outlawmws]

Wow!

You **** pretty hard for that one. A very early 3" Wilton in what appears to be excellent shape for $10 might only be trumped by the baby bullet for $2 that (if memory serves me correctly) Outlaw found at a yard sale.

Congrats

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

Suckage indeed!

But mine was $5, at a HS flea

 

[BFBOB]

I picked up this 3 1/2" Wilton Cadet - looks awful, but the rust is really superficial. Jaw moves nice and smooth.
Looking back through posts here, I think I'm seeing to many Cadets in orange for it to be a coincidence. Is it possible Wilton actually painted them that hideous color?? I'm re-thinking my original plan to repaint it in the original color. Maybe Verde Green is a better choice.

Mine has 3 colors on it, (maybe 4) but it looks like orange was the first. boo.

 

[Loydski29]

Thanks everyone! It’s disassembled and sitting in the simple green bath.I think it will look good with BLO on it. I’ll post some after pics when I’m done.

 

[Shiftless]

loydski:
Yep...a definite on the suckage for that deal.

 

[CrotalusAtrox]

Here is a $2 Baby found at a yard sale before and after

 

[Shiftless]

..Stop it! Stop it!
You guys are killing me!..

 

[DarkMonohue]

..Stop it! Stop it!
You guys are killing me!..

Is this a bad time to mention that the C1 I posted a few pages back was free with the purchase of the welder in the same photo?

Well, maybe "purchase" is the wrong word. The welder was also free.

 

[Shiftless]

Ok...now we have darkmonohue with a Wilton C1 for free!

What’s next? Somebody getting paid to haul away a wooden crate that happened to contain an NOS Bugatti vise?

 

[dutchgray]

I know I'll never be able to afford one of those Swane Robinson Metal Former vises that I want so bad, but they are up in that crazy money now.---So I settled for a little offset jewelers vise.---Those Limeys are darn good machinest says I.

Has 2'' jaws and weighs 2 lbs.

Those are very nice things, I have a couple myself. Nice find.

 

[drivesitfar]

CA: did you leave with that baby bullet with a smile on your face or thinking that you stole it? nice find and you always do a great vise restoration.

Shift: well the C1 and Welder story he mentioned was acquired at his GRAMP'S garage hence the FREE tag so don't wait too long for that Bugatti in a box to show up.

VA: you've always got something cool to show and guessing since your back was bothering you a bit that maybe these little guys are filling your vise needs and you don't need a 300 pounder to get the juices flowing?

ALL: i'm still picking up a few vises when they land in my lap and I finally decided to mount my big Reed 4c on one of my benches until we move which we've both agreed might be in 10 years now if we live that long. drilling 3/4 inch or 7/8 inch holes in my 1/4 inch steel plate won't be easy without a mag drill, but i'll figure it out.

my big 4c does dwarf these 2 decent size 5 inch vises (Yost and Craftsman made by REED that look identical BTW).

cheers and hope you are all having a great weekend.

 

[BlueBomber]

How about a free Baby Bullet with a Pow'r Arm base? Okay, maybe not technically free, as it cost me an extra 8 gallons of gas to go back for it after SWMBO let me throw it in with a pile of equipment she was buying for her business. She said I could have it for helping to haul and load, but then she forgot to put it in the car when we were loading...

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[Joefriday]

Prentiss No.18

Greeting all..

The elusive 4C. That's just an amazing conversation piece Mr. Drives.

I've been lurking and drooling over your finds for a while but haven't had anything to show.. Until I picked this up at a flea market yesterday. Pretty cool little vise in my opinion.

"Patent Applied For" on the side of the jaws.

Best,
Rob







[url=https://postimg.cc/fkcwL3rm]

 

[KMScott]

Re: Prentiss No.18

I picked up this 3 1/2" Wilton Cadet - looks awful, but the rust is really superficial. Jaw moves nice and smooth.
Looking back through posts here, I think I'm seeing to many Cadets in orange for it to be a coincidence. Is it possible Wilton actually painted them that hideous color?? I'm re-thinking my original plan to repaint it in the original color. Maybe Verde Green is a better choice.

Mine has 3 colors on it, (maybe 4) but it looks like orange was the first. boo.

I added a catalog page from a 1962 Wilton book, yes it says the Cadets were painted orange, your vise your choice on paint color.

Greeting all..

The elusive 4C. That's just an amazing conversation piece Mr. Drives.

I've been lurking and drooling over your finds for a while but haven't had anything to show.. Until I picked this up at a flea market yesterday. Pretty cool little vise in my opinion.

"Patent Applied For" on the side of the jaws.

Best,
Rob

Rob, you found a early Prentiss swivel jaw. The rare #18 Prentiss. Looks to be in excellent condition. Very nice.

 

[DarkMonohue]

Shift: well the C1 and Welder story he mentioned was acquired at his GRAMP'S garage hence the FREE tag so don't wait too long for that Bugatti in a box to show up.

Not quite. The "Grandpa's Garage" comment was regarded the expedient lengthening of the power cord with Romex. I got them from a friend who inherited them and had no use for either one. I had to tell him the Wilton was worth several hundred dollars before I took anything. He just grinned and shrugged and said, "Well, maybe you'll get some good use out of it."

 

[gman007]

Re: Prentiss No.18

Greeting all..

The elusive 4C. That's just an amazing conversation piece Mr. Drives.

I've been lurking and drooling over your finds for a while but haven't had anything to show.. Until I picked this up at a flea market yesterday. Pretty cool little vise in my opinion.

"Patent Applied For" on the side of the jaws.

Best,
Rob

Rob
That is a very nice find and now we are drooling over your find

 

[PghJKB]

Re: Prentiss No.18

Greeting all..

The elusive 4C. That's just an amazing conversation piece Mr. Drives.

I've been lurking and drooling over your finds for a while but haven't had anything to show.. Until I picked this up at a flea market yesterday. Pretty cool little vise in my opinion.

"Patent Applied For" on the side of the jaws.

Best,
Rob

Joe
Patent is #994240, granted to C.D. Bingham 6 June 1911, for the replaceable jaws. Bingham assigned his patent to Prentiss.

Your vise was manufactured sometime around the time the patent was applied for but before it was granted. The application was filed 14 Dec 1910 - granted 6 June 1911. Due to communications back them, that could mean a couple of months before and a couple of weeks after.

URL to USPTO:
[url]https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=00994240&homeurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpatft.uspto.gov%2Fnetacgi%2Fnph-Parser%3FSect1%3DPTO2%2526Sect2%3DHITOFF%2526u%3D%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsearch-adv.htm%2526r%3D1%2526p%3D1%2526f%3DG%2526l%3D50%2526d%3DPALL%2526S1%3D0994240.PN.%2526OS%3Dpn%2F994240%2526RS%3DPN%2F994240&PageNum=&Rtype=&SectionNum=&idkey=NONE&Input=View+first+page


JKB

 

[trijeff]

Wow, nice Prentiss 18 ... Smitty's going to have a heart attack

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[CrotalusAtrox]

CA: did you leave with that baby bullet with a smile on your face or thinking that you stole it? nice find and you always do a great vise restoration.

Shift: well the C1 and Welder story he mentioned was acquired at his GRAMP'S garage hence the FREE tag so don't wait too long for that Bugatti in a box to show up.

VA: you've always got something cool to show and guessing since your back was bothering you a bit that maybe these little guys are filling your vise needs and you don't need a 300 pounder to get the juices flowing?

ALL: i'm still picking up a few vises when they land in my lap and I finally decided to mount my big Reed 4c on one of my benches until we move which we've both agreed might be in 10 years now if we live that long. drilling 3/4 inch or 7/8 inch holes in my 1/4 inch steel plate won't be easy without a mag drill, but i'll figure it out.

my big 4c does dwarf these 2 decent size 5 inch vises (Yost and Craftsman made by REED that look identical BTW).

cheers and hope you are all having a great weekend.

I was at a yard sale and asked the guy hey you have any vises he goes a small one in the bucket with a bunch of other rusted chunks of metal. I looked at it and was kinda in disbelief at first and said how much, he looked at and said $2 I said ok. I always let the seller set the price if he said $20 I would of said ok, if he said $100 I would of said ok. He happened to say $2

 

[Smitty]

Re: Prentiss No.18

Greeting all..

The elusive 4C. That's just an amazing conversation piece Mr. Drives.

I've been lurking and drooling over your finds for a while but haven't had anything to show.. Until I picked this up at a flea market yesterday. Pretty cool little vise in my opinion.

"Patent Applied For" on the side of the jaws.

Best,
Rob







[url=https://postimg.cc/fkcwL3rm]

Joefeiday, that is truly a great find and it looks to be in amazing condition. I had to save all of the pics for future reference.

 

[Smitty]

CA: did you leave with that baby bullet with a smile on your face or thinking that you stole it? nice find and you always do a great vise restoration.

Shift: well the C1 and Welder story he mentioned was acquired at his GRAMP'S garage hence the FREE tag so don't wait too long for that Bugatti in a box to show up.

VA: you've always got something cool to show and guessing since your back was bothering you a bit that maybe these little guys are filling your vise needs and you don't need a 300 pounder to get the juices flowing?

ALL: i'm still picking up a few vises when they land in my lap and I finally decided to mount my big Reed 4c on one of my benches until we move which we've both agreed might be in 10 years now if we live that long. drilling 3/4 inch or 7/8 inch holes in my 1/4 inch steel plate won't be easy without a mag drill, but i'll figure it out.

my big 4c does dwarf these 2 decent size 5 inch vises (Yost and Craftsman made by REED that look identical BTW).

cheers and hope you are all having a great weekend.

That 4c looks to be in pristine condition, there’s barely a mark on the handle.

 

[Joefriday]

Thank you very much for the compliments and information sirs.. I really appreciate it.

I figured the vise was early due to the "Patent Applied For" but had no idea it was that old. I walked away from it three times before the seller and I came to terms. I didn't know that it was uncommon but knew that I liked the looks of it and that was enough for me.

Thank you again.
Best, Rob

 

[Bogdan M.]

What is the point of that cylinder thing on the anvil?

 

[wrenchguy]

What is the point of that cylinder thing on the anvil?

Not a anvil on this vise, the cylinder thing is a tapered pin that holds the rear jaw in place. When removed that jaw can swivel to clamp to a irregular shaped object.

 

[Bogdan M.]

Thanks! How are the jaws attached?

 

[wrenchguy]

Thanks! How are the jaws attached?

Matching machined ways.

 

[ricleh]

A few vises cleaned up and ready for paint. I'll wait for the weather to warm up a little before painting.