The VISES of Garage Journal

[DarkMonohue]

There are lots of different perspectives and experiences here. As RBarnes said, the price of any given item is a product of its perceived value to that particular buyer and seller. Each transaction is different. I don't do a whole lot of buying and selling, but when I do, I try to be reasonable and determine my priorities ahead of time. If someone won't pay me what I feel an item is worth, that's not my buyer. Conversely, if someone won't sell me an item for what it's worth to me, that's not my item.

The fact that people sometimes luck into a smoking deal on a vise that others would pay hundreds of dollars for doesn't mean that that vise suddenly has no value, or that similar vises must all be given away to anyone who reads this thread. It just means people get lucky now and again.

Personally, I don't trade in these things. I just enjoy owning and using things that are made as well as they can be made, and knowing that they will outlast me. Everybody has their own perspective.

 

[zoomieport]

Just arrived...

Take care!
ZOOM

 

[^&right]

Very nice!

 

[testwerke]

Got the CB&F vise taken apart. I plan to dunk all the big pieces into a lye bath for a while, followed by an electrolysis tank. Is the screw safe for lye and electrolysis?

 

[rusty65]

Got the CB&F vise taken apart. I plan to dunk all the big pieces into a lye bath for a while, followed by an electrolysis tank. Is the screw safe for lye and electrolysis?

The screw will be just fine in the electrolysis bath. It looks like yours carriage bolt for the swivel lock down has a bend in it though. I like the meatball main screw.


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[Joefriday]

It's amazing how many pages this thread advances in a day.. I've never seen another thread like it.

Very cool vises gents.

Mr. Drives..I wasn't allowed to use the "S" word either and a few fat lips/bars of soap pretty much eliminated that word from my vocab.

Best,
Rob

 

[Smitty]

#TBT

This is the first vintage vise that I’ve ever purchased and I fondly refer to it as ‘Patient Zero’. I was at a vintage tool swap meet in Culver City last February when a vendor said I could take the vise home for $50. It looked like an interesting find and he said something about Starrett as I walked away with the vise.I spent quite a bit of time researching the vise to find its Mfg. date and so on. I gently cleaned it and oiled it to my satisfaction. Little did I know that this would be the start of a new collecting passion for me.

Fingerprint shadows are shown for scale purposes only (cough).

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[Joefriday]

613 for you Smitty:

 

[Smitty]

Ahh...very nice. Notice how they both have the same speckled green paint residue?

 

[Joefriday]

Ahh...very nice. Notice how they both have the same speckled green paint residue?

Yes I did.. Looks more blue to me but whichever..

Best, Rob

 

[Smitty]

Yes I did.. Looks more blue to me but whichever..

Best, Rob

Cyan

 

[Outlawmws]

Just arrived...

Take care!
ZOOM

Zoomie, you STILL ****!

(Never had my mouth soaped, and now I'm too old for it )

 

[testwerke]

The screw will be just fine in the electrolysis bath. It looks like yours carriage bolt for the swivel lock down has a bend in it though. I like the meatball main screw.


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Yeah, the carriage bolt has a massive bend. I haven’t yet figured how I will remedy that. Any suggestions?

 

[Outlawmws]

Yeah, the carriage bolt has a massive bend. I haven’t yet figured how I will remedy that. Any suggestions?

Those are dead soft bolts, so lay it on a block of wood , maybe with a wood shim if needed, and smack the high spot. If the high spot is threaded, use a "punch" using another block of wood.

 

[davethorik]

This is the first vintage vise that I’ve ever purchased and I fondly refer to it as ‘Patient Zero’.

Wow, impressive collection, and you've not been at it very long. Also cool you still have your first vise!

The first vise I ever owned was a Columbian D46 (stamped steel slide, swivel base, 6" jaw, all of maybe 50-60 lbs). It was NOS unused but no packaging. I paid $60 for it, didn't even own it 24 hrs and I sold it for $100 to a buddy who HAD to have it. This was about 10 years ago, I was addicted to vises before I even came to GJ to hang out with other addicts.

Over time vises have done nothing but treated me well as far as both being a useful item, and as short term investments go. I've never lost money on one, seems I have sporadic lucky streaks on finding deals. Until my 1st Prentiss 456, I had never paid more for a vise than I did for that Columbian D46.

I'd say I've had about 30 total spread out over that time. My biggest suckage that I of course will brag about, I bought a Reed 204-1/2 for $10, another for $20, 4" Wilton fixed base bullet for $20, most recent a Reed 404 for $25. I would expect anyone to brag at those prices, lol.

But big vises is where I've never had luck with the same deals I get on the little ones... so I pay to play. Adding a 2nd Prentiss 456 brought my average to $215 a piece, or $1.28/lb which isn't bad.

 

[honza.vosalik]

While good deals are out there, the"you ****" deals seem to happen only every once in a few years

 

[Smitty]

Re: davethorik
Yeah it’s hard to believe it’s only been a year. I’ll never forget seeing a Craigslist ad for an anvil and the ad said ‘will trade for vises’. I remember laughing while thinking how many vises do you need? I guess I didn’t get it back then. It sounds like you’ve spent quite a bit of time buying and selling vises for fun and profit. You did well on the two big Prentiss bookends, I saved the pics of them for future reference.

 

[Shiftless]

Almost too late for Smitty’s throwback Thursday....getting close to Friday on the west coast.

I still have the first vise I ever bought. Used at a garage sale. Maybe 20 years ago. Wilton 1644...After negotiation I paid $35

 

[gman007]

This is the first vintage vise that I’ve ever purchased and I fondly refer to it as ‘Patient Zero’. I was at a vintage tool swap meet in Culver City last February when a vendor said I could take the vise home for $50. It looked like an interesting find and he said something about Starrett as I walked away with the vise.I spent quite a bit of time researching the vise to find its Mfg. date and so on. I gently cleaned it and oiled it to my satisfaction. Little did I know that this would be the start of a new collecting passion for me.

Smitty

Your ‘Patient Zero’ like many of your other vises is one ruggedly handsome fella.

Kind of borrowing a phrase from the old Mash tv series (yes I am dating myself), may your vises (as opposed to camels) be flea free for thousand years and multiply

 

[Smitty]

Almost too late for Smitty’s throwback Thursday....getting close to Friday on the west coast.

I still have the first vise I ever bought. Used at a garage sale. Maybe 20 years ago. Wilton 1644...After negotiation I paid $35

You just got in under the wire, that’s a keeper for sure.

 

[Smitty]

Smitty

Your ‘Patient Zero’ like many of your other vises is one ruggedly handsome fella.

Kind of borrowing a phrase from the old Mash tv series (yes I am dating myself), may your vises (as opposed to camels) be flea free for thousand years and multiply

Lol, thanks Gman

 

[va.grouseman]

Still have my very first vise.---A Columbian 506 retrieved from a VDOT scrap pile.---Used as an anvil for 25 years by the VDOT boys.---Took a lot of grinding and welding to get it back to shape.---I used it for another 30 plus years before upgrading to a 608.

 

[va.grouseman]

In 6 months, we will be looking at a GRAND for these buggers.---That don't mean they'll bring it.



https://www.ebay.com/itm/123680773977?ul_noapp=true

 

[gman007]

In 6 months, we will be looking at a GRAND for these buggers.---That don't mean they'll bring it.



https://www.ebay.com/itm/123680773977?ul_noapp=true

How about this one?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Wilton-Baby-Bullet-Vise-w-Powerarm-Jr-Great-Condition-2-Jaws-820/233154969705?_trkparms=aid%3D888007%26algo%3DDISC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131227121020%26meid%3D416c140999724d3883c828f7f80f7f32%26pid%3D100009%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D123680773977%26itm%3D233154969705&_trksid=p2047675.c100009.m1982

 

[DarkMonohue]

Wow. Some of those buy-it-now listings are just sucker bait. The seller's throwing out a ludicrous price on the off chance that some fool might happen to see that ad, and might be willing to part with his money.

I mean, how can anyone pay too much if you never give them the chance?

 

[Asport]

In 6 months, we will be looking at a GRAND for these buggers.---That don't mean they'll bring it.



https://www.ebay.com/itm/123680773977?ul_noapp=true

But it's "original finish"

 

[va.grouseman]

But it's "original finish"

Oh, well, that's different then.---$775.00 is actually a steal.---I'm going to pull the trigger right now.

 

[Shiftless]

A couple of years ago, I was the successful bidder for a baby on a power arm just like that one. My bid was half of that and for a while I had buyer’s remorse thinking that I had succumbed to auction frenzy and overpaid.

Lately I am reminded that I certainly did not.

 

[testwerke]

My wife found a gent online that has a couple old Champion Blower & Forge catalogs. Trying to figure out date range of my No 30 vise. This is from the No 80 catalog.

 

[Smitty]

Still have my very first vise.---A Columbian 506 retrieved from a VDOT scrap pile.---Used as an anvil for 25 years by the VDOT boys.---Took a lot of grinding and welding to get it back to shape.---I used it for another 30 plus years before upgrading to a 608.

Columbian vises are tough as nails. The fact that you drug it off the heap and brought it back to life makes the story even better. The 608 is an absolute beast on the bench but it's fun to use and looks great in the mean time. I have a few large Columbian that have taken a pounding over the years in industrial settings but they’re still ready for anything you can throw at them.

 

[trijeff]

I freely admit to being part of the market escalation, I'm not one bit ashamed about it. And even started/helped to build an oddity/errors niche with this one. Love that this hobby/sport has outfitted my entire shop with various tools and also introduced me to a ton of great folks.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/192839279861

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[Smitty]

I freely admit to being part of the market escalation, I'm not one bit ashamed about it. And even started/helped to build an oddity/errors niche with this one. Love that this hobby/sport has outfitted my entire shop with various tools and also introduced me to a ton of great folks.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/192839279861

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Nice pickup, the error casting seems to be pretty crisp.

 

[trijeff]

I was the seller. But someone back east is happy. And my pocketbook is happy too

 

[Josh C]

Nicely done Trijeff, admirable salesmanship. Josh

 

[DarkMonohue]

I freely admit to being part of the market escalation, I'm not one bit ashamed about it. And even started/helped to build an oddity/errors niche with this one. Love that this hobby/sport has outfitted my entire shop with various tools and also introduced me to a ton of great folks.

Ain't nothing wrong with making a little beer money off your hobby, so long as the rest of us can still find what we're looking for without paying extry for the honor of owning a scungy (sorry, "patinated") old piece of shop equipment (whoops, I meant "American industrial heritage").

Now, whether it constitutes a sport or not is a whole 'nother discussion...but there's no reason you can't enjoy the hunt and make a few bucks here and there in the process.

 

[davethorik]

Dang, I bet my Hollands 44 with trippy lettering is worth a fortune then LOL

 

[davethorik]

On a serious note, I know where there is a Jacobson 7" swivel jaw swivel base, already a rare bird. To top it off, the B is flat out missing from the name, there is a gap like it should be there, but was omitted. JACO SON

 

[Smitty]

Here’s my double vision Columbian from Cleveland.
Here’s my double vision Columbian from Cleveland.



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[Smitty]

I was the seller. But someone back east is happy. And my pocketbook is happy too

I must say, your copywriting and packaging skills are on point.

 

[DarkMonohue]

Here’s my double vision Columbian.

Just imagine what it'd be worth if it had a missing letter. A feller could probably retire on the proceeds from a double vision COLUM IAN.