The VISES of Garage Journal

[Vise]

I have like 50 or so vises including my 4th Wilton Bullet from yesterday's auction.
This Holland's 4" seems to have little info on it so I ask the gurus of this thread what they know of it. Apparently the company bailed on vise making around the Vietnam war when making bomb parts were more profitable than vises.

I think this is a 4H



model, but haven't cleaned it down to the bone yet to be sure.

Here’s a page from a catalog I picked up. There’s an H model at the bottom.

 

[Productbob]

took a quick break at an out town soccer tournament to check a CL ad for an old vise. picked up this nice Oswego 25 that's missing the swivel base. stills weighs 75 lbs with the 5" jaws. have to clean it up and find a base

 

[Productbob]

forgot the pics

 

[Shiftless]

Always a good idea to check C/L when you're out of town and have spare time. That’s how I found quite a few of the vises in my collection.

 

[dimwittedmoose51]

Thanks Vise. Since the two on that page that look like mine show weights of 30 and 35#, I put mine on the scale and it weighs roughly 44-045#, so I'mn wondering if it's some other model or one of the really early ones that really didn't have a model #. The search continues....

 

[Vise]

Thanks Vise. Since the two on that page that look like mine show weights of 30 and 35#, I put mine on the scale and it weighs roughly 44-045#, so I'mn wondering if it's some other model or one of the really early ones that really didn't have a model #. The search continues....

Check out the link in KMScott’s posts. There is a tab with brochures, which is where I found the one below. Base shape is different, but matches your weigh and is an H, albeit a 4.5 inch jaw.

 

[Fierljeppen]

dimwittedmoose51...Like Vise said, the vise spreadsheet is probably the best place to start. Based on the casting style of the letters, I'd guess the date to be early 1900's. Very nice vise!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...YI7UKRpUd3aheAE86KBQRBGb9s/edit#gid=666157805

 

[dimwittedmoose51]

Thanks Fierljeppen!! You have narrowed down the model number, but now it's my turn to try and find that "25" on the vise somewhere. The letters in the casting are difficult to read as the H in Holland looks a lot like an N and the 2nd E in ERIE looks a lot like a K. Yes, cataract surgery is on the horizon, but until I can't pass the driver's test, we'll postpone that procedure....lol. If what you say is correct, this wold be the oldest vise in my collection, as my small Yost is at best from the Teens.

 

[kenc184]

For you Wilton experts out there. I have two 1750 tradesman vises that I am going to refurb and sell. One of them has the "modern" shape and no casting data on the side, the other has a more boxy profile and has "5 inch jaws, made in usa" cast into the side.

I know the current model tradesman does not have anything cast into the side of the fixed jaw body so ASSUMED that the one of mine that did was older. Well, according to the keys, the "newer" one is 1991 and the "older" one is 1995! My preconceptions are shattered, what is the truth?

 

[Vise]

yeah, I saw it this morning. The video only left me wanting more, I was hoping for some side shots.

Here are a couple side shots now that I reinserted the dynamic jaw, with a gallon of paint for reference. The photos aren’t great because I had to reassemble it on the shelf. After a light clean up/lube it’s going on the stand pictured below.

 

[Smitty]

That’s gonna look great on the stand.

 

[chrisnazzy]

One thing about big vises that never ceases to amaze me is how it is nearly impossible to capture the scale of it in a photograph.

I mean I have an idea how big a 978 is and the gallon of paint provides some aspect but you just can't conceptualize it unless you see it in person.

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[Outlawmws]

Toolfool:
Nice save.....that project gets my vote for the most extreme “back from the dead” save. Do we need a thread of Zombie rescues?

I thought I did this one in a separate thread but it's in this thread...

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2389369&postcount=4564

 

[Shiftless]

Outlaw:
That $4 Columbian certainly deserves a place in the zombie revival hall of fame.
Interesting to see the grooves cast in to join the slide and the dynamic jaw.

 

[Shiftless]

If anybody is looking for a nice Reed 3C they should check out the classifieds for my listing.

 

[toolfool1994]

Toolfool:
Nice save.....that project gets my vote for the most extreme “back from the dead” save. Do we need a thread of Zombie rescues?

Thanks! I’d love to see a zombie vise thread, could be very entertaining

 

[LesserSon]

One thing about big vises that never ceases to amaze me is how it is nearly impossible to capture the scale of it in a photograph.
I mean I have an idea how big a 978 is and the gallon of paint provides some aspect but you just can't conceptualize it unless you see it in person.

True of so MANY things, though. Almost word-for-word how I apologize to friends & family for the inadequacy of my travel photos of the western states.
Savvy hunters & fishermen deal with it by posing a full arm-length behind the trophy, camera close enough for the trophy to fill the frame. Doing so takes advantage of the “fisheye” distortion of the lens, making foreground objects swell and background objects shrink. The farther the camera is from the object, the weaker the effect, which is why my landscape photos fail to convey the immensity of the West.
Most of us do not post identifying photos of ourselves, but some do attempt to suggest scale by placing a standard measuring device or other familiar object (like a beverage) in the photo. I am suggesting these function best to “enlarge” a vise when placed opposite the camera, with the vise in the middle.
If, on the other hand, the vise is tiny, then place the scale-suggesting object in front, slightly off to one side so as to avoid blocking the vise.
In all cases, keep the camera close enough to fill the frame with what you want to look big. If you find yourself cropping the image, you’re too far away to get the effect.

 

[Vise]

That’s gonna look great on the stand.

Thanks Smitty.

One thing about big vises that never ceases to amaze me is how it is nearly impossible to capture the scale of it in a photograph.

I mean I have an idea how big a 978 is and the gallon of paint provides some aspect but you just can't conceptualize it unless you see it in person.

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Or until you lift it. I may have done permanent damage to myself.

And thanks for all the kind words and advice guys. I really enjoy this group.

 

[chrisnazzy]

True of so MANY things, though. Almost word-for-word how I apologize to friends & family for the inadequacy of my travel photos of the western states.

Savvy hunters & fishermen deal with it by posing a full arm-length behind the trophy, camera close enough for the trophy to fill the frame. Doing so takes advantage of the “fisheye” distortion of the lens, making foreground objects swell and background objects shrink. The farther the camera is from the object, the weaker the effect, which is why my landscape photos fail to convey the immensity of the West.

Most of us do not post identifying photos of ourselves, but some do attempt to suggest scale by placing a standard measuring device or other familiar object (like a beverage) in the photo. I am suggesting these function best to “enlarge” a vise when placed opposite the camera, with the vise in the middle.

If, on the other hand, the vise is tiny, then place the scale-suggesting object in front, slightly off to one side so as to avoid blocking the vise.

In all cases, keep the camera close enough to fill the frame with what you want to look big. If you find yourself cropping the image, you’re too far away to get the effect.

Great tips and example pics. Thanks! I'll have to try some of the methods you mention.

My first real taste of this was the first "big" vise I saw in person, a Reed 406. Even after going over the sellers photos for several days beforehand, it didn't prepare me for turning around in his workshop and seeing it for the first time. I described it as an involuntary smile from ear to ear. I know there are lots of others here who've experienced that same smile.

The second time was seeing an 8" Rock Island vise for the first time. I tried to take pics with my daughter and with a baby bullet in the frame for scale and none of those photos do that 300lb monster justice either.

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[Productbob]

Vise: catching up on my reading, that 978 is a monster. Great addition to your collection!

Shiftless, 3C looks good; trying to convince my wife I need to "run" to Cali for a vise -not so good.

Chris- agree 100%-as my wife said when she saw the 8" Yost for the first time "what the HELL is that" An unintended benefit to having a couple of monster vises around is it's much easier to bring smaller 5 inchers in without attracting attention.

 

[chrisnazzy]

Chris- agree 100%-as my wife said when she saw the 8" Yost for the first time "what the HELL is that" An unintended benefit to having a couple of monster vises around is it's much easier to bring smaller 5 inchers in without attracting attention.

I have yet to bring home anything bigger than a 6" vise so I avoid drawing attention to a new vise a little differently.

Whether they are being used, displayed or still refurbished, all of my vises reside on my heavy duty 6' steel bench. Even though she pulls in the garage right in front of the bench, I'm pretty sure the only way she would notice a new vise is if it was an 8" monster! Now that doesn't mean I'm not wanting or looking for one though!

Posed for a fresh pic today!


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[Loydski29]

Great pic Chris very nice collection!

 

[va.grouseman]

Real nice family there Chris.---If you get an 8'', just say I took three and made one.---She's probably not counting.

 

[Ww7573]

A few weeks ago I posted asking for help freight shipping a vise I won on an auction.
Well thanks to the help of a few people my reed 108s finally arrived!
I can now join the 8in vise club.

Though pretty much everything that could have gone wrong did, I assumed I could do a local pickup, but i wasn't able to due to the auction site announcing pickup dates would be a week after i left where i was traveling. Luckily the people who worked at the auction were very very very helpful with getting freight shipping worked out.
But then... the freight shipper got lost trying to pick it up.
Then I got an email saying it was delivered but it wasn't there. (later i found out it was passed off to a different freight shipper)
Then I took some time off work to await delivery, but it didn't get delivered that day because no one put it on the truck.
I found out why it wasn't on the truck, because no one knew where it was!
4 days of the shipper searching for it... I was starting to think my vise "fell off the back of the truck" but they found it!
and it showed up today!!

one kinda shocking thing, it was just plastic wrapped to the pallet???? I would have expected something way more holding it down. It clearly worked but I was very surprised that it did.

it also is FILTHY, but smooth, clearly well used, and welded on.
Any advise or tips on restoring such a large vise? (or is there a thread on that already?)
Is red the color they came in from the factory?
And does anyone have a picture of an ad for it?

Anyway here are some pics (wilton 500s and a pbr for scale)
(let me know if the pics don't show up)

 

[davethorik]

You would honestly not believe how strong that plastic wrap is.

That being said, I'm amazed nothing happened to your vise. You are lucky! Looks like you got a half-*** wrap job on that pallet.

Nice vise btw!

 

[Smitty]

Ww7535
I really like those big logo Reed vises. Congrats on finding a monster 8” vise.

 

[Productbob]

chris excellent photo, especially like the 'sentries' guarding the left and right sides at the front of the bench!

Ww- congratulations! for what it's worth: make a plan and don't rush, it's a big boy and the last thing you want is to get hurt lifting, pulling, pushing or dropping all or parts of it.

 

[Ww7573]

You would honestly not believe how strong that plastic wrap is.

That being said, I'm amazed nothing happened to your vise. You are lucky! Looks like you got a half-*** wrap job on that pallet.

3 layers of plastic rap, which apparently is just enough

The date stamp looks like it is either 73 or 43 its very hard to tell. Any idea when they switched to the big logo?

I originally liked the logo of the 208 better but this one is growing on me for sure...

 

[Vise]

Much thanks, Bob.

Chris - what’s behind those stacked bullets? Nice looking bench of vises you got there.

WW - I bet that was stressful. Congrats on bringing home a sweet 108!

 

[davethorik]

3 layers of plastic rap, which apparently is just enough

The date stamp looks like it is either 73 or 43 its very hard to tell. Any idea when they switched to the big logo?

I originally liked the logo of the 208 better but this one is growing on me for sure...

Most likely 73, the R series were made til at least mid 60s.

 

[trijeff]

the last thing you want is to get hurt lifting, pulling, pushing or dropping all or parts of it.

Amen brother, I can attest! When putting the Prentiss 98 in the rust bucket (electrolysis) I got a little careless/macho with the static (which weighs just a little less than me) and it threw me into a wall/staircase. In a split second I had to decide me or the vise and let's just say I'm still surprised to this day that my lower leg didn't compound break the way I threw it in there and the way we ended up (I was pinned for a moment). Most importantly, the P98 never touched down but man what a learning lesson about handling the big boys. The 202# blacksmith vise also had a few moments.



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[Provincial]

I have all the vises I need, so I have been backing off buying more. Two came up this weekend that I couldn't resist.

The first came as I was driving between garage sales and passed one that I had not seen advertised. A quick look revealed the usual household stuff and knick-nacks - woman stuff. Then I noticed a large drill press vise on a table, so I stopped. The vise was a 4" Palmgren model. It was next to two items that looked like they were associated with the vise. One was a cross-slide with feed screw and degree markings on the swivel boss. The other was an angle plate that had forked legs on one angle. The angle plate was marked "Palmgren 400." It was marked $10.00, so I asked the lady what the price of the other items was. She called into the house and her husband told her $5.00 each. So I paid $20.00 for all the parts. See photo #1.

When I got home, I put together the puzzle, and it turned into a milling attachment for a lathe of 14-15 inch swing. It is indeed a model 400. It is missing the gib to adjust the fit of the slide, but that is easily made from 1/8" flat stock.

Now I have an excuse to find a larger lathe! Actually not, since I have two milling machines already, a Wells Index and a Bridgeport copy.

I'll show the other vise in a separate post.

 

[Shiftless]

Provincial said
“I have all the vises I need...”

Where have I heard that before? Since when did that slow us down?

How many vises do we really NEED anyway???

 

[Provincial]

Saturday I went to a sale where the owner had sold the farm and was moving into town. He was clearing stuff out and was getting aggressive about it, as this was the third day of the sale.

One of the items he had marked down was this clamp-on vise. The jaws are about 3-1/4" wide, and the fixed jaw has a horizontal v-groove milled near the bottom of the face. It has several markings stamped on it, but none cast in.

The markings are all on front the dynamic jaw:
"Semi" and "Steel" on opposite sides of the screw
"MV-2" on one side of the lower area
"(U in a circle) 2" on the other side of the lower area.
"Pat. Pend." directly below the screw on the front face

It can clamp on a maximum 2" surface. The tail of the base with a slot for a hold-down bolt extends 4-7/8" behind the main casting. The screw is 7/8" in diameter, and the guide rods are 3/4" diameter.

Does anyone know who made this vise? It seems to be pretty well made.

 

[kenc184]

With all the talk of 8 inchers, I'm loathe to even bring it up but I picked up a rough Prentiss 6 -incher today. (518/519) The guy said there had been 16 calls by the time I got there so I imagine some on this forum had called in given how many East Bayers there are on here. The price was right.

It's been left out in the elements for years, is covered in rust but most of that will clear with electrolysis. The slide is good, the jaws are OK, but the jaw towers have been severely eroded behind the jaws. I can't quite figure out how. Excuse the angle grinder and flap disc marks, but I wanted to grind off the Si Bronze Tigging over the jaws to see what I have. Someone went to town for some reason with the silicon bronze around the jaws, hopefully it's just because of stripped jaw tower threads?

Interestingly, this used to be a USN vise. Maybe they dragged it behind a destroyer?

I was hoping not to have to do any more braze welding on large Prentiss heat sinks but I guess that's in my future.....







Data: 6" - 10" -124lbs.

 

[jrobb316]

Thanks to Smitty, this is the handle assembly I was able to make for the Prentiss 22. I am not a machinist and don't have great stuff to use, but it turned out well IMO and is completely functional and dimensionally accurate. Left the sides flat instead of round. I originally made the disc and stem separately, with it all threaded together. I wasn't happy with the disc so I welded it together and took a cleanup cut off the face (the bits are not great). Can still be taken apart off the taper pin so that's fine. Used a 1/2 rod and 1/2 plate to make the parts.

 

[chrisnazzy]

Great pic Chris very nice collection!

Real nice family there Chris.---If you get an 8'', just say I took three and made one.---She's probably not counting.

chris excellent photo, especially like the 'sentries' guarding the left and right sides at the front of the bench

Chris - what’s behind those stacked bullets? Nice looking bench of vises you got there.

Thank you guys!

The vise behind the stacked bullets is a Pre 1910 Prentiss 21. The vise on the shelf that is sort of hiding behind the baby bullet is a Heuer D.R.P. w/ rear sliding jaw.

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[RHJO51]

I came across a interesting drill press vise I've never seen before. It's brass tagged "The Producto Machine Co" Bridgeport ct. It has a unusual design - there is only about 3/4" movement of the screw handle, you push the dynamic jaw, then insert the lever into one the groves, then tighten the handle. It's a 3" jaw, body is 8 1/2". Marked 101 with no other markings. I don't know if was made by Producto or owned and brass tagged by Producto. Anyone have any info on this one?

 

[va.grouseman]

Originally posted by Provincial.

I have all the vises I need.
----------------------------------



I tell myself that every time I acquire another unit.---(''Now there,, now I've got all I need,, that one completed my collection,, don't need anymore,, ain't going to buy anymore'')….Wash, rinse, and repeat....Wash, rinse, and repeat.

 

[Vise]

Amen brother, I can attest! When putting the Prentiss 98 in the rust bucket (electrolysis) I got a little careless/macho with the static (which weighs just a little less than me) and it threw me into a wall/staircase. In a split second I had to decide me or the vise and let's just say I'm still surprised to this day that my lower leg didn't compound break the way I threw it in there and the way we ended up (I was pinned for a moment). Most importantly, the P98 never touched down but man what a learning lesson about handling the big boys. The 202# blacksmith vise also had a few moments.



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We all like to THINK we’d make the same decision, but when the chips were down you actually did it. A true hero.