The VISES of Garage Journal

[PiperCub49]

I purchased this Wilton C2 for my brother for Christmas. He got his stand together for it. I'm really surprised at how sturdy it is. 80lb of Quikrete in the bottom! Meanwhile, I've got the Japanese made Craftsman bolted to my folding table workbench. Go figure. Anyway, glad to see it getting put to use.

 

[Shiftless]

S.R.:
Congrats on keeping that vise in such good condition. I’ve never seen that type of vise without rust. What’s your secret?

I can vaguely remember back in the day when I had only one vise. A Japanese Craftsman 3 1/2 incher. 391.somethingorother

 

[trijeff]

DONE for today, time to go to the water park with the boy

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[kenc184]

Guess what I'm making?

Hint: It won't challenge "Vises" presentation quality version for beauty, strength or anything else. Well, it would win on cheapness I guess.



18 wheeler wheel, 1/4" plate plasma cut (roughly - my plasma cutting freehand is always rough) 4" square tubing 1/4" wall.

I finally have had enough of showering my tools in the garage with sparks. My garage window is pitted even though I try to direct the sparks elsewhere. so my Prentiss 56 is going into the side yard.

 

[PR1Gneon]

Got this Athol 626.

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[va.grouseman]

PR, that's 175 lbs. of muscle.---Nice workhorse.

 

[Vise]

Smitty - Nice restore on the Wilton. I’ll have to recheck my can of Verde green, as I had thought it was a decent match when I tested it awhile back. Might need to get that Hammerite.

Ken - that vise stand will look great. I’ve watched a couple YouTube videos using this method and they look fantastic! Do post some pics on the progress and once you have the 56 mounted.

PR1 - that 626 looks pretty clean. Nice score!

Here’s something I picked up today that I thought was pretty interesting:

 

[PR1Gneon]

PR, that's 175 lbs. of muscle.---Nice workhorse.[emoji106]

A beast. Dont know exlactly the weight but its really heavy .

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[PR1Gneon]

Smitty - Nice restore on the Wilton. I’ll have to recheck my can of Verde green, as I had thought it was a decent match when I tested it awhile back. Might need to get that Hammerite.



Ken - that vise stand will look great. I’ve watched a couple YouTube videos using this method and they look fantastic! Do post some pics on the progress and once you have the 56 mounted.



PR1 - that 626 looks pretty clean. Nice score!

The best part is that got it for $50.

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[va.grouseman]

PR, that is an awsome score.---Somebody didn't know what they had.

 

[Shiftless]

Va.: As you know, some people see all that surface rust and figure it’s nothing but scrap metal price. That plays out nicely for us.

PR1:
You’ve got your work cut out for you, but under all of that looks to be a great vise!

Vise:
Nice little Keystone C
Looks better than my Keystone B that I picked up last year at a dusty flea market in the middle of nowhere in northern Missouri. The braze repair was OK, I’m not gonna grind it down and paint over it, and I paid $8.00

 

[trents99]

Got this Columbian D44 M3 from my dad recently. It only says made in USA, no Cleveland Ohio markings. He said he thought he got it out of an old service station that was closing back in the early 70s.

Welded up one jaw insert support, made new jaws, the stamped cover on the dynamic jaw was pretty mangled but the rosebud and BFH helped get it back into usable condition.

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[Shiftless]

Trent:
Nice save on your dad’s old vise. You now have another family heirloom tool. Looks like a good one to set on the side and only use for lightweight work. Or put up on a shelf and smile inside whenever you look at it.

 

[arms1970]

I have 2 vices i picked up. need to post pictures. wilton 6" and a huge starret.....50 bucks for both.

 

[exmaxima1]

Got the little craftsman 5169 I picked up off marketplace a few days ago cleaned up and oiled.

My dad had the same vise when I was growing up. I used it almost daily and beat the **** out of it. It was a nice vise at the time. When Dad passed away I was supposed to take it home, but it had so many chunks missing that I gave it to whoever wanted it.

 

[Shiftless]

I have 2 vices i picked up. need to post pictures. wilton 6" and a huge starret.....50 bucks for both.

I expect some serious negative pressure coming your way once those pics are posted.

 

[Smitty]

Vise:
Thanks
I just ordered 5 more cans for a Wilton paint party.

 

[Outlawmws]

Picked up a Craftsman 3-1/2"er - the made in Japan version last weekend for essentially a buck or so - (I paid $5 for the vise, a plane and 2 clamps (Williams and Adjustable)

 

[Shiftless]

outlaw scores again!

 

[mgmlvks]

As for the 2.5" drill press vise - only marks seen were angles at one of the pivot points, and a casting mark of 1-CW or MC-1.

Lost of pics here -
https://www.flickr.com/photos/46064258@N08/albums/72157709974456277/

Casting logo

Angle Markings

Eeekpay Craftsman 2.5

 

[Smitty]

Jeppen:
I was at the automotive paint store ordering more cans of spray paint when I saw a curious thing. They were custom mixing and pressurizing single cans of spray paint. I asked him if he could match Pantone numbers and he said he could match most. It seems like the technology is a bit new as he wasn’t sure how to get the hammered effect. It’s not cheap but I might get a can made up of the number you gave me.

 

[kenc184]

Finished my side yard scrap steel vise stand. I painted it "Jet tool white" or the closest color I could find when I built my reinforced Jet WW bandsaw a long while ago.

So my Prentiss 56 now lives in my side yard, I intend to build some form of cover for it. Gonna be great to be able to cut and grind without showering my tools with sparks and filings. ALSO, I have the fun of choosing a new garage user vise. Hmmmmm.....

 

[trijeff]

Nice, real nice, Ken.

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[Vise]

Thanks, Shift. That Keystone “B” was a nice find at a great price.

Ken - that’s looks great! Makes me think I need a better vise outside. Nice work!

 

[Productbob]

ken, well done with the stand and the 56! like that idea of having a permanent vise, especially in Cal.

PR- that 626 is one of my favorites, will look great cleaned up.

Vise- nice little Hollands for your collection!

Outlaw- can't beat that pickup for a buck

 

[Fierljeppen]

Jeppen:
I was at the automotive paint store ordering more cans of spray paint when I saw a curious thing. They were custom mixing and pressurizing single cans of spray paint. I asked him if he could match Pantone numbers and he said he could match most. It seems like the technology is a bit new as he wasn’t sure how to get the hammered effect. It’s not cheap but I might get a can made up of the number you gave me.

That would be interesting, keep us informed. I'll reach out for some insight to a contact I have with a Carpentersville, IL manufacturing co. that machined, painted and packaged Wilton machinist vises. I know they lost the Tradesman vise business last year to Taiwan, and I'm not sure they still have the machinist vise business as well. Wilton was a small part of their overall business.

 

[Shiftless]

jeppen:
Wow!
Color codes for current and past machinist vises by date would be a fantastic resource for the few of us who occasionally strive for authentic vintage colors.
Thanks for trying!

 

[The Lazy Destroyer]

Picked up this Reed 204 1/2 yesterday.
Not sure how to date these, but mine has the “Patented Nov 3, 1908” on the side. I’ve seen others with that along with other later patent dates, with the earliest being 1912. Since mine doesn’t have those later dates, dunno if that means this one is 1908-1912 or if that isn’t the best way to identify manuf date.
Mine has straight-cut knurling/texture on the jaws, others seem to have a curve to it that mine definitely doesn’t have.

A bit sluggish to open/close so I’m hoping it just needs some cleaning and grease.
Only issue is the original handle is missing and has been replaced with a bolt/nut. Figured of all missing pieces that would be the easiest to replace or make, so bought it anyways. But now that I’ve had a good look at it, the “handle” has been this way for a very long time, in fact it’s been worn totally smooth in spots and matches the vise so well. So now I dunno it’s kinda growing in me now lol

 

[va.grouseman]

Nice looking Reed, Lazy.---A new handle is no biggy.---That will make you a good third hand.

 

[kenc184]

Bob, Vise and Trijeff, thanks for the kind words - too kind in fact! It's just a utility stand made from junk but I sure wish I had built myself an outdoors vise setup earlier.

Vise: when will we see the next move on your "presentation quality" stand?

 

[kenc184]

Lazy, there aren't many - if any - better vises than a Reed. And a 4-1/2" is the best size for 99% of people. Your ones a winner.

 

[The Lazy Destroyer]

Thanks! This one was a bit of a impulse buy. Had went out to look at a Prentiss vise that sold before I could make it. Saw this one on Marketplace and decided to keep driving to take a look. At this point I didn’t want to go home empty handed, was a ways away from home by this point

 

[txlonghorn1989]

Picked up this blacksmith post vise this morning. Vise has 4" jaws. It appears to be in pretty good condition. I got it for a pretty reasonable price, no suckage but I'm happy with what I paid. No idea as of yet who made it. Went out in the shop this afternoon to work on cleaning it up a bit but it's just TOO HOT.

 

[Vise]

Vise: when will we see the next move on your "presentation quality" stand?

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves slinging around “presentation quality.”

Will try to do some work on it this weekend and post pics, but I’m at least a month away from mounting. Still need to: strip the paint off the stand, patina and seal the stand, disassemble and clean the vise (via engine hoist), wire wheel the vise (if the cleaning reveals the natural patina is not worth saving), oil coat and seal the vise, get stand down the steps into my basement, mount vise.

After typing that all out, I’m probably more than a month away, as I can only work on the weekends in between family time. Will post pics as I have them.

 

[Elsinore13]

Vises are similar to vintage Honda Elsinore dirt bikes. I started searching for those back around 1990 and after years of searching and putting out feelers it was as if the old bikes started searching me out looking for a good home. Had a good customer of mine show up at the shop today and asked me where I wanted this...another freebie. Reed 106. Only had to torch the bolts off of this one as they were clearing out some old shops and yards at their site. The last one he brought me he had to torch the end off the bench. Sad face, Reed 4CA. Needs some help.

 

[trijeff]

Elsinore ... couple of things:

You ****

And maybe you should be putting out feelers for gold bars next

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[va.grouseman]

Elsinore, You're on a roll.---Keep putting out the word that you need another fix, that you've got it bad.

 

[Elsinore13]

Elsinore ... couple of things:

You ****

And maybe you should be putting out feelers for gold bars next

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Elsinore, You're on a roll.---Keep putting out the word that you need another fix, that you've got it bad.

Sometimes think I'm a glutton for punishment, gotta keep stacking projects. Not sure what would happened if I ever got "finished".

 

[Smitty]

Vintage vises in their natural habitats.
Here’s a pic of Trijeff under the model-T, he’s fearless.

I’m not sure what I like best about this picture. The vises or the anvil. It took me quite a while to notice the mechanic lurking in the shadows.



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[Shiftless]

More vintage shop pics
I took these pics at Greenfield village which is adjacent to the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit.