The VISES of Garage Journal

[MassRustBelt]

Date this Reed 204 1/2

New member here. As my name suggests, I'm from the CT River Valley in MA, the home of the cutting tool industry in the U.S.

Inherited this Reed 204 1/2 when I bought a house. Just getting around to refurbing it. The pic below show it after the wire wheel work. Can anyone tell me the date of manufacture? (I already spent hours looking on this site and elsewhere).

Orig color was black

Thanks so much.

 

[Nothinghead]

Re: Date this Reed 204 1/2

New member here. As my name suggests, I'm from the CT River Valley in MA, the home of the cutting tool industry in the U.S.

Inherited this Reed 204 1/2 when I bought a house. Just getting around to refurbing it. The pic below show it after the wire wheel work. Can anyone tell me the date of manufacture? (I already spent hours looking on this site and elsewhere).

Orig color was black

Thanks so much.

Howdy from upriver! Was living in Keene until recently.

 

[ganymede]

Re: Date this Reed 204 1/2

New member here. As my name suggests, I'm from the CT River Valley in MA, the home of the cutting tool industry in the U.S.

Inherited this Reed 204 1/2 when I bought a house. Just getting around to refurbing it. The pic below show it after the wire wheel work. Can anyone tell me the date of manufacture? (I already spent hours looking on this site and elsewhere).

Orig color was black

Thanks so much.

Early to mid 30's . In the late 30's they changed the design a bit .
Main screw was retained in the slide by a split nut instead of a collar and set screw.
If your vise was older (20's -teens) it would have patent numbers cast into the side.

 

[MassRustBelt]

Thanks! But I'm a little confused about your wording. My vise has a collar and set screw. If I read you right the change in the late 30s was to a split nut, therefore mine is as you say early to mid 30s?

 

[va.grouseman]

In reference to the Craftsman 5198s.

Here's 2 links to pics of some of them, but I don't know how many of these overlap.---Meaning from raw to restored.---But I do think that 8 has surfaced, I'll try to dig up all the posts that show them.


https://www.google.com/search?q=how...KHRv0C-UQ9QEwDXoECAYQBg#imgrc=nOFD7RCrAgvMrM:


https://www.google.com/search?tbm=i...hUKEwj9rPv5_PbkAhVng-AKHTSFD8QQ4dUDCAY&uact=5

 

[scooternut]

But sadly.... I'm just a non-swivelin loving man!


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[ganymede]

Thanks! But I'm a little confused about your wording. My vise has a collar and set screw. If I read you right the change in the late 30s was to a split nut, therefore mine is as you say early to mid 30s?

Correct.

 

[MassRustBelt]

Got it! Much appreciated.

 

[dct55]

Yours may have a faint date stamp.

See this thread.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=400156

 

[MassRustBelt]

Thanks - that's one of the threads I read when liking to figure this out myself. As far as I can tell, there's no date stamp. The finish was a little munged, as the pics show...so they may have been obscured. But I can't make any out.

 

[Vise]

Honza- that’s a nice rock island swivel jaw. Whoever is receiving it is very lucky.

Scooter- nice scoop on the 5198!

I spent today prepping and priming my Prentiss 58. Still more work to do.

 

[DFB]

Okay you vise fanatics...my flea mkt wheeler dealer had this nifty little Athol for me can't quite remember seeing an open screw Starrett Athol before or any one with a wrench. Also has built in pipe jaws.

Casting says ATHOL A 3-1/2 S

Any info would be appreciated

 

[trijeff]

Vise, 58 is looking good ... but are you really painting the jaws, too?

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[Vise]

Vise, 58 is looking good ... but are you really painting the jaws, too?

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Thanks! The jaws are safely taped off. Looking forward to peeling the tape when I’m done.

 

[trijeff]

WHEW! Sure glad you're taping skills are better than my eyesight Can't wait to see the finished product

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[Productbob]

Vise - nice 58!
have been trying to focus on 5" or smaller but another 6" showed up so down in the basement it goes; need to improve my focus

 

[AngryBeaver]

Thanks - that's one of the threads I read when liking to figure this out myself. As far as I can tell, there's no date stamp. The finish was a little munged, as the pics show...so they may have been obscured. But I can't make any out.

that's my post. after owning over 100+ reeds, I am not an expert, but have a pretty good idea..

since you wired wheeled it, remnants of the date stamp are all but forgotten now. yours would actually have two different set of stamp on the left hand side. the 11's and 13's are common assembler stamps along with actual date stamps. the patent numbered vises went into the late 20's. so, as the other guy said, mid 30's is spot on. earliest would be late 20's to 37-38' at a worst case latest. date stamps in that era where light to begin with, let alone 90+ years of rust and corrosion, use, numerous paintings, etc. wire wheeling it has either cover it over, or wore it off. Some are stamped deeper than others, just depended on the day and the guy smashing the hammer.... My latest 106R from the late 40's has barely visible dates and hasn't been wire wheeled.

By split nut and collar, we mean on the front side of the jaw, right behind the spindle handle would be a giant nut that resembles a cylinder packing nut with four recessed notches that tightens from the front side to adjust backlash in the spindle. this threaded nut is "split" in half to be able to get it over the spindle and be able to thread into the jaw. a single flat head set screw (from the outside, right below the oil hole) locks this split nut down.

this happened very late in the 30's. like 38-1/2 to 39. These models are also R Models, which yours is not. yours will have a collar inside the dynamic jaw with a set screw holding it to the spindle. nothing fancy. but its simplistic and works. you can adjust backlash by tightening up the collar as much as possible, or adding shims to the front side.

nice vise, don't sweat too much about the details. it'll last you a lifetime and be able to pass down to your grand children if you don't abuse it with a sledge hammer

 

[AngryBeaver]

picked up this little gem 25S after church this morning. Someone repainted it, in what i presume is a sage green. 9-47 date. serrated jaws seem original. I might hang on to this one after offing a few other 25's. these dont seem to pop up near as often as the babys

 

[bikencycle]

Hello, just found this forum and there send to be a ton of posts full of knowledge here. I have purchased a few Morgan vises that I plan to restore. First is a Morgan model 40 that was cleaned with a wire wheel and vinager soak. After cleaning some pitting was discovered. I would prefer the vise to have a smooth and uniform finish once painted. Should this be left as is and painted or can some of this be touched up? This is my the first vise restoration and I am open to any and all recommendations.

Is Ford blue close to the original color of a Morgan vise? Is there another color that is more correct?

 

[MassRustBelt]

Thanks. Amazing the knowledge here.

It was repainted, which probably means it was rusted, which probably means it was wire brushed or wire wheeled. I tried my best with raking lights to see any faint stampings...but none. In any case, 1930-ish is good enough for me. Thanks again.

 

[Vise]

Vise - nice 58!
have been trying to focus on 5" or smaller but another 6" showed up so down in the basement it goes; need to improve my focus

Thanks Bob and Jeff.

Jeff - that looks like a pretty clean 6” Reed. Nice score!

 

[bastel]

Here some photos of my Meier & Weichelt Zeus VS6 vise I got last weekend for 100 Euros + travel expenses for 2*100 miles. This softens the blow (but only a bit) of just missing out on a 35 Euro next town VS4 (stamped ZEUS4 / DRP, so 100 years old probably) in pristine condition just because I didn't see the offer early enough (a real, real, real let down). I just love that design.

That "64" stamp is confusing, M&W got renamed to LES in 47, and kinda stamped their castings LES. So who knows. But it is also missing the "ZEUS" name. For more information I'd have to travel again to visit some archives to look into catalogs.

As you can see it needs a lot of work, there is a circular crack on the anvil plate and the jaws are kinda riddled by marks, too.
Length: 50cm, Jaws: 15cm / 6", Weight: 51 kg.

 

[Shiftless]

Hello, just found this forum and there send to be a ton of posts full of knowledge here. I have purchased a few Morgan vises that I plan to restore. First is a Morgan model 40 that was cleaned with a wire wheel and vinager soak. After cleaning some pitting was discovered. I would prefer the vise to have a smooth and uniform finish once painted. Should this be left as is and painted or can some of this be touched up? This is my the first vise restoration and I am open to any and all recommendations.

Is Ford blue close to the original color of a Morgan vise?

Welcome to the group!

As far as color goes, I believe in the “your vise, your color” mantra.

Here is a pic of my early Morgan 40 (Chicago) that I painted dark Hunter green. Incredibly, it was listed on eBay (2 years ago) with a starting bid of $9.99 and I was the only bidder.

I don’t know if Ford blue is “correct” but if you’re talking about the later darker Ford blue engine enamel color, I’d say it would look great!

As far as pitting goes, some of that might be due to your vinegar soak. Vinegar removes rust, but the problem is that the vinegar also eats good metal. The action of the vinegar doesn’t just stop automatically when the rust is gone. That’s why I use Evaporust. That stuff does stop when the rust is gone, actually converted, to a substance (black carbon) that is easily rinsed and brushed off. You can soak parts for a few hours, overnight, or a week. No danger of destroying good iron. And it’s pretty close to non toxic. The only downside is that it’s expensive.
.
.

 

[Smitty]

What a difference a base makes. My new base just came in from Autopts and I couldn’t be happier. Lifting the vise up 2” makes all the difference appearance wise.

Once the vise is painted they will blend together seamlessly.


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[Shiftless]

That will look fantastic when it’s all finished up.

The earlier bullets weren’t blue, right? I have a mid 40’s 400 model that showed a bit of hospital green paint very close to the color of the new base you got from Nick.

 

[Smitty]

Yeah I’ve heard talk of sage green being a good match for the older colors.

 

[Productbob]

Smitty- looks 'complete' with the base!
Beaver- I need to start going to church more often if it leads to those kind of finds!

 

[va.grouseman]

The Silver Bullet is doing rather well.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/174041515892?ul_noapp=true

 

[bikencycle]

How much time and effort would it take to make one that shiny?

 

[Shiftless]

How much time and effort would it take to make one that shiny?

Ask trijeff

The vise, cleaned up and in paint might bring $200 right?

So if it sells for $600, that’s $400 for the polishing. If you had the right equipment and a few dollars for the expendables, and it took 20 hours, you’d make $20/hr.
By the time eBAY and PayPal took their cut, it would be less.

For me, it would take WAY more than 20 hours.

 

[va.grouseman]

Hi guys. Just finish this 806 yost and want to know what’s mean the GEM letters ?
Thanks in advance

Paris, very nice vise you have there.---They don't pop up very often.---As a matter of fact there have only been about 5 in this entire thread.---GETRIDAONE has a nice 806 he painted red, if he still has it.

If memory serves, the GEM stands for GEM.---Some of those early YOST GEMs just had a diamond emblem embossed on the side of the vise which implied the GEM, meaning your vise is a real GEM/precious stone, of a vise.

 

[Smitty]

The Silver Bullet is doing rather well.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/174041515892?ul_noapp=true

I’m thinking the vise is going to go in the $750-$850 range. This could be Armageddon for Wilton vises because every shaved tail Louie is going to go out and buy an angle grinder this weekend. I can barely get the anvil to shine like that never mind the whole vise. I don’t think people realize what a chrome finish like that takes.

 

[Vise]

I don’t think people realize what a chrome finish like that takes.

Or what they take to maintain. Can’t touch that vise with your bare hands without ruining the finish.

 

[Smitty]

Or what they take to maintain. Can’t touch that vise with your bare hands without ruining the finish.

I’m going to be watching to see what happens, I already have the alarm set. I wouldn’t be shocked to see it go for 1k. If you can afford 1k for a 4” Wilton you can afford to have the maid polish it once a week along with the silverware.

 

[Shiftless]

Here are a couple of GJ guys wearing their usual garage attire working on the silver to warm up for the main event...polishing that vise!

 

[rusty65]

Sounds like I need to ditch my green paint and go full polish.



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[Shiftless]

Here is that C1 I’ve been working on all finished...
Stripped the paint using hot Simple Green, then primed and painted with Rustoleum hammered light blue. Cleaned up the jaw inserts on my stationary belt sander.
The anvil area is not painted...that’s a reflection of the dark wood in the background.
The acorn nuts you see are from ACE hardware stainless steel 1/2 -13

All finished except for installing the pipe jaws. I only have one and a good used one is on the way. I also need a 2 inch dust cap but if necessary, I have a pretty good one on the shelf earmarked for another project bullet.

 

[Smitty]

Rusty65

That bullet does look pretty slick I must admit.

 

[Smitty]

Here is that C1 I’ve been working on all finished...
Stripped the paint using hot Simple Green, then primed and painted with Rustoleum hammered light blue. Cleaned up the jaw inserts on my stationary belt sander.
The anvil area is not painted...that a reflection of the dark wood in the background.
The acorn nuts you see are from ACE hardware stainless steel 1/2 -13

All finished except for installing the pipe jaws. I only have one and a good used one is on the way. I also need a 2 inch dust cap but if necessary, I have a pretty good one on the shelf earmarked for another project bullet.

Shift, that vise looks factory fresh. That’s gonna look great on the shelf or bench

 

[1NRO]

Great information

I have one I was asking about way back at post 44274.

Here some photos of my Meier & Weichelt Zeus VS6 vise I got last weekend for 100 Euros + travel expenses for 2*100 miles. This softens the blow (but only a bit) of just missing out on a 35 Euro next town VS4 (stamped ZEUS4 / DRP, so 100 years old probably) in pristine condition just because I didn't see the offer early enough (a real, real, real let down). I just love that design.

That "64" stamp is confusing, M&W got renamed to LES in 47, and kinda stamped their castings LES. So who knows. But it is also missing the "ZEUS" name. For more information I'd have to travel again to visit some archives to look into catalogs.

As you can see it needs a lot of work, there is a circular crack on the anvil plate and the jaws are kinda riddled by marks, too.
Length: 50cm, Jaws: 15cm / 6", Weight: 51 kg.