The VISES of Garage Journal

[Productbob]

Smitty great little pickup and congratulations on 5 tons of vises!! Roughly how many do you have 'laying around' the shop now?

Shift I put a couple of bids in for the Ohio auction but I think the prices are gonna get crazy high by Friday. Folks are catching 'cast iron fever' over some of these vises, anvils, etc.. (never would have guessed north of $200 for a cast iron skillet)

 

[Productbob]

Loyd Cast Iron Auction in Ohio on Friday but the pre-bidding is open now. Hopefully the screen shot works

 

[Loydski29]

Loyd Cast Iron Auction in Ohio on Friday but the pre-bidding is open now. Hopefully the screen shot works

Right on thanks for the info I’ll check it out!

 

[chrisnazzy]

Smitty

Certainly don't need to tell you the 2" Reed swivel jaw is an awesome and exceptionally rare find but even better yet, it looks to be in great shape!

Just last week I saw this horribly broken Reed 402 on Ebay and I thought "they do exist". Glad to see a little one that was actually cared for over the years.

Oh yeah, you definitely **** big time!

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[davethorik]

Loyd Cast Iron Auction in Ohio on Friday but the pre-bidding is open now. Hopefully the screen shot works

Good luck with that. Millersburg is Amish country, and they are snapping up vises as fast as anyone else. And their pockets are deeper.

 

[RTM]

And my daughter lives just up the road, but has to work, so she can't go for me. Not sure how I'd get it back to CA anyway.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Looks like the Winter Soldier!

That's what I was going for.

I did get the side cleaned up on the rough 204-1/2 with the Navy markings. It says USN NOD 1543 PIPE SHOP. Google comes back with a Navy contract in 1940 for a shipyard in Tacoma WA to build extra destroyers. At first I was really hoping to see that this served on an actual destroyer but it's still pretty cool. Also it looks like the original color was white. Has anyone ever seen a white factory Columbian???

 

[Private Lugnutz]

...to build extra destroyers.

Twice as many, from 5 to 10! Imagine that at every shipyard. Actually, imagine doubling the defense budget right now. And the effect that would have on everything. That's what it was like in 1940. Awesome vise.

Has anyone ever seen a white factory Columbian???

Are you sure it's not just very bright ocean grey? I have some Navy tire pumps (for Navy jeeps) that are ocean grey. It's an extremely bright grey. Just a thought.

 

[va.grouseman]

SeniorCitizen, I'm sure you know this already, but eBay always has a pretty good selection of the Cardinal drill press vises at any given time and once in a while one of those elusive bench vises.---Here you can see 10 drill and 1 bench.---Most of the time there are way more than that on there.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...ardinal+vise.TRS0&_nkw=cardinal+vise&_sacat=0

 

[Smitty]

Thanks Guys. I actually stopped counting so I don’t have to lie to my wife when she asks how many vises I have.

 

[Shiftless]

Smitty:
If you ever get grief about your vise collection, compare it to investing. I don’t know what you paid for each of them, but at least for the latest one, I’d say you could double your money (or better) TODAY if you posted it for sale.

Nobody is complaining about spending too much money on Tesla stock if you bought a few days before Christmas last year at around 250. Today I notice it is at 804.

BTW, I don’t know exactly how many I have either...I suspect it is getting quite close to 100. But mine average a smaller weight than yours. I’m sure I don’t have 5 tons.


.

 

[Smitty]

Every time I tell her I’m going to start selling vises some day she rolls her eyes and says “I’ll believe it when I see it”. She’s been a pretty good sport about it but she does get frustrated from time to time.

 

[Outlawmws]

Hey, it could be booze and women. She should count her blessings!

 

[Smitty]

Both good points but I won’t me bringing them up today for obvious reasons.

 

[Shiftless]

Both good points but I won’t me bringing them up today for obvious reasons.

And don’t forget the chocolate.

(Advice from a guy married for 45 years)

My wife was a “good sport” too when I suggested a month long, 7500 mile road trip to pick up about a dozen vises from a couple of different sources.

 

[Filly]

Answered an add on this one, only seeing he first picture and seeing 104 I assumed an old Reed. Sure enough it’s a Reed, after some negotiation over the price due to the bent handle that needs to be straightened out she came down to $30 and then just told me to take the wood vise too for free (Anant 9” made in India). Not too shabby of a deal!! And my first Reed so I’m excited about that!

I only found one set of numbers stamped so far 386, which I’ve now learned must be an assembly number of sorts... still looking for a date stamp. Anyone know the age range based on the style? This one isn’t casted w/ any patent dates so I don’t know if that makes it earlier or later?

 

[trijeff]

Shift, not sure that was too hard of a sell to Ms. Shiftless (who carries a grinding vise in her purse)

 

[Outlawmws]

 

[bulletpruf]

Drove to Dallas to pick up some early Bronco parts and the guy had LOTS of other stuff. Came home with a Reed 203-R and a Columbian 604 M2 - both have swivel bases, look to be fairly lightly used, and should clean up nicely. Paid $75 for the pair.

Columbian will need some parts, however -- the nut doesn't fit the main screw or vice versa.

No room these here; I already have a Record, Wilton, and Rock Island vises mounted in the garage, and recently set my parents up with a Paramo. Think the Columbian will go to my nephew and the Reed to my sister.

 

[Smitty]

That little Reed looks really clean, nice find.

 

[bulletpruf]

That little Reed looks really clean, nice find.

Yeah, it's a nice one. Jaws are damn near perfect, too.

 

[Shiftless]

Yeah, it's a nice one. Jaws are damn near perfect, too.

That WAS a nice find. And I also noticed that the jaws look pristine. No hammer marks on the slide, no saw marks on the jaw towers. I see that jaws are cast in place and the vise has the flat nose R configuration with the 2 piece split nut in front for adjusting.
Excellent!
I hope your sister appreciates what you’re giving her.

 

[BrettJ74]

So I haven't had a lot of free time over the last year or so to devote to many vise restorations, but I have been picking up the occasional vise here and there. Recently I posted some pictures of in Athol 624 that I cleaned up for my dad with a baked BLO finish that turned out really nice and I was really happy with.

Last week in my usual perusing of the classifieds for vises for sale I stumbled upon a listing and I knew I had to have it.
The vise is a 4" 3 way rotating Flexivise I believe to be manufactured somewhere in the mid-forties. I personally had never seen this vise and when I did see it I knew I wanted to buy it. It is in good shape with a few grinding marks on the top of the jaws and some miscellaneous marks here and there but overall it's in very good shape and everything functions perfectly. For now I'm just going to apply some BLO over the top of the existing paint and rust until I feel I need to strip it down to bare metal and maybe do a baked BLO finish on it, bit it's only original once so for now it stays as is.
After doing some research on The Garage Journal I have now seen a few more examples of this vise but it really doesn't seem like there is alot of these out there. So anyway here are some pictures I took after getting it home.

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[Bogdan M.]

Was able to get the Parker mounted to the stand today.

Surprisingly the top seems to have some “spring/flex” with the vise mounted, I would have thought it would be pretty rigid.

More than fine for my needs though.

I’ve reconsidered the idea of raising it, and have decided just to mount it to the floor in the garage.

Weighs in at 190lbs even




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That stand is very cool. Never seen one like it.

 

[va.grouseman]

Brett, Mohawk Dave has one of those.---Don't see many of those.---They're not only pretty rare but they are very versatile for a plethora of operations if one was a mind to use a unicorn like that.---Does yours say Fred C. Morgan Flexivise on the side and did you get the stand with it?

Vne has one too but Photobucket is holding the pics of it hostage, but here's Mohawk Dave's.

 

[BrettJ74]

Va. Mine is labeled Flexivise Company on one side, and Los Angeles California on the other side. Ive seen what I assume is a later version with a cylindrical screw head as opposed to the large round ball on mine.

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[Outlawmws]

VA Brett's is also a Triple swivel, Dave's is a double.

 

[kenc184]

Are those different to the Parkers?m The double swivels I mean.

 

[va.grouseman]

You are right Outlaw.---And I knew that way back in my mind, but it was on the same thread as a Flexivise that Vne has that he obviously misnomered the Fred C Moran Flexivise TRIPLE-SWIVEL!!!, because that is what he named the thread, ''My new Fred C Moran Flexivise TRIPLE-SWIVEL!!!'', and that's as far as my feeble mind got.---My mind can't swim so it got swept away.

Question.---Did Fred C. Morgan make any triple swivelers?

I did find 2 more.---1 by Kukko on page 802, post 16026, and 1 by Taumac on page 810, post 16182.

Here's a few of Kukko's pics.

 

[KMScott]

Shift, not sure that was too hard of a sell to Ms. Shiftless (who carries a grinding vise in her purse)

I believe I gave her that one as a gift when Mr Shift and Mrs came for a visit. It was a precision 1-1/2 Grinding Vise.

 

[Shiftless]

I believe I gave her that one as a gift when Mr Shift and Mrs came for a visit. It was a precision 1-1/2 Grinding Vise.

That’s right!
That little hand made grinding vise has turned out to be one of my wife’s prized possessions. Thanks again for your hospitality and generosity during our visit to Estes Park.

 

[davethorik]

My dad picked this up today. It appears to be an unmarked Prentiss no. 4.

5-1/8" jaws, only opens 7", didn't weigh it but specs online say it should open 8" and weigh 96 lbs.

I'm not sure if this is a frankenvise due to color difference. Neither the dynamic jaw or vise body had visible markings, and the slide hasn't been chopped. No cracks anywhere. Missing 1 jaw face.

Interestingly, there is a large casting flash on the rear mounting foot that looks like it wouldn't be able to be bolted down without taking a carbide burr on a die grinder to it. There are no bolt marks on the side feet, almost like this was never bolted down, but obviously used hard.

 

[Loydski29]

Picked this up today from the info I’ve gotten it looks like it’s a flexi vise I’m excited to have been able to get it.


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[Outlawmws]

Dave, they may have simply buried the flash into the wood of the bench.

Great find!

 

[Smitty]

Dave
You don’t really see a lot of fixed base Prentiss swivel jaw vises, nice find. What’s that white stuff in the back of your truck?
Loydski
I’ve seen a few of these posted lately, great pickup. It looks like it’s in great shape

 

[davethorik]

Dave, they may have simply buried the flash into the wood of the bench.

Great find!

Outlaw, I'll have to get a closer pic but the flash is on top of the rear foot. It's like a raised seam across the foot that is right by the mount hole.

This one is my dad's, he was pretty happy about it. He has a thing for fixed base vises.

Dave
You don’t really see a lot of fixed base Prentiss swivel jaw vises, nice find. What’s that white stuff in the back of your truck?

Smitty, I thought the same thing. I didn't take pics, but dad bought this off a local vise reseller he met on the fb vise group. He had an interesting variety, but he didn't have anything that I couldn't live without.

 

[Smitty]

I just finished cleaning up this Prentiss no.26 coachmakers vise. It has 4 1/2” jaws and weighs in at 67lbs. This vise had been well used and spent a considerable amount of time outdoors. The swivel jaw was rusted shut but patience and a lot of wood blocks won the day.

I worked the palm tree into the shot for Dave.


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[Z3K3Y]

picked up a York 100 today for next to nothing (actually i had to buy the worktable to get it) . Jaws are a bit shot on it.. planning on using it but would like copper jaws for it.. anyone on here making copper jaws? dont want them serrated.. basically copper stock with holes drilled. Im in southern Ontario Canada. If anyone has links on this side of the border that would be great.

 

[Z3K3Y]

gotta love those days when it costs more in gas money then what your buying.. but hey .. who doesnt like a nice drive rite?

 

[Dlavallee22]

Very nice vise right there Smitty! I like that a lot, are those replaceable jaws I see?


Here is my latest find... my biggest vise went from 55lbs up to 185lbs and I love it! Reed 4C that needs some TLC and the last set of KMScott jaws he had left after his retirement