The VISES of Garage Journal

[Shiftless]

Boy Shift you sure passed a good one.---I've got a 406 and I wouldn't take a GOLD MONKEY for it.---And a good stout stand to boot.---You are selfless.

Thanks!
That stand had a 24x24 inch square base made of one inch thick steel plate. The top plate was a quarter inch thick and drilled to accept the vise base. Not very pretty but definitely stout.
The whole thing weighed just a bit less than the 406. That’s over 300 pounds of ballast in the back of my wagon.

 

[chrisnazzy]

I've had this Prentiss 53 for quite awhile. I had it media blasted due to how crusty it was but it's been on the back burner since, primarily since I couldn't choose a color to paint it. After seeing another graffiti script Prentiss with a similar gold/black paint scheme I decided to finally finish it up. Huge credit goes to my daughter Taylor who always does such an exceptional job on the lettering.

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[Smitty]

Nice job Chris, your hard work really shows.

 

[Smitty]

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[16again]

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Wow! That’s beautiful!


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[sqyards]

sqyards:
Welcome to the group. It’s great seeing that old scout vise mounted and doing work for the next generation.
Here is one I found at an estate sale, still in its original box, evidently never used or even mounted.

nice find

 

[rusty65]

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Looking good! I think that the prentiss jewelers vises look great painted and nickel plated. The plating adds extra flash for sure.


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[Shiftless]

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Anybody who doubts the results possible with some Evaporust, Blue Magic, and patient rubbing and polishing should just look at the before and after pics of this vise and reconsider.

EXCELLENT!!

 

[va.grouseman]

Chris, that is one clean crisp looking 19 1/2.

 

[RBarnes]

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Damn, that looks good, but I am still hoping you make it.

 

[chrisnazzy]

Nice job Chris, your hard work really shows.

Thanks Smitty.

Prentiss vises seem so hard to come by in Socal and western AZ now for some reason, lol.

I feel fortunate to have snagged this one out of Hemet, CA just before you got bit by the vise bug!


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[chrisnazzy]

Chris, that is one clean crisp looking 19 1/2.

Thanks VA. That vise was in such great condition once I wire wheeled the blue paint off it was really easy to decide on a BLO finish for it! Here is a little better pic.

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[Josh C]

Just saw this posted in a FB vise group I am a member of and I immediately thought that
It was my civic duty to share over here for those who don’t do FB but do share
An addiction for quality vintage vises. Enjoy

 

[va.grouseman]

Chris, that thing looks like just a half a notch below NOS.---Congrats on that one.---I've got a 19 1/2, but it couldn't hold that one a light.

 

[va.grouseman]

Josh, you need to snag that little Prentiss.

 

[Vise]

Chris - nice work on that 53. I wonder is they made the 58s woh the graffiti style lettering. That would we something.

Smitty - that little Prentiss turned out great.

Here’s something I haven’t seen before. Maybe you have? The swivel base on my Wilton 450SJ is BRASS. Thoughts?






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[Jo3]

Greetings from Italy


The last purchase: I have wanted a 6" heavy (31kg) and steel dovetail vice for a long time... (no more cast iron).

 

[edward472]

Chris - nice work on that 53. I wonder is they made the 58s woh the graffiti style lettering. That would we something.

Smitty - that little Prentiss turned out great.

Here’s something I haven’t seen before. Maybe you have? The swivel base on my Wilton 450SJ is BRASS. Thoughts?

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I'm guessing a patternmaker copy

 

[Vise]

I'm guessing a patternmaker copy

That would surprise me, but maybe. Was thinking it could be a requirement of an environment that requires non-sparking materials?

 

[Shiftless]

Vise:
You beat me to it by one minute with the non sparking environment idea. Oil rigs? Gas mining? Munitions factory? Coal mine? Flour mill?

You probably checked already, but is the rest of the vise also brass? You can check with a magnet, you know. If the magnet doesn’t stick, it doesn’t indicate brass necessarily but it does rule out cast iron.

 

[dutchgray]

Got another one of these
View media item 101705View media item 101704

 

[Vise]

Vise:
You beat me to it by one minute with the non sparking environment idea. Oil rigs? Gas mining? Munitions factory? Coal mine? Flour mill?

You probably checked already, but is the rest of the vise also brass? You can check with a magnet, you know. If the magnet doesn’t stick, it doesn’t indicate brass necessarily but it does rule out cast iron.

Thanks, Shift. I'm pretty sure the rest of the vise is cast iron. In any event, a pretty unusual feature that I hadn't seen before.

 

[va.grouseman]

Shift, I would be surprised if it had anything to do with a non-sparking environment with just the base being brass and not the business end of the vise also.---My guess is that a PO wanted to convert from a stationary to a swivel base or had busted the original swivel base and had convenient access to a foundry or possibly worked at one and knew that brass is much easier to work with and cast than cast iron, and just made his own.---That's just me thinking out loud.---To leave the rest of the vise cast kind of defeats the purpose.---But that is unique to say the least.---As you can see, brass is soft and the lock-down knobs are flattening due to use more than cast would be.---Columbian made some all brass or bronze vises to go along with the Wooden Hull Mine Retrieving Ships during and after WW11

 

[va.grouseman]

Dutch, I want one of those real real bad.

 

[Mslund1]

Finished up the Craftsman 5191 I’ve been working on. I’m really happy with how it turned out.

I had to sacrifice one of the original screws getting it out so that left me one short. Ended up counterboring the jaws for low head socket cap screws, worked nicely.

Still waiting on some new drive screws for the tag but other than that it’s all done.






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[va.grouseman]

That's a nice one Mslund1.---I always love to see an old unit with those nice crisp teeth.---Tons of service still in that one.

 

[sqyards]

got a question and no better place/ people to ask, is this wilton shop king Chicago # 14 worth 40.$$
i have read alot on here and skipped around web but this group knows whats what

 

[Shiftless]

This site is not for appraisals.

With that being said, let me say that I have one of those on the shelf because of its streamlined looks. Not as a user.
To me, they are worth $40. That one looks to be in excellent condition.
It’s up to you. If you don’t have much disposable income and are looking for a vise to flip and make money, that’s not gonna make you much.
If you have an empty space on a shelf, that one would be a good display item. A really nice Wilton baby bullet would run you almost 10 times as much money.


.

 

[RyanE]

I spent some time making my Craftsman 391 series vise too nice to use. Had to make a new swivel lock as the original was damaged. Following some good advise from others here, the lock was made using a 1/2" coupling nut and a 5/16" bolt with the head and nut rounded. This thing has had a hard life but it cleaned up okay. I was tempted to go the BLO route once I had it stripped but I wasn't able to get all the 3+ layers of paint out of all the crevices.

 

[Shiftless]

Looks really good, RyanE
You did a great job fabbing that swivel lock.
I’ll give you an A for your lettering highlighting.
I like the contrast of the brass mounting bolts.

 

[RyanE]

I made my 3.5 year old a workbench for Christmas 2019. Along with it, I decided to give him this old Red Arrow vise made by Columbia that I picked up at a yard sale for $5. The jaw support was broken off but I don't think he will miss it for a while.

 

[RyanE]

This Record 00 was bought at the Red Deer AB swap meet back in April 2016. It reeked of pack rat piss so it was promptly dumped into a tub of my favourite degreaser (Pinesol). Sadly the rat piss did a number on the paint and really rusted the handle so it was wire wheeled clean. It now awaits paint.

Anyone else have one of these? It is so tiny, not sure what the design intent was?

 

[RyanE]

Thanks Shiftless!

Those mounting bolts are actually just really dark regular plated Gr. 8 hardware. I do like the aesthetics of them. Probably a bit overkill for a light-med duty vise!

 

[Vise]

Ryan - I like that Record. Nice work. Dumb question, I was fiddling with a rusty, $10 Record 1 this past weekend (see pic below) and I couldn’t see how to remove the dynamic. The back of the slide is closed in. What am I missing?





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[RyanE]

This next one is also in line for a restoration. As soon as it popped up on the local marketplace I had to have it! It has had an extremely hard life and sadly the QR mechanism was removed or destroyed.

Parkinson "Samsonia" 38A Model J cast steel vise. I am guessing 1940's based on a catalogue another member posted up here.

Pretty rare I would think. Up here in my part of Canada all I ever seen to find are the ubiquitous Record vises along with some Paramo and RAE and Henry.

 

[RyanE]

Ryan - I like that Record. Nice work. Dumb question, I was fiddling with a rusty, $10 Record 1 this past weekend (see pic below) and I couldn’t see how to remove the dynamic. The back of the slide is closed in. What am I missing?


Good question. My Records are all much newer than yours and they have a spring and washer setup on the leadscrew held in place with washers and pins driven through the leadscrew. The spring reduces the backlash on the dynamic.
Anyway, you need to drive out the pin with a drift. I think there is access to the pin through a hole in the bottom of the casting?

On that Parkinson posted above, there is nothing holding the dynamic jaw in. Just unscrew the lead and it all slides right out. Perhaps that Record of yours is similar and it is just rust on the slide and end of the leadscrew that is holding it in?

 

[dannyr]

This next one is also in line for a restoration. As soon as it popped up on the local marketplace I had to have it! It has had an extremely hard life and sadly the QR mechanism was removed or destroyed.

Parkinson "Samsonia" 38A Model J cast steel vise. I am guessing 1940's based on a catalogue another member posted up here.

Pretty rare I would think. Up here in my part of Canada all I ever seen to find are the ubiquitous Record vises along with some Paramo and RAE and Henry.

I'll have to photograph sometime soon, but some strange itch made me start chasing 00 size vices in UK and so far have Woden, Record, Wards, Marples, Handy (by Parkinsons), Paramo, Rededa (called a 231) and what I think is Samuel Lewis.

They're usually 2 1/4 in wide jaws and I expected many to come off the same production line, but actually they all vary in several details, certainly not the same casting patterns - I think Parkinsons was first with the numbering and the basic configuration about 1882 although Samuel Lewis (3 main castings not 2) may well be earlier.

This basic non-QR vice range goes up to at least 3 or 4 in number , then 3A, 3B etc or 4,5 etc which can easily go up to a 6" or 7" wide jaw depending on maker. They're solid vises and very useable (obviously the 00 is not for blacksmithing).

Your Samsonia, on the other hand, would really take some hammering - great vice, decent size.

 

[mikeswrenches]

This Record 00 was bought at the Red Deer AB swap meet back in April 2016. It reeked of pack rat piss so it was promptly dumped into a tub or my favourite degreaser (Pinesol). Sadly the rat piss did a number on the paint and really rusted the handle so it was wire wheeled clean. It now awaits paint.

Anyone else have one of these? It is so tiny, it sure what the design intent was?

Ryan: I found one on a site in England and had it shipped over. The "pack rats" didn’t get to this one. The paint was excellent. The only bad thing is it doesn’t have the swivel base.

It appears that Record must have made at least two different models. Yours is marked 'No. 00' mine just the '00'. Also the handle knobs are a bit different and yours appears to have a 2-hole base rather than the
3-hole one that mine has.

If I had to guess I would say that yours is the older of the two. You did a nice job on the clean up! I don’t know why the picture is turned 90 degrees.

 

[mikeswrenches]

This Record 00 was bought at the Red Deer AB swap meet back in April 2016. It reeked of pack rat piss so it was promptly dumped into a tub of my favourite degreaser (Pinesol). Sadly the rat piss did a number on the paint and really rusted the handle so it was wire wheeled clean. It now awaits paint.

Anyone else have one of these? It is so tiny, not sure what the design intent was?

I'll have to photograph sometime soon, but some strange itch made me start chasing 00 size vices in UK and so far have Woden, Record, Wards, Marples, Handy (by Parkinsons), Paramo, Rededa (called a 231) and what I think is Samuel Lewis.

They're usually 2 1/4 in wide jaws and I expected many to come off the same production line, but actually they all vary in several details, certainly not the same casting patterns - I think Parkinsons was first with the numbering and the basic configuration about 1882 although Samuel Lewis (3 main castings not 2) may well be earlier.

This basic non-QR vice range goes up to at least 3 or 4 in number , then 3A, 3B etc or 4,5 etc which can easily go up to a 6" or 7" wide jaw depending on maker. They're solid vises and very useable (obviously the 00 is not for blacksmithing).

Your Samsonia, on the other hand, would really take some hammering - great vice, decent size.

Danny,
Thanks for posting all the different manufacturers, I didn’t realize there were that many. Only 6 more to get.

 

[sqyards]

This site is not for appraisals.

With that being said, let me say that I have one of those on the shelf because of its streamlined looks. Not as a user.
To me, they are worth $40. That one looks to be in excellent condition.
It’s up to you. If you don’t have much disposable income and are looking for a vise to flip and make money, that’s not gonna make you much.
If you have an empty space on a shelf, that one would be a good display item. A really nice Wilton baby bullet would run you almost 10 times as much money.


.

No appraisal I dont buy and sell atleast I never have it would at some point go into use at some capacity. really I just dont know alot about vises, so just didnt want to over pay it looked like it was missing the pipe clamps. thank you for your in put