The VISES of Garage Journal

[Vise]

Vise
Nice job in the 577, that vise is a beast. It’s amazing how a fresh set of jaws brings it back to life like that. Hopefully you have a cover for it.

Thanks Smitty. No cover right now. The paint should protect well, and I’ve tried a new product on the slide and jaws called Fluid Film. It’s a spray wax that stays on the surface, supposedly, through rain and the elements. Will keep a close eye on it.

 

[Smitty]

I just finished stripping the paint off of the Prentiss no. 19 that I recently got. Upon closer inspection one of my favorite markings appeared, a US Navy stamp. Now I’ll forever be wondering about the vises history.


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[losdudes]

That is very cool!

 

[Vise]

You seem to have this vise clean up stuff down to a science. Cool stamp too.

 

[Smitty]

The navy seemed to be really meticulous about stamping their property. I have half a dozen vises or so with that stamp. I typically use paint stripper to remove the paint, it usually takes three coats. Then I’ll put the parts in water to stop the chemical reaction and scrub with an old scotch brite pad.I’ll use compressed air at 100 Psi to blow the excess water off and the last bits of paint. You can see the vise has already flash rusted so the next step is wire wheeling and BLO.

 

[ricleh]

Finished restoring the last three of my small Wilton vises - 2 825's and 1 baby bullet. I can't seem to find any more at a reasonable price.

 

[bastel]

Due to some instagram post asking about a very old DRP stamped vise (which I saw before but dismissed) that I got pointed at I got wind of the European Patent search that has plenty of very old vise patents.

Super vise patent? There. Meier and Weichelt Zeus vise? There. Leinen vise. You bet. My Gemere offset vise. All there!

Finding patents is a bit tricky since you have to try different words for vise and only search for german language patents (you will also find US companies applying). If you want to try out, I can give some more pointers, but it can be quite addictive!
Once you find a patent, you often have OCRed text with a translate button for the text parts of the scanned documents.
Anyways, tried different manufacturers as applicant, and when I tried Peddinghaus, I not only found the pipe vise but this rotator vise. Didn't think much about it, since I doubted they ever made one. Of course I was proven wrong two days later...

 

[cclfn]

Neil, the top flange either has a small set screw or a small pin that goes through the plunger. The plunger comes out from underneath the base so yo have to pull the swivel base off. Once you get the top flange off then tap the plunger out, it has a spring. Pretty sure there is a bunch of gunk in there. I drew up a plunger that is similar but used the handle instead of the pull flange like yours has.

The picture is great I have that lever on a little 3" swivel jaw that I will be working on shortly. This explains how to take it apart. Is there any dates associated with the types swivel locks (levers, knobs, rods). Seems like the standard rod would give more leverage to secure the base.

 

[Seminole77]

Can you help identify this little blue gem? Bench clamp with swivel base.
Remnants of the orig decal are unrecognizable to me. I hope someone can help with Mfg name, circa date..history?
Thanks for making this a great platform!

 

[rusty65]

Can you help identify this little blue gem? Bench clamp with swivel base.

Remnants of the orig decal are unrecognizable to me. I hope someone can help with Mfg name, circa date..history?

Thanks for making this a great platform!

The brand is Gemere. Made by stahl titan and they made great cast steel.

This write up is from bastel a garage journal member from overseas.

Little Info about GEMERE:

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/...ostcount=47422
I guess from here https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/...&postcount=832

I recently got me a german offset vise, probably LUX derivtate, (not a keeper for me, probably), all steel and was made by Friedr. Stein & Co in Remscheid - BL. I googled back then but you couldn't find much about them so I kinda put this on the back burner.

Now a friend got a 150mm variant and that brought it all up and when browsing the classifieds, I also noticed that it all looked kinda similar to Stahl Titan vises: jaw inserts mounted with screws from the back. "Stahl Titan" is linked to the company "Gebrüder Mellewigt & Co, Remscheid" (notice anything in a old german companies & trademarks listing. It also links it to Oval H/V vises (I believe the System Koch styled tube vises labeled "Original Oval") and a steel offset vise (bingo!)

They seem to have existed from 1911 - 1956

And with googling for Stahl Titan I found the post above which has the GEMERE decal and the same pipe jaw inserts as the offset vises. That vise in the decal looks like a System Koch "Original Oval" vise.

Also: GEMERE? Like in
GEbrüder
MEllewigt
REmscheid?

I do think so. I also believe that the Stein company bought or took over Mellewigt or something and continued to produce them for a while before also fading away.


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[rusty65]

Can you help identify this little blue gem? Bench clamp with swivel base.

Remnants of the orig decal are unrecognizable to me. I hope someone can help with Mfg name, circa date..history?

Thanks for making this a great platform!

Some pictures of mine. I also have the swivel base set up exactly like yours.




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[Mohawk Dave]

Got my Orange Bench Vise today. What a beauty! That's next to my C1 on a swivel.

Here's a post with more info...https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=8477506#post8477506

 

[Smitty]

Ricleh
Your bullets and pow-r-arms look awesome. Great job.

 

[GETRIDAONE]

Got my Orange Bench Vise today. What a beauty! That's next to my C1 on a swivel.

Dave, Is that what you spent your stimulus money $$ on
That vise is to nice to use !!!

 

[Shiftless]

I just finished stripping the paint off of the Prentiss no. 19 that I recently got. Upon closer inspection one of my favorite markings appeared, a US Navy stamp. Now I’ll forever be wondering about the vises history.


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I love the smell of methylene chloride in the morning.

 

[chrisnazzy]

Got my Orange Bench Vise today. What a beauty! That's next to my C1 on a swivel.



Here's a post with more info...https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=8477506#post8477506

Those new vises are pretty cool. Maybe it's because I've seen them several times over the last couple months that I found myself more intrigued by your Snap-on ratchet handle for your Wilton!

Did you ever do a write up or post about how you did that?

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[Vise]

Dave- tell us more about that Orange vise! Very cool!

 

[Shiftless]

Yes, more user feedback on the new Orange vise please. Does it do anything better than the usual vises we all use? It sure looks cool in its ultra modern edgey design.

 

[Smitty]

I love the smell of methylene chloride in the morning.

It smells like...Victory

 

[Outlawmws]

Guys, citric acid... Just sayin'! (I had a can of paint remover rust through and start leaking - THAT was a MESS!

 

[Smitty]

I found a Wilton C2 that’s in beautiful shape. The vise has 5” jaws and weighs in at 115 lbs. I can tell it’s spent some time in the great outdoors but it’s in really good condition. The date stamp reads 9 90


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[Smitty]

I saw this on ebay and I must say whoever restored this vise did an amazing job. The color scheme looks awesome and the attention to detail on the vise really shows.



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[va.grouseman]

Very nice C2 Smitty.---Very good to excellent shape.---Is it a keeper or does it find a good home?

I saw that Dunlap to.---Too pretty to use.

 

[Smitty]

Thanks VA. I going to lightly clean the rust of and then put it on the shelf. I kind of like the flat black finish it has.

 

[TOTO]

Picked up this Rock Island 593 yesterday from on online estate sale. It is is great shape for being 80 years old and shows little use. The decal on the side was a little strange. Doing some research last night it seams that Atlas sold vises made for them by RI. But all the pictures I found show Atlas on the side and not Rock Island. It also shows no signs of having the Birtman Electric tag.

 

[Shiftless]

Thanks VA. I going to lightly clean the rust of and then put it on the shelf. I kind of like the flat black finish it has.

Good plan! It looks like it has put in more than a few hard day’s work and has earned its “patina”. Nice find, Smitty.

 

[Shiftless]

Smitty:

Does that fancy Dunlap you posted last night remind you of another similiar one that sold on eBay not long ago? Same seller? Somebody here on GJ perhaps?
(Not me)
.

 

[Smitty]

Thanks Shift. I think you might be on to something. The seller seems to gravitate to Art Deco style vises and metallic paints.

 

[Vise]

Smitty - that’s a clean looking Wilton. What’s your earliest and latest Wilton date stamps?

Picked up this Rock Island 593 yesterday from on online estate sale. It is is great shape for being 80 years old and shows little use. The decal on the side was a little strange. Doing some research last night it seams that Atlas sold vises made for them by RI. But all the pictures I found show Atlas on the side and not Rock Island. It also shows no signs of having the Birtman Electric tag.

That’s a cool Atlas Rock Island. The decal makes it much more desirable, IMO. As to your question, I don’t know the answer. Is it possible that “Atlas” could have been on one side and “RI” on the other side for all Atlas Rock Islands? In any event, I like it!

 

[Smitty]

Thanks Vise. I have a baby bullet stamped 5/47 and a C0 stamped 8/18


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[Mohawk Dave]

Does anyone have a big Leinen for sale? 6" or bigger. I'll pay handsomely.... Got a baby bullet I can put forth as well.

 

[cclfn]

Thanks VA. I going to lightly clean the rust of and then put it on the shelf. I kind of like the flat black finish it has.

I think that will look great and appears it should clean up real nice. Good get!

 

[Dan8906]

Thanks Vise. I have a baby bullet stamped 5/47 and a C0 stamped 8/18


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Can you show me the date stamp on your C0 I can’t find one on mine

 

[pdubss]

My humble contribution. A cman 5176. I'll try and dig up an "as found photo"

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[Smitty]

cclfn: Thanks, I was happy to find it.

Dan: This vise is stamped on the key way but it’s also stamped on the spindle. Wilton started stamping dates on the spindle a few years ago. The months do seem to conflict though.


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[Dan8906]

cclfn: Thanks, I was happy to find it.

Dan: This vise is stamped on the key way but it’s also stamped on the spindle. Wilton started stamping dates on the spindle a few years ago. The months do seem to conflict though.


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Mine doesn’t have dates stamped in either spot.

 

[pdubss]

My humble contribution. A cman 5176. I'll try and dig up an "as found photo"

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Found a few


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[Smitty]

I’d get a magnifying glass and look in this area.


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[Shiftless]

Here is my earliest dated bullet. (3HD) September 1945

Average cost for a gallon of gasoline then was 15 cents


.

 

[cclfn]

I’d get a magnifying glass and look in this area.


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+1 and sometimes it helps to get a flashlight and shine it at different angles to see the stampings better.