REED R Series. Post your Reed date stamps.

[M.Brane]

My 204 has a very faint date stamp as well. It took a lot of careful cleaning to reveal it.

 

[DCRUTT]

I have an old Reed 104 that I picked up years ago for $10 at a garage sale. I’m cleaning it up to mount it on my new workbench, and am curious to know how old it is. There are two sets of numbers on both the static and dynamic jaws. A 234 that’s easy to read, as well as a very faint either 312 or 812. Any thoughts? BTW, first post, and what an awesome forum!

Looks to me like 318 or 718 ( if upside down). That would fall in line better with the patent dates.

 

[harleyrider]

Just picked up a Reed 204 1/2 R in the last week. After complete disassembly and careful cleaning, under all the crud I found a really beautiful, clean vise with > 50% original paint and a wonderful patina. Features found on this vise pertinent to this thread include:

• 5/53 date codes on left (non-logo) side of jaws (1/4" height)
• hockey puck spindle
• 4 bolt swivel base w/ single pawl bolt locking mechanism
• forged welded jaws (non-removable)
• threaded split spindle collar w/ set screw
• forged spindle nut w/ split dowel pin & adjustment screw
• Spindle screw & slide lubrication ports

Edited to add: shortly after I originally posted this I found & was able to purchase, a beautiful set of Reed copper soft jaw covers to fit this vise. This doubles the utility of what is now my favorite bench vise.

Some photos:

 

[DCRUTT]

Just picked up a Reed 204 1/2 R in the last week. After complete disassembly and careful cleaning, under all the crud I found a really beautiful, clean vise with > 50% original paint and a wonderful patina. Features found on this vise pertinent to this thread include:

• 5/53 date codes on left (non-logo) side of jaws (1/4" height)
• hockey puck spindle
• 4 bolt swivel base w/ single pawl bolt locking mechanism
• forged welded jaws (non-removable)
• threaded split spindle collar w/ set screw
• forged spindle nut w/ dowel pin & adjustment screw

Here's few photos:

Great information.
I wish more people would update this thread with the same type of info.

 

[harleyrider]

Picked up another Reed this week. It’s a 104 1/2 in OK condition. Actually most of the vise is pretty straight & decent and it works as it should. The big downer is the slide, which some former user thought could be used as an anvil. The damage actually cracked the slide on the inside. Lucky it was cheap, or I wouldn’t have bothered with it. Vise is pretty filthy yet but I can see quite a bit of black paint beneath the grime. Not sure what my plans are for this one yet.

Here are the features & numbers on this vise.

• 2/35 date code on left (non-logo) side of dynamic jaw (1/4”height) — 91 years old
• # 1958 stamped (1/8” height) on top of vise body behind static jaw. Not sure what this is.
• 4 1/2” jaws — forge welded, knurling nearly worn smooth
• meatball spindle
• standard spindle collar w/ set screw
• cast spindle nut w/ simple dowel pin
• weight ~ 55 lbs.

Some photos below

HR

 

[Beerhippie]

Here's a few photos:

Invisible photos are worthless.

 

[harleyrider]

Invisible photos are worthless.

I actually tried to delete my post because I forgot that that it’s a Reed “R” Series thread and the vise I was talking about vise is an earlier non R series.

I’ll post it all up elsewhere.

HR

 

[Beerhippie]

I actually tried to delete my post because I forgot that that it’s a Reed “R” Series thread and the vise I was talking about vise is an earlier non R series.

I’ll post it all up elsewhere.

HR

There are plenty of pre-R series vise dates posted in this thread. Don't be shy!

 

[harleyrider]

Thanks Beerhippie, I restored my post here.

HR

 

[jspam]

1928 Reed 203 1/2 vise? Just inherited this very old 203 1/2 vise. I believe it was manufactured in 1928. It definitely has seen a few things by the looks of it. The slide is especially banged up.

There is a stamp that says "6 28" the the left of a diamond shaped stamp with a 6 in the middle of it. There is also a "104" stamped in a couple of locations. Interesting as well there are a plethora of smaller "5" stamped randomly on the top by the jaws. Must have been someone's tool mark maybe? Please let me know if I am incorrect on the date. I didn't want to be overly destructive trying to find markings and stopped when I found these ones.

It was rusty and partially covered in very bad black paint. I removed the black paint and tried to keep the underlying paint the best I could. Very rusty so I cleaned it using a soft wire brush and Evaporust. Cleaned, redipped and left the Evaporust on to dry for an aged but somewhat protective finish. This seems to work well.

It was missing the swivel lock nut/handle and cast nut thing. I made cast curved wedge nut using an old cast t handle I ground to shape. I just put an old square head bolt to lock it down. Looks age appropriate.

Lubed the bottom of nut with thick grease, and used white lithium on the other moving bits.

I like the patina but didn't want a rusty tool. I will leave it like this and it will probably see light use. I am planning on rebuilding an old bench and mounting on there once my tool shed gets built. It seems to work great, especially when you consider it's nearly a century old.

 

[Beerhippie]

Nice vise!

The 6/'28 date jibes with the '14 patent date.

 

[harleyrider]

Okay, I recently picked up another Reed 204 1/2 R a couple weeks ago. I previously posted it up with some initial photos here:

The VISES of Garage Journal

100% a Dropfo. That one looks to be in great condition. Here’s a write up I did a while back on one I used to own: Very little is known about The Fulton Drop Forge Co. Let’s talk about what we DO know. Per the October 1st, 1913 edition of the Akron Beacon Journal, the Fulton Drop Forge Co. was...

www.garagejournal.com

Since then I stripped away all the crappy red paint, down to bare metal. Turns out there was really a pretty nice vise beneath that peeling mess. Everything is straight & clean, with all evidence indicating very light use over its lifetime. The only issue at all is that the static jaw insert appears to have a small bead of weld added on the top. It’s nicely done and will have no effect on use of the vise. Not sure why someone welded it; does not look like it was ever loose.

Features found on this vise pertinent to this thread include:

• 4/65 date codes on right (logo) side of jaws (1/4" height)
• hockey puck spindle
• 4 bolt swivel base w/ single pawl bolt locking mechanism
• forged welded jaws (non-removable)
• threaded split spindle collar w/ set screw
• forged spindle nut w/ split dowel pin & adjustment screw
• Spindle screw & slide lubrication ports

It’s a beautiful vise and I’m not sure how I’ll refinish it (if I refinish it at all). Some photos:

HR

 

[SoCal Vise]

Sorting through photos the other day found this fun pic of a little #103 R I did last year. Made the mistake of choosing metallic turquoise haha.
Dated 1246. First year of the puck meatball I believe.

 

[harleyrider]

Sorting through photos the other day found this fun pic of a little #103 R I did last year. Made the mistake of choosing metallic turquoise haha.
Dated 1246. First year of the puck meatball I believe.

I like your last color choice better than the turquoise!

HR

 

[harleyrider]

I’ve posted info & photos of each of these Reed 204 1/2 R’s earlier in this thread but thought I’d throw up a few photos of them together, each fitted with original Reed copper or brass jaw covers that I managed to luck into since I acquired both vises. One has original paint & a nice patina; the other is in the white after I removed the ugly non-original red paint.

Anyway, here they are.

HR

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

I’ve posted info & photos of each of these Reed 204 1/2 R’s earlier in this thread but thought I’d throw up a few photos of them together, each fitted with original Reed copper or brass jaw covers that I managed to luck into since I acquired both vises. One has original paint & a nice patina; the other is in the white after I removed the ugly non-original red paint.

Anyway, here they are.

HR

VERY nice!!