Catalyze
Well-known member
I wanted to get a bushing made for a project and since it was just a simple bushing (but odd sized), I went out to the oldest machine shop in our area. I pulled up and right out front (this is outside of town proper) is a Reed 108 Vise on a railroad track pedestal. It is old...it is rusty....it has a curved handle... and it is tasty. I think to myself.....Self, let us proceed to procure that vise for next to nothing in funds. I go inside and explain to the closest machinist what I would like in a bushing and Oh, by the way is the rusty vise out front display or for sale? I got the talk to the owner speech and so I waited for the owner. He arrived just as I was catching a subtle (to me anyway) glimpse of a Wilton C3 bolted to a table. I explain my bushing needs again and he explains to me why I don't really need a bushing for my project in a polite "let me try and save you from yourself" manner. I agreed (he makes sense....but it seemed so great an idea alone late at night). I ask him about that rusty display vise out front and its possible sale to me. He laughs and says....."Son, that came from the Santa Fe railroad shops when we still had party lines for phone service. It was #$@%ed up...had to make a new nut for the lead screw." I said....That's great that you can make new parts for an old vise. He tells me to follow him into another room. That's when I entered Vise Heaven. On a layout table is a Morgan Chicago 160 in fine shape (painted Gov't Gray).....next to it are 2 Chicago Wiltons with 6" jaws in fine shape (painted Gov't Gray)....next to another Reed 108 (patent dates of 1910 and 1914 IIRC on the sides painted Gov't Gray)...next to a Morgan Chicago 140 in fine shape (painted ....well ...you know)...but at the end of the row is a Prentiss 22 vise. It is Big (6" jaws)....it swivels.....the rear jaw swivels...and it is painted GG. He says that he has fixed various parts for all of these vises including screw collars....screw nuts....complete lead screws..etc. I start babbling incoherently about their history and great designs and.....He stops me right in mid sob and says "Son, are you collecting vises?" I had to admit, yes. He says that all of them are for sale. They are just tools albeit old ones to him. They work better than anything imported but they are still just tools and they are for sale. He is asking about 75% of a new USA made vise cost. The Prentiss is way out of any price range that I could afford so I ask him about ...cough cough....the old rust Reed out front. You know...the "display" one. He laughs and says that the Reed is used every day but that he will take "trade" for that one. I brighten up. "Just bring me a new 8'" Wilton vise and you can take the Reed home." I left Vise Heaven with a nervous twitch in my eye lid. I had seen too much too soon. Now it was time to come back down to earth and my Chinese Shark Vice (as the label says). Sometimes old tools can give you a nervous twitch that chrome just can't do.
Craig
Craig
My second thought was that you probably could bolt that vise directly into the dirt and it still wouldn't move when using it.
