Athol 645

Aloha all!

My first post on here (though I've been lurking as a guest for years) - and just wanted to share this recent find - an Athol vise (and a bit of a vice, too), model 645 - a 96 pound behemoth with a swivel base and the swivel jaw.

I tried to do a Google search - VERY LITTLE shows up on these - and it was too unique to let it slip by. And the back story is even more fun...

So, I found this listed on OfferUp. Hawaii is a sort of unique place. As you might imagine, shipping CRUSHES us - and many things simply do NOT ship (especially big heavy vintage American iron.) But it immediately caught my attention, so I called. Turns out to be a young man (16ish) who happened to scavenge this vise out of the rubbish (of all places) a few months ago. Cleaned it up, greased it, shot it with a little enamel paint - and put it up for sale. I paid $180 for it, and I was happy to pay every dollar (he was actually only asking $175 - but I only had $20's - and I admired his initiative!)

I will be stripping it down again, and redo the restoration - but I would like to think that I will be handing this down to my grandkids - or great grandkids - some day far in the future. (After using the BEJEEZUS out of it...)

Mahalo for an AWESOME tool board!

Jonathan

(now to figure out how to add photos...)

Photos!

Very cool!


Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app

Nice catch.

Jonathan: nice find and good story. i'm happy the young man knew it was worth saving cause it was.

Athol was bought by Starrett or maybe always owned by Starrett and Starrett just started putting their names on their vises years later.

anyway there is a bit of a trick we developed for removing the main screw that has been posted a few times over on the Vise Repair 101 thread. if you have a piece of aluminum or copper pipe (or even PVC might work) and you cut a notch in the end so you can pull and replace the cotter pin it might help you a lot in taking apart your old Athol.

here's a few pictures.

also I lurked for maybe 6 years cause GOOGLE would always send me here looking for old tool info and finally I joined and it's a great place to talk to guys mostly, but there are a few gals all over the world.

now that you are a member and you know how to post pictures and buy cool old tools i hope to see a lot more posts from you and maybe a wave or beach pic or two if you have time.

welcome to the group!!

LOL!

Yeah - I lurked because Google would dump me here too - but I'm not complaining...

I LOVE old tools. Something about the patina of use - the sweat and oil that has gone into them. The idea that you can use a rough (ish) tool to make a BETTER tool. My oldest son (24 now) used to HATE the local H*me D*pot and H*rbor F*reight stores - but those were some of my favorites (don't worry - he's coming around).

When I moved here to Hawaii I brought my 1942 9" South Bend - but I just couldn't bring the J-head Bridgeport. Damn do I wish I had, though. It's all right. I'll have another.

Thank you for the pointers on that swivel - I've got a few other projects to polish up first - but I promise pix as soon as I start taking it apart.