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The VISES of Garage Journal

autopts

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Jul 4, 2009
Messages
2,268
I'm so excited to be making my first post on this AWESOME thread! I just got back from picking-up an early Reed 203.5 (gave $40 for it but the PO had to think about it for a few minutes). The handles came with a couple extra little bends in them. Love the way these jaws are installed (hot forged). Here she is:

DSC01662.JPG




That Reed will look fantastic restored. A great find!!
 
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PCO6

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Dec 25, 2008
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4,573
Location
Newmarket, Ontario
Stew, I picked up a pair of 5" Record fibre jaws covers today at A-G and put them on one of my Wilton 5" bullets ... works great! Thanks for the pointer. Cheers, Bill
Bill That looks great. :thumbup: They are a nice feature and they work well. I hadn't thought of doing that but my guess is that would probably fit some other vices too.
 

5001craig

Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2012
Messages
8
That Reed will look fantastic restored. A great find!!
Thank-you Sir!

Yep--As much as I thought I would do it, I'm already over the naked look for her. She needs to look purdy. Was already thinking I need to research primer and paint (already read it ten times but now need to take notes). Hit it a bit with a wire wheel when I got home and already like what's underneath the (probably lead-based) paint.
 
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bigcaddy

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Joined
Jan 17, 2012
Messages
2,418
Location
Orange County/ San Fernando Valley
what makes a wilton so special?

They are a well built piece of equipment that can take a beating and hold up nicely.

I would be content owning just about any American made brand of vise but Wilton's had to go one step further and give the bullet vises some style.
Thats one reason why collectors actively seek them out.

The enclosed screw is another good reason. Good quality vises will cover the screw of the vise on 3 sides but Wilton fully enclosed it keeping it safe from any harmful grit that can damage the internals of the vise.


I'm guilty of collecting them myself.
 

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nmk_61802

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Joined
Mar 6, 2008
Messages
965
Location
Central IL
Speaking of Wilton vises. I just got a 4.5" C1 with swivel. Unfortunately the vise did not have the swivel bolt, t nuts or lower clamps. The previous owner had welded the base to the vise in four places. I separated the two pieces, but still need to find the replacement parts. Does anyone have these available?
 

Nightshift

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Joined
Jan 13, 2005
Messages
295
Location
London, Ontario
Speaking of Wilton vises. I just got a 4.5" C1 with swivel. Unfortunately the vise did not have the swivel bolt, t nuts or lower clamps. The previous owner had welded the base to the vise in four places. I separated the two pieces, but still need to find the replacement parts. Does anyone have these available?

Autopts (Nick) is your man bro ... he knows where all the Willy parts are :) Cheers, Bill
 

losdudes

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Joined
Mar 10, 2011
Messages
210
Location
Colorado
I just got a Wilton 746 without the swivel base. Anyone know where I can find a base? The part number for the kit is 2900980.
 

Fudge

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Dec 29, 2009
Messages
263
Location
NorCal
My WILTON.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bright_industries/6804870688/" title="34-155 by Bright Industries, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7182/6804870688_de308e214e.jpg" width="500" height="308" alt="34-155"></a>
 

Fudge

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Dec 29, 2009
Messages
263
Location
NorCal
The other side of my Craftsman.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bright_industries/6950984185/" title="34-157 by Bright Industries, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7037/6950984185_67582e789f.jpg" width="500" height="378" alt="34-157"></a>
 

Richard D

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Jan 19, 2007
Messages
1,923
Location
Texas City, between Houston and Galveston
I bought a '40-ish Ford truck last weekend. Guy also had this Reed vise,
Model No. 205 R Patent 2127008. Bolteded to a piece of 3/4" plate, which is welded to 30" of 6" pipe, with another piece of 3/4" for the base. $125, did I spend too much?
02.jpg

03.jpg

NameandNumber.jpg

Primer.jpg

Hope my Reed No. 1C doesn't get jealous.
ReedNo1C.jpg
 
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Outlawmws

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Aug 9, 2011
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39,243
Location
The Badlands
The truck was another $200, I gave $125 just for the vise.

You **** 2X, and is the stand a factory stand? the mating post flange looks to be cast perfectly, (or did someone buy a second swivel plate, and weld that to the post?)

If factory, the stand is almost cooler than the vise! :thumbup:
 

demoman

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Joined
May 4, 2010
Messages
244
Location
North Central Kansas
Dayid - Awsome vise site. That is truely a labor of love. If you could compile all the info in this vise section I am confident there would be an example of 90% of all vises. This is vital information for collectors. Brad
 

demoman

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Joined
May 4, 2010
Messages
244
Location
North Central Kansas
Hopefully I didn't step on any toes by doing this - but in my search for information about Reed vises I'd started to build a table of information about them. Somewhere along the line that spun out of control and I started trying to keep track of information about all of these vises - since there doesn't seem to be a good main source of information for many.

That said, I put up a wiki with information from here and other forums about the different vises on them. It's http://dayid.org/mediawiki/index.php/Category:Vise

That's just my personal site, no ads, no money making or anything else, I just like to share information when I come across it and this seemed like a good topic to attack. I'm currently on page 30 of this thread but still chugging away.:beer:

Dayid - Awsome vise site. That is truely a labor of love. If you could compile all the info in this vise section I am confident there would be an example of 90% of all vises. This is vital information for collectors. Brad
 

demographic

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Oct 24, 2010
Messages
824
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The Duchy of Grand Fenwick, otherwise known as Gre
Dayid - Awsome vise site. That is truely a labor of love. If you could compile all the info in this vise section I am confident there would be an example of 90% of all vises. This is vital information for collectors. Brad

Aye, might be worth putting the alternate spelling of Vice in there also, just to catch the old world English speakers as well.
 

5001craig

Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2012
Messages
8
So I broke-down the Reed 203.5 that I picked-up on Friday and found a couple issues...

The PO(s) had used the top of the slide for a bit of an anvil (really didn't look that bad to me). Because of this, the slide was a bit wider towards the top (mushroomed) than it should have been. Repeatedly trying to move the jaw out (open) by the PO removed approximately 1/2 of the acme threads on the spindle and also damaged the main nut. I was able to break-down the vise only after filing the sides of the slide.

I need a new spindle and main nut for my almost beautiful Reed 203.5. Anyone know where to get these two parts? I've looked a bit and don't seem to find them. I believe I have an acme threaded rod but really don't want to weld this together (not sure why but it just seems wrong).

Otherwise, this thing cleaned-up beautifully and will look great after painting (yep--she needs to look purdy and will not be naked). Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Craig
 

Harvey Melvin Richards

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Joined
Mar 17, 2011
Messages
406
Speaking of Wilton vises. I just got a 4.5" C1 with swivel. Unfortunately the vise did not have the swivel bolt, t nuts or lower clamps. The previous owner had welded the base to the vise in four places. I separated the two pieces, but still need to find the replacement parts. Does anyone have these available?

I'm sure they are also available elsewhere, but you can get Wilton vise parts from McMaster Carr.
 

B17E1943

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Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
754
Location
Far Northern Kommifornia
I figured it's time I throw my Columbian in here. I can't seem to find a model # on it. :dunno: I think it's a newer model, not vintage - but I could be wrong.

Columbianvisepics3-4-2012002croppedandresized4.jpg
 
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Low Friction

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Joined
Feb 24, 2012
Messages
144
Location
Seattle, WA
Finally finished the clean up of my very vintage 4.5" Prentiss 20. All the original parts were with the vise and in good serviceable condition. The book lists the weight as 65lbs. My scale reads 62lbs. This is my first swivel jaw vise...it'll be interesting to see how useful this feature is.
 

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Richard D

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Jan 19, 2007
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Texas City, between Houston and Galveston
You **** 2X, and is the stand a factory stand? the mating post flange looks to be cast perfectly, (or did someone buy a second swivel plate, and weld that to the post?)

If factory, the stand is almost cooler than the vise! :thumbup:

It's a piece of 6"'pipe 30" long, with 3/4" steel plate welded on either end. Bottom plate is about 18" square, flame cut with holes to bolt it down. It was just buried in the ground however and pretty rusty. Top plate is flame cut to match the swivel base. I took a wire wheel to the whole thing yesterday, and smoothed off all the torch cut edges, and I also welded on a beer holder. Then I brushed on a good coat of rusty metal primer. I will top coat it this afternoon. This is the first thing I have really worked on in the garage since quadruple neck vertebrae fusion last summer. It's good to be back in the shop!
 

gatewaysysop

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Joined
Nov 11, 2008
Messages
3,292
Location
Arizona
Figured I should add these here for posterity, since I've not seen another one in this thread as of yet.

The mammoth Athol 646, 6" jaws, swivel jaw, swivel base, in all its awesomeness. Will definitely post up again when it's been restored, but for now, enjoy the "before" shots. :bowdown:
 

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gatewaysysop

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Nov 11, 2008
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Location
Arizona
I want it. How much?

I'm fairly sure that this one will be buried with me. ;)

For the record, per my other thread, I paid $200 for it, which was the full asking price. Given the rarity and the overall good condition, I'd have gladly given three times what he was asking if I had to, in a heartbeat. :drool:
 
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