Swan
Well-known member
I picked up a Parker machinist’s vise no. 172 yesterday at a farm auction for $35 and spent a few hours breaking it down, degreasing, blasting, priming and painting it. This is a beautiful old vise and works very well. The only flaw is it is missing the collar or garter on the front spindle so I will have to fabricate one to hold the dynamic jaw to the spindle. My Wilton C1 1845 vise is working beautifully but I wanted a second vise to put on a new workbench in the basement of my motorcycle shop, this was perfect for my needs and a steal.
It weighs just over 50 pounds and has 4” jaws. Cast into the body are the following letters:
right side “C. Parker
Meriden Ct."
left side “Pat May 23
Nov 26
Dec 10 & 17 1867
No. 172”
Before:
After
I broke it down, cleaned it and ran it through my parts washer.
Next, I went down the street to my buddy Skip’s machine shop and used his beautiful blasting cabinet with a very fine grit blasting media to clean off all the rust.
There were the usual scars from normal use, (saw marks, drill bit slips etc) no flaws, repairs, crude welds and for once, no hammer marks on the top of the slide where the dumb pervious owner used it as an anvil. The jaws are in very good shape too.
The static jaw has a removable pin with a chain allow it to swivel for unusually shaped objects (?) This is strange design I have never seen before.
I wiped the blasted parts with lacquer thinner, primed with Rustoelum clean metal primer and then painted several coats of low-gloss black Duplicolor high temp engine enamel. I did not find any information on this no.172 and assumed it was originally black. The low gloss looks right and reminds me of the black japanning found on Stanley planes. The cast letters were painted white and it looks much better than it did in the morning when I bought it. I lubed the main screw with anti-seize lubricant, the slide and handle with a light coat of lithium grease, and split a 5/8” ID inner diameter rubber grommet and slipped the halves the over the ends of the handle to serve as cushioning.
note missing collar
Once I fabricate a new collar this vice will be ready for another 150 years of service.
I am however having a difficult time finding any information on this specific model no. 172 vise and would really appreciate any links to its history, images, patent drawings, advertisements etc. Was this made in 1867? I believe there may be a Parker tool book too? Also, this is a long shot, but if anyone has a Parker vise collar I would like to buy it. Thanks!
It weighs just over 50 pounds and has 4” jaws. Cast into the body are the following letters:
right side “C. Parker
Meriden Ct."
left side “Pat May 23
Nov 26
Dec 10 & 17 1867
No. 172”
Before:
After
I broke it down, cleaned it and ran it through my parts washer.
Next, I went down the street to my buddy Skip’s machine shop and used his beautiful blasting cabinet with a very fine grit blasting media to clean off all the rust.
There were the usual scars from normal use, (saw marks, drill bit slips etc) no flaws, repairs, crude welds and for once, no hammer marks on the top of the slide where the dumb pervious owner used it as an anvil. The jaws are in very good shape too.
The static jaw has a removable pin with a chain allow it to swivel for unusually shaped objects (?) This is strange design I have never seen before.
I wiped the blasted parts with lacquer thinner, primed with Rustoelum clean metal primer and then painted several coats of low-gloss black Duplicolor high temp engine enamel. I did not find any information on this no.172 and assumed it was originally black. The low gloss looks right and reminds me of the black japanning found on Stanley planes. The cast letters were painted white and it looks much better than it did in the morning when I bought it. I lubed the main screw with anti-seize lubricant, the slide and handle with a light coat of lithium grease, and split a 5/8” ID inner diameter rubber grommet and slipped the halves the over the ends of the handle to serve as cushioning.
note missing collar
Once I fabricate a new collar this vice will be ready for another 150 years of service.
I am however having a difficult time finding any information on this specific model no. 172 vise and would really appreciate any links to its history, images, patent drawings, advertisements etc. Was this made in 1867? I believe there may be a Parker tool book too? Also, this is a long shot, but if anyone has a Parker vise collar I would like to buy it. Thanks!
Last edited:
