Anyone ever see a vise slide like this before?

[Vne]

Sorry for the bad picture. If you can't see it clearly, this slide has a semi-spherical cut removed from the back bottom portion of the slide. The first time I saw such a cut I figured it was a home done job. But then I saw it again so now I'm thinking it must be from the factory.

Here's the pic.

Anybody know anything about this or ever seen it before? Both times I've seen it now was on an Athol vise.

 

[exmaxima1]

If it's on both sides of the slide it might be considered a factory cut. But if only on one side----it's broken

 

[meatsis]

That vise belongs to a member here. Not me.


And it has 8" jaws. Not 3"

 

[Vne]

If it's on both sides of the slide it might be considered a factory cut. But if only on one side----it's broken

It's definitely on both sides.

 

[Vne]

That vise belongs to a member here. Not me.


And it has 8" jaws. Not 3"

Small world! Now I'm gonna have to dig through the vises of gj thread.

 

[drivesitfar]

VNE: i've seen several slides like that on a lot of vises usually cause the vise was dropped and that piece cracked off. almost always the owner will say it doesn't effect the use and have value up where a fully restored vise is.

it might not effect the use, but it certainly does effect the value.

that being said i seem to recall a company (not sure it was Athol) that made a slide like that, but both sides would have to be identical and maybe it was to reduce the weight and maybe make the slide longer. not sure of the reasoning of guys over 100 years old, or it could have been a JUST FOR THE LOOK in the design.

have fun looking for that in the big vise thread and maybe the guys with vises that have the missing portion of slide will find your little thread.

good luck

 

[kwoswalt99]

It's definitely on both sides.

That one's only on one side. I've never seen one like Drives is talking about.

 

[Vne]

Here's one of the vises in question. What'dya think? Broken or factory done?

 

[kwoswalt99]

Broken. Where did you find those pictures?

 

[jimreed2160]

It could have been a user mod to make the vise close on a tight bench. Like in a cramped ship.

 

[SweetD]

Someone mod'd it intentionally or it broke symmetrically like that. I've never seen one intentionally made like that. Especially an Athol.

 

[ganymede]

It could have been a user mod to make the vise close on a tight bench. Like in a cramped ship.

That'd be my guess too.
Also it (the 2nd one) should have a bulb shaped hub but its cylindrical so the screw is probably a replacement .

 

[Vne]

Yeah, the more I look at that the more I think it's a break or a hack job. I've looked at every old Athol catalog picture I can find and there aren't any vises that look like that in the ads.

 

[Rory Bellows]

Broke. I had a Reed that was broke in the exact same place.

 

[CTyankee]

I'd say broken too. Maybe one side broke and the owner purposely balanced out the two sides to make it look better..

 

[7th Kahuna]

I too have seen a vice once that had an intentional cut back there. It was as though it had been milled with a giant ogee profile bit. Decorative. I don't remember the details. I suppose it could have been broken and someone with a strong design esthetic ground it out in a classical shape.

 

[Slackmaster G]

I have an Athol 624 and it is squared up

 

[sparklemotion]

Did you end up going for it on k-bid, Vne?

 

[sonoronos]

Definitely a break. If it was intentional, it would be a very bad idea.

Basically, a break of that sort would reduce the max opening distance of the vise by as much as the break is long. It reduces the utility of the vise by a significant amount, considering that one of the advantages of large machinist vises is their large opening distance.

It's like cutting off your nose to spite your face.