Approx. when did vise handles go from round to square?
- Thread starter 1982fxr
- Start date
Outlawmws
Well-known member
Your talking about The main screw head? That would vary from mfg to mfg, and I think some were always cylindrical. (Parker?) Some were round as shown, and some oval shaped (Reed, possibly Rock Island)
Packard V8
Well-known member
You mean when did the boss on the front through which the handle engages change from spherical to cylindrical?
jack vines
jack vines
I think wilton and morgan and columbian were the only companies to never use the round style. And I believe the switch to cylinder was in the 1940s when faster pace cost cutting assembly lines started to really show up with a strong force. I know that's when prentiss and parker switched at least. And rock island always had round knobs from what I have seen.
hofferwood
Well-known member
Prentiss also
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Curmudgeon
Well-known member
It would appear the OP hasn't got a clue what he's talking about. I've seen and used a whole lot of vises in my life. I've never seen one with a square handle.1982fxr.......
WTF?
neither in your pictures have square handles......
and i've never seen a vise with a square handle either
1. i'm old
2. i have a lot of vises
3. i have a lot of vices too
You know the old saying, that there's no such thing as a stupid question? It ain't true.
kenfain
Well-known member
Imagine my disappointment. I click on this thread, wanting to see what the hell the op means by square handle. I ain't never seen no square handle vise. Grrrrr. Now I'm gonna be late goin to work. Thanks dude....
NHBandit
Well-known member
Whew... I saw the title to this thread and thought I had missed some big change in vise construction. I'm old and all of mine have round handles too but that dosn't mean I couldn't have slept through some type of upgrade. Glad to hear that fxr is just stoned...
Burgerkong
Well-known member
Don't beat him up too much, it got the point across. What he meant was when they switched over from a spherical lead screw head to a cylindrical head.
4x4gearhead
Well-known member
Well you sure seem to live up to your name, and I suppose I can respect that to an extent.
To the OP, the only round lead screw heads Ive seen are on wilton bullets, which to my knowledge have been around for some time. I believe it is mfgr specific is all.
NHBandit
Well-known member
Curious how you know this is what he meant ? There's only ONE "handle" on any of the vises I've ever owned and all of them are round.
yes this is what I meant to say.
didn't mean to give so many people aneurysms over my mis-wording...
NHBandit
Well-known member
<<<<<<<<< I'm retired, and bored, and not looking forward to the 1000 mile trip to NH I have to take in a few hours so I had nothing better to do anyway. Besides I have plenty of this to help with the aneurysms.
Mohawk Dave
Well-known member
damn...we got some ball-busters in here!
NHBandit
Well-known member
Mine was meant all in fun.. If a guy with an 81 FXS can't mess with a guy with an 82 FXR once in awhile something is wrong with the world. No harm intended. See ya around the campfire...damn...we got some ball-busters in here!
NHBandit
Well-known member
What a coincidence. We just got home from picking up some more to take to NH with us. Got regular stuff like in the pic, apple pie & blueberry. Would like to have brought some of the real stuff with us to NH but didn't have time to call the guy " who knows a guy, who's cousin Bllybob, has a stash".. LoLat least you can find parts for yours! pass the white lightning
1940's was what I had kind of been led to believe as well.
So, vise junkies, would it be reasonably accurate to state as a general rule of thumb that most spherical bosses were pre-war and most cylindrical bosses were post WWII?
Or are there too many examples out there that prove this false? Asking for my own knowledge because there is so little info on many of the old vise companies as far as dating anything...
Outlawmws
Well-known member
Man, rough crowd! At least at least FXR rolled with it! 
Curmudgeon
Well-known member
I try my best. Once in awhile I start slipping, and I start shaking and sweating and think I'm becoming all warm and fuzzy, even civilized. It takes something like this to get me back on track.
Besides, somebody needs to say what a whole bunch of people are thinking but are too polite to say. I'll take the heat so you don't have to. At least I don't hide behind some phony pseudonym when I say it. But I DO draw the line at saying things that are truly nasty or mean. You'll note the definition of curmudgeon doesn't include things like mean, vicious, or cruel.
JP
(P.S. Now, in all seriousness, I have to fess up that it's mostly all in fun.)
neophyte
Well-known member
Rectangular vise handles were sort of a niche thing.
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gleman
Well-known member
I ran across some really interesting and cool looking vintage woodworking vices trying to gather some info on my adjustable clamp company vise. I think some wodens had the same funky bar style handles too.
Those two definitely fit the neato bill.
Thank goodness after all these years somebody finally actually posted a picture of a square-handled vise.
RTM
Well-known member
The downside is those little protruding handles leave a hell of a bruise.
My main woodworking vise has a wooden handle with wooden knobs on it much smaller bruises.