TL;DR - This is an introduction and you guys got me hooked on old bench vises.
Hey all. I've been lurking here for a few weeks now--but I've been reading so much I figured I'd register and say hello. I'm a college student from Akron, OH. I'm always doing mechanical work and got sick of borrowing everyone else's tools, so I finally hunkered down and bought some of my own.
While I can't hold a candle to the guys with their 3-bay Snap-Ons and thousands of dollars in tools, I am pretty proud of my Craftsman roller and the tools inside it. It's been interesting buying everything as it seems Craftsman is in the middle of transitioning most of their manufacturing overseas--I've been bouncing between three different Sears stores to get US-made tools.
One of the major things I've really found myself wanting over the years has been a bench vise. I became totally dependent on one in my metals classes in high school and I hate not having one. I knew I wanted one that was US made, and I knew I wanted 6" to 6.5" jaws. I was going to buy this 50 lb Yost from Northern Tool...and then I found the Vises thread on here. Ever since then I've been reading all about Reed, Charles Parker, Prentiss, Columbian etc. in my spare time, and I've become determined to find some old hunk of iron and restore it.
Craigslist hasn't really turned up much of anything in my area. There are a couple Wilton C2's a couple hours from me, but I really want something with a rectangular slide--they just speak to me. In any case, when I find something I'll be sure to post about it.
Hey all. I've been lurking here for a few weeks now--but I've been reading so much I figured I'd register and say hello. I'm a college student from Akron, OH. I'm always doing mechanical work and got sick of borrowing everyone else's tools, so I finally hunkered down and bought some of my own.
While I can't hold a candle to the guys with their 3-bay Snap-Ons and thousands of dollars in tools, I am pretty proud of my Craftsman roller and the tools inside it. It's been interesting buying everything as it seems Craftsman is in the middle of transitioning most of their manufacturing overseas--I've been bouncing between three different Sears stores to get US-made tools.
One of the major things I've really found myself wanting over the years has been a bench vise. I became totally dependent on one in my metals classes in high school and I hate not having one. I knew I wanted one that was US made, and I knew I wanted 6" to 6.5" jaws. I was going to buy this 50 lb Yost from Northern Tool...and then I found the Vises thread on here. Ever since then I've been reading all about Reed, Charles Parker, Prentiss, Columbian etc. in my spare time, and I've become determined to find some old hunk of iron and restore it.
Craigslist hasn't really turned up much of anything in my area. There are a couple Wilton C2's a couple hours from me, but I really want something with a rectangular slide--they just speak to me. In any case, when I find something I'll be sure to post about it.
