Chas Parker 5" jaw with anvil help

[savage454]

I recently picked this old Chas Parker up for free. It had only one original jaw and the anvil face was bellied pretty good. I machined a set of aluminum soft jaws and I resurfaced the anvil face. I weld stamping and forging dies and trim steels for my day job so I had access to the equipment and correct filler metal to do it right. I used a cast underlay and a eureka hammer forge tool steel filler for finishing the face. I'm wondering if there's any way to date these. This is my first Chas Parker. Besides it weighing a bit over a 100lbs I love the 5" jaws and large throat size. Any info would be appreciated.

 

[Fierljeppen]

savage454...Your Parker vise was first introduced in 1925 as the "Hercules" vise, designed for the working man.



By 1927, Parker changed the model name from "Hercules" to the "Big Bear" and offered the vise in both swivel and stationary bases. This model continued to be mfg. all the way until the very early 1970's.



Your vise is pretty easy to date, since the base has the universal casting, which allowed it to be used as a stationary or swivel base vise. This feature was first advertised around 1969, making the vise around 50 years old.



Nice job on the restoration! You should get many more years of reliable service from your Parker "Big Bear" vise.