Craftsman 5187 Vise

[m2salmon]

Found this bolted to a railroad tie behind a shop in backwoods NH. Covered in moss. Slowly bringing back to life.

It's been disassembled, cleaned, blasted, polished, and castings painted. The blue has a shimmer to it that didn't show up well in the photos but looks great I the light. Liking how it's turning out. I've only seen pics of one other 5187 4 1/2" Reed made Craftsman. It probably weighs close to 70#. I wish I still saw tools designed to last several lifetimes with "MADE IN THE USA" cast into the side. I have a ton more pics but photobucket has designed in pop-up hell when trying to use their service from a mobile devise. Can't take it anymore!
Marty

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[pistolpete1313]

I feel like there were a ton of work between those two states. Looks great in blue.

 

[Shootinok]

Looks fantastic!
I love returning old USA steel back to its former glory too.

What paint did you use?

 

[CNGsaves]

Welcome to GJ. What a fabulous 1st post with restored C-Man vise !!! . .

+1 that restoration is great. You've "caught the GJ bug" and now you'll soon be restoring several vises of variety of brands !!

 

[Mrmontebuilder]

Nice work!! I want a vintage vise to restore for my workshop as soon I am done with the rest of the work in there.

 

[m2salmon]

Thanks guys. Paint is Rustoleum 'Metallic' blue. It has a subtle glimmer to it that I really like. I've had a few vises pass through- Parkers, wiltons, and a starrett. The only ones I've held onto are a 3" craftsman badged Rock island and a 6" Rock island for when I need to crush watermelons. I have a machine shop addiction so the rehabbed vises usually get sold to support buying other tooling for the shop.

 

[m2salmon]

Here's what it looked like just before paint. At this point I was considering just oiling the bare metal.

 

[jkherd]

Looks great, Nice work.

 

[jimreed2160]

Those Reeds made great stuff and you did a great job on the Reed/Craftsman restore. Love the color. Time for it to get back to work.

 

[G-ManBart]

Love it!

 

[WWShop]

That turned out great! Beautiful work.

 

[drivesitfar]

M2: l like those Craftsman Reed made vises almost as much as the Rock Islands and the Rock island made craftsmans. sounds like you have found some quality vises in your travels.

welcome to GJ and WELL DONE on finding/saving and restoring that 5187.

 

[m2salmon]

All done. All bright parts blasted, polished, and waxed. She's a beauty!

 

[G-ManBart]

Looks great...an underlined Craftsman is one of the vises I'm most hoping to find one of these days!

 

[Sheriff Roscoe]

Nice work m2salmon! Love to see "Made in USA" on the side of those old vises.

 

[drivesitfar]

M2: i have some lathe and other parts that i'd gladly trade for old Craftsman and big Rock Island vises, but not sure where you are located. care to go in your GJ profile and put in your location? also click on Avatar and download a picture that will show up under your M2 handle/name on every post if you like. for starters on the Avatar a picture of the 6 inch rock island, your machine shop or that cool stainless steel bench would work.

cheers and nicely done on the Craftsman vise restoration.

Roscoe: haven't seen you posting for a while and hope all is well in your world.

 

[charlesgprescott]

Just restored mine.