Craftsman Professional Bench Vise

[foodgroup]

I bought one of these in August and wondered if I got the last of them.

But I see that it is back again on sears.com with pickup to your local store (30 day lead time), maybe they found a few more.

It's actually on sale and w/the SAVE15 code, it's less than $100.

I love the vise, by the way. If you are looking for one, jump on it.

 

[dwatsonkc]

I just bought another one. Interesting they are slightly different. Both were purchased in a 6 month period.

 

[Farmall450]

Check your local TSC. I got a 2 nice vices, albeit china, for $7 each.

 

[LG63]

I just bought another one. Interesting they are slightly different. Both were purchased in a 6 month period.

The one thing Sears was doing right and they manage to screw it up. Looks like it's based on the mechanics series rather than the tradesman. Hopefully it doesn't have the tiny lead screw used on the mechanics vise.

 

[Tsquare]

Just picked up one of these Craftsman Professional vise's today. Did not see any online, but found one on the shelf this afternoon at the local Sears.

These are different then the Craftsman Professional vises shown earlier in the thread. They look similar to the Wilton Mechanics type vises - not so bullet shaped, more squared.

Overall first impression, very nice - I really like this vise - feels solid - finish is better then some of the examples shown earlier in the thread - jaws line up and mesh nicely - has painted dust cover vs bare metal (when I clean I am going to de-paint the dust cover and polish the bare metal). I am going to do a complete cleaning and lube per the Op. Paid $105.00 after discounts. Feel good about this purchase.

 

[retDAC]

Tsquare, pix would be helpful. In the meantime, does the swivel have 'gear teeth' to positively lock?

 

[hoarder]

I do light welding and fabrication on the side and I bought one of these Vises two years ago, after several hard blows from a 4lb hammer while working on a drive shaft the thing wouldn't line up right again and wouldn't close flush. I took it back and ordered a much larger Columbian branded dual jaw vise. In the meantime I went to Harbor Freight and bought their biggest blue vise they had, the one's that look like Ford engine blue.
So far that thing has amazed me, I've been pounding U joints on that thing now for two years and its still good, I've tightened the jaws with a 4' pipe extension, used it to hold huge items and had it so hot the edges glowed red and its still fine. I did get the Columbian vise and use that for less damaging work but the $44 HF vise was a real bargain, especially since every other vise in that position has died an early death doing just universal joints.

 

[Tsquare]

Tsquare, pix would be helpful. In the meantime, does the swivel have 'gear teeth' to positively lock?

I will get posted in the next day.

 

[darcyh]

This vise no longer appears on the Sears.com website. I was able to purchase one at a Sears store in Ft Gratiot Michigan. Price was $134.99

Does this mean it is no longer available?

 

[LG63]

This vise no longer appears on the Sears.com website. I was able to purchase one at a Sears store in Ft Gratiot Michigan. Price was $134.99

Does this mean it is no longer available?

It sure looks like it's gone in it's original form. Here's the question I posted last night: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=224375

 

[Tsquare]

Just an FYI post - found a bullet type Craftsman Professional vise (the vise shown at the beginning of this thread) at a local Sears store today, it was the last one. They still have one of the newer Sq Mechanics shaped professional vises. Both are nice - I now have one of each - glad to have found a bullet shaped vise. Will post pictures when I have time.

 

[71goldss]

Purchased this one last weekend at OSH (Orchard Supply Hardware) in Sacramento. Surprisingly, they had two on the shelf and one display model, so thought I better grab one while still available. OSH's bolted down display model was the early Tradesman version and had a sign on it stating "display only", while the two in boxes were the newer Mechanics versions. I haven't mounted it yet, but out of the box, it looks really good with great casting and paint. I've also done an internal inspection and found no signs of metal shavings, but I still cleaned and re-greased while I had it apart.



My question is:
Is there any performance advantage to the early Tradesman version vs. the newer Mechanics version? I may be wrong, but I'm finding myself under the impression from reading all of the Cman Pro vise threads on GJ, that the early version may be more desired, yet the newer version has a larger anvil pad area and the squared rear shape looks beefier, which seams like it would make for a stronger vise. Or is it just a case where the early version was first on the block?

 

[71goldss]

You need to check the paperwork. The round version is reportedly 60k psi ductile iron. Is yours that or 30k psi grey (gray) iron?

Btw, does the swivel have 'gear teeth' to positively lock?

The box states 60K. Yes on the swivel base (w/gear teeth) as well!

 

[carterbeauford]

I've been looking for one of these all week, asked a tool associate at my local Sears if he could look up 51888 in their system to possibly locate one, it doesn't even show up on the kiosk, by luck they had one on the shelf. he told me he could reorder them. I'll stop back and see if they restock the one I bought.

why would the redesign the vise only to not carry them? impressed with the vise, any heads up on copper or rubber jaw inserts?

 

[carterbeauford]

who wants to see the first one of these things powdercoated black?

 

[The Ratchet Man]

who wants to see the first one of these things powdercoated black?

I would. I've been thinking of doing this myself. I bought the HF powder coat kit months back and haven't tried it outyet. I wanted to test it on something else first though.

 

[carterbeauford]

if the emblem is as easy to remove as I read somewhere else on here, I'm going to have it professionally done. the red paint isn't bad but I want it to match everything else in my shop.

 

[CudaChick1968]

I would. I've been thinking of doing this myself. I bought the HF powder coat kit months back and haven't tried it outyet. I wanted to test it on something else first though.

Outgas it for several hours first. That metal is known to have all kinds of **** in it from the factory, and it'll come right through your coating if you don't take care of it beforehand.

 

[The Ratchet Man]

Outgas it for several hours first. That metal is known to have all kinds of **** in it from the factory, and it'll come right through your coating if you don't take care of it beforehand.

Thanks for the tip. Any other tips that might be helpful?

I have the Harbor Freight powder coating kit. Haven't even opened it and have never powder coated before. I bought some powder from them too. It sounds kinda chunky in the container. Is this normal?

 

[CudaChick1968]

Thanks for the tip. Any other tips that might be helpful?...

Hundreds lol ..... I wish it was something I could teach you over the internet darlin. If the vise means something to you, the best advice I've got is to practice on lots of other things first. It's thick and it won't cure properly if the heat is uneven, inadequate or not applied long enough.

... I have the Harbor Freight powder coating kit. Haven't even opened it and have never powder coated before. I bought some powder from them too. It sounds kinda chunky in the container. Is this normal?

Sadly, it's normal for HF and most especially for old powder; keeping it dry at every stage is critical. Most of what they offer is from overseas which usually translates into recycled or substandard base materials, and they're tough to rely on.

When you dump it into a cup and swirl it around, it should 'flow' like water. If you see chunks, do yourself a favor and throw it away. You can push it through a flour sifter [handy tip, don't use the wife's ] but you'll just end up with smaller chunks. Powders are comprised of many materials that all work together and if they can't melt and crosslink together your finish will not be reliable, durable or consistent color-wise.

 

[sdgdh1]

I found one of these at a Sears in PA. They wouldn't ship it. I had to call an ex girlfriend to pick it up for me. She has it, but I haven't seen pictures to be able to ensure that it's the bullet type. I certainly hope it is.

 

[retDAC]

Welcome to the forum. Both styles are reportedly 60k psi tensile strength ductile iron.

 

[Zeke]

CudaChick1968, thanks for your contributions on the PC subject. I watched your video — very nice. Loved the music. Sure like to see and hear that Suzuki before it gets traded on.

 

[CudaChick1968]

Thanks Zeke! There are so many hobbyists nowadays, it's really tough to try to teach everybody over the internet or keep up with all the questions. So many in fact that I could probably do nothing but, but I have a shop to run.

Due to popular demands just like yours, I uploaded the First Start Up separately. Here's a link to the uncut YouTube video.

There's also a 2-minute walkaround I did shortly after I finished up the powder work.

 

[Requin6]

I got one of these vises as a gift from my dad this year. I was sure he got the last one as I have seen it sitting on the shelf for years at my local Sears collecting dust. But they restocked the shelf with another one a couple days later. When they were available to view online it said it would take 3-4 weeks to have one show up at my local store.

Weird.

Can't wait to get it mounted!

 

[kgorman]

I was at Sears yesterday and took a double take when I saw one of these on the shelf. I grabbed it. Seems pretty nice for the money. Sears Barton Springs Mall in Austin has 1 more.

 

[MotecM]

Thanks for the heads up, I was able to find one of these at Sears today too.

The internal stock keeping sticker had a print date of November 2013, so its newer stock the store received recently.

 

[Fordman7795]

There are a couple in the sears around me. PM if u are interested in one

 

[CNGsaves]

Website shows the Craftsman Club price for this 4 1/2 professional vise is $119.99 instead of $134.99 normal price.

Item# 00951888000 Model# 87018

 

[retDAC]

Nice pic. Thanks. I know most prefer the "bullet style', but yours seems to have a bigger anvil area.

 

[71goldss]

Looking at mine, I'd say the anvil area is about a third larger, and the whole squared rear area appears to be a lot heavier casting than the bullet style, thus making it stronger I would think? Just may be the reason for the re-design? As mentioned in an earlier post, I picked up the squared one a couple of weeks ago and now have a chance to pick up a needed second one that's at another store in my area. They have both styles in stock at the moment and I'm leaning towards the bullet style just to have one of each, but I'm not quite sure it's the wiser choice, so may just go with another of the newer versions, that is if they still have any left when I'm ready to buy?

 

[k-os]

Website shows the Craftsman Club price for this 4 1/2 professional vise is $119.99 instead of $134.99 normal price.

Item# 00951888000 Model# 87018

Seems to be gone from the site already.

 

[LG63]

Seems to be gone from the site already.

Oddly (although maybe not so odd for Sears) I haven't seen it on the site since last summer yet my Sears continues to have a new one on display. It seems that it may be a store item only now.

 

[stonesfan68]

Website shows the Craftsman Club price for this 4 1/2 professional vise is $119.99 instead of $134.99 normal price.

Item# 00951888000 Model# 87018

Neither one of these items works for me. I get a Goodyear tire for 87018 and a bunch of hammers for the 009. May be this is a phantom vise only available in certain parts of the country?

 

[CNGsaves]

Neither one of these items works for me. I get a Goodyear tire for 87018 and a bunch of hammers for the 009. May be this is a phantom vise only available in certain parts of the country?

Yep, good ole Sears must have "maintenanced" their website as can't find at all. Previously I could find by searching 4 1/2 professional vise but no luck.

Likely only chance is on store shelf.

I looked at one last summer at Sears Hometown store and it was pretty nice. Probably should have bought as under $100 with discounts.

This may be end of any decent vise at Sears.

 

[Ty_Bower]

I just bought another one. Interesting they are slightly different. Both were purchased in a 6 month period.

Are the parts interchangeable on the two? Can you unscrew the dynamic jaws all the way, and swap them?

 

[SS5150]

Picked one of these up today, $99+tax. Haven't had a chance to open it up & get it mounted yet though.

 

[sdgdh1]

Quick question. How do you remove the old grease? Heat gun or hair dryer? Chemical?

 

[dlleno]

I used brake cleaner. Watch out for the paint though. ... Maybe wd40?

 

[71goldss]

Yep, good ole Sears must have "maintenanced" their website as can't find at all. Previously I could find by searching 4 1/2 professional vise but no luck.

Likely only chance is on store shelf.

I looked at one last summer at Sears Hometown store and it was pretty nice. Probably should have bought as under $100 with discounts.

This may be end of any decent vise at Sears.

I've come to the conclusion that these vises are still being marketed, but sold in-store only. Every Sears store in my area has at least one (boxed) on the shelf, but were out of stock around the holidays. Both OSH's in my area also have stock. For those who are still looking for one, skipping the Sears website and checking in-store is their best bet.