Help Identifying Early-Type Swivel / Smith-Style Vise

[Tyler-James]

Hello Garage Journal. For a first post, I thought I'd show you something unique I picked up.

I bought this vise from a liquidator on Sunday. The man who originally sold it to the liquidators was still in the store, and when I questioned him on it, he said all the parts were present. I didn't want to argue with him, but I had my suspicions that there were some mounting pieces missing.

Regardless, it looked unique to me, so I bought it, and have been trying to identify it. I have been looking through the forums on here to try and identify the maker of this vise. The best I've done is to determine that it's probably early 1900s and is the "original" type of swivel vise. Beyond that, I don't know if it's Oswego, Sawyer, Athol, Parker, or even if it's some other brand.

I have two problems. First, I can't find any identifying makers mark on it. I'm at college right now, so I can't do any work on it, but my goal is to run it through an electrolysis bath because it's pretty seized up at the moment. Second, compared to all the other vises I've seen on here with the early type of swivel / center bolt, this one has an I-beam style of slide and the small horn on the back.

Any thoughts? I'll try to update when I work on it in a few weeks.

 

[t4runner]

I may be wrong but it looks like almost all the parts are there except for the round backing plate that goes between the nut and the bottom of the bench top your mounting it to.

 

[Tyler-James]

t4runner, thanks for the picture. I think you're right and the backing plate may be the only missing piece. Any idea on the maker / brand?

I was able to clean it a bit, but still, no visible markings. I can tell you that it has 3" jaws, opens 5" and the jaws are also welded on. Don't have a scale so I can't tell you the weight, but it's pretty solid.

 

[classicJackets]

Cool piece! Worst part about trying to collect/pick up tools in college is there's nowhere to put the bigger ones, lol.. I'm in the same boat

 

[BFBOB]

It's missing one other piece: the handle (or wrench) that turns that nut on the bottom of the bench. It's meant to function like a normal swivel vise, so you really don't want to go fumbling for a wrench every time you need to adjust the swivel. Some vises of this type use a giant wing nut; yours uses something like this:

The big wingnut is for a Yost No. 1; the wrench/square nut is for an Oswego.

 

[Tyler-James]

Well, here she is. I opted for two coats of Rust-Oleum Oil Enamel in a gloss red, brushed on by hand to keep with the rugged antique look it has. I thought about using a red oxide primer, but I didn't have any at the time, and due to the pitting on the surface, the paint had no trouble bonding with the metal.

Rather than using the square nut that came with this, I opted for a wingnut. Well, it took me a while to find one, as 7/16-14 is not a common size anymore; luckily, Fastenal stocks practically everything. I used a scrap piece of brass to act as a counter-weight / bumper underneath the work table, and filled in the space with some spare washers. With this vise, I was actually surprised with its stability - I don't need to screw the plate down to the work surface because hand-tightening the wingnut stops it from swiveling or rocking. This piece is solid.

I still have no clue as to the age or maker, but I'm happy with it, and I'm sure it will get enough heavy use in the coming months that I might be painting it again by the end of summer.

Also, I didn't mention it earlier, but the weight on this is 15 lbs.