Is this 1” baby Wilton real?

[Rhunes29]

1" Baby Bullet Vise - tools - by owner - sale - craigslist

Collectors 1" Metal Baby Bullet Replica Vise Shipping Costs NOT included.... USPS "If it fits, it ships" is around $23 coast to coast. Bare Metal "Paint to Suit your needs"

orangecounty.craigslist.org

I just came across this ad for a 1”baby Wilton & wanted to share because I’ve never heard of this size. I haven’t googled either but at least did a search on this forum without finding anything before posting.

The jaws definitely are not original, but I wonder if that’s because it is so rare or just that the whole thing is somehow a scaled down casting and not made by wilton.

 

[shanny19]

Buy it. If another one pops up for sale a couple days later, then you’ll know it was a 3D Print.

 

[larry_g]

The word replica appears numerous times in the add. What part of that don't you understand?

 

[DocsMachine]

Definitely 3D printed, NOT an original Wilton piece, and yet, still cute as a bug.

Doc.

 

[Jacobs976]

It says replica in the ad. It looks like one of the mill-it-yourself 1:10(I think it might've been that ratio) kit vise's that were sold awhile back by a 3rd party casting company.

They sold the stock material and a steel cast body blank of the scaled down vise and you milled the parts to match.

 

[Roberts210]

$900!!! Hilarious. Its not an authentic Wilton vise. I might give $65 for it. Who knows what it's cast from--Bare Metal covers a lot of territory. At least the guy could specify what kind of bare metal.

 

[Jacobs976]

$900!!! Hilarious. Its not an authentic Wilton vise. I might give $65 for it. Who knows what it's cast from--Bare Metal covers a lot of territory. At least the guy could specify what kind of bare metal.

If it's from the mill-it-yourself kits I mentioned above they were sold finished for up to around $2000 I think. There was active interest on an eBay auction which brought it to there and lead to others selling around the same. Kit was around $400 I think so there was a lot of profit especially since people bought multiples since it was just supposed to be a fun machining project you could give as gifts afterwards.

That said, it could just be a cheap cast aluminum/iron/tin that was just made to try profiting off the earlier hype from the fully functional miniatures that were supposed to be viable as an actual vise albeit on much smaller scale.

 

[Roberts210]

Well it IS awfully cute. Does anyone know the name of the company that sold the kit?
Googling "mill it yourself" I get lots of hits for milling: lumber, flour, AR-15 lower receivers, wind turbines, coins, silencers, circuit boards, masa harina (whatever the hell that is), asphalt, granite, chicken feed... but no vises.

 

[leg17]

It sure looks like 3-D printing. If it is a real casting, maybe the pattern was 3-D printed.
Interesting.

 

[larry_g]

Well it IS awfully cute. Does anyone know the name of the company that sold the kit?
Googling "mill it yourself" I get lots of hits for milling: lumber, flour, AR-15 lower receivers, wind turbines, coins, silencers, circuit boards, masa harina (whatever the hell that is), asphalt, granite, chicken feed... but no vises.

Google Search

vise casting kit is the search term

There were/are a few different ones out there.

 

[Roberts210]

Ah ha! Thanks. Lots of info using that search term.

 

[paulsomlo]

If it's from the mill-it-yourself kits I mentioned above they were sold finished for up to around $2000 I think. There was active interest on an eBay auction which brought it to there and lead to others selling around the same. Kit was around $400 I think so there was a lot of profit especially since people bought multiples since it was just supposed to be a fun machining project you could give as gifts afterwards.

And I thought the Tulip Craze ended 400 years ago.

 

[Jacobs976]

And I thought the Tulip Craze ended 400 years ago.

Nah mate. It's just more sporadic nowadays although shoes have been on a long run recently ($80 sneakers going for $800 on the secondary market). Never know what is going to start trending and jump to astronomical costs regardless of use or quality.

Short of it, excessive hype is always shooting up prices because everybody has to have it.

 

[larry_g]

And I thought the Tulip Craze ended 400 years ago.

The Tulip Craze may have faded but it has been superseded by many others. Vise collecting, wrench collecting, other flowers, exoitic (?) animal breeding pairs, pets, dolls, pet rocks and hundreds of others. If you can whip up some interest in your junk then it can become a valuable collectable.

 

[CoogarXR]

I have a little cheap-o (probably made in hong kong, it's that old, lol) vise around here somewhere. It clamps to the edge of a desk. I had it clamped to my desk when I didn't have a shop and had to do all my work at my desk in the house. It was OK for holding circuit boards while I soldered components, holding wires, etc. Kinda like those "helping hands" but stronger and less portable.

 

[Roberts210]

I remember when ostrich meat was being touted as the next great health food. Radio ads were played on L.A. radio stations offering a "breeding pair" of ostriches for $5,000. WIthin about 6 months the bottom fell out of the ostrich meat craze, and people who had bought in at the top of the market were scrambling to give the damm things away.