Is this a good Columbian vise?

[ndnchf]

I don't know much about Columbian vises, but saw this advertised locally. Been looking for a good quality, USA made swivel vise to replace an old fixed vise on my garage bench. What do you think? What's a fair price to pay?

 

[cowboy73]

What lake did that come out of? LOL. If it moves at all, I probably wouldn't give more than $20 and that would be a stretch. It doesn't look beat up but it has definitely been neglected.

 

[Swingit]

There ok for a medium duty vise. I have picked them up for as little as $5.00.

 

[In The Doghouse]

Looks liks someone mistook a vise for a boat anchor. But with some TLC I bet it will clean up pretty nice. I would buy it at the right price.

 

[ndnchf]

Its mounted on a bench and appears to have been for outside use. As usual, the seller is asking too much - $75 for vise and bench. I thought about making an offer for the vise alone.

 

[emeraldcoupe]

i just sold one of those for $40, but it was in MUCH nicer condition. i'd offer like $20 for it.

 

[Trey T]

That's a good piece. Make sure the swivel base is not stuck. I would pay no more than $40.

 

[Outlawmws]

Why possible reason would you have to buy that piece of junk?

- Go read "The Vises of Garage Journal" thread and learn something...


To the OP:

That is a decent vise, but not a really heavy duty good one.

There are:

Very light duty "Homeowners" vises, with exposed screws, that generally go for $1-$15

Medium to light duty vises like that one, with covered screw, but the slide is a stamped steel channel, that gets pressed/cast into the dynamic jaw; worth generally $5 - $40, maybe $50

Then there are the Machinist and other heavy duty vises, that have one piece cast, (sometimes forged - rarely) dynamic jaws. generally those go for $20 - $100 or more in the case of the really big ones, (above 4"wide jaws mostly) or the bullet Wiltons and other highly sought after vices. Sometimes the sky is the limit on those.

Specialty vises can't be easily priced as they can be all over the map, from dirt cheap to "you want HOW MUCH?"

Weight is almost everything to a vise and in a given jaw width size, heavier almost always = better

The general exception to the above guide is the run of the mill import Asian vises. (Easily spotted as they almost invariably have chrome plated handles, main screw heads, and swivel handle/nuts, and are often bondoed to cover casting imperfections,and painted some variant of hammertone (copying Wilton? ). They are also incredibly light for their sizes... They also commonly have a big "4", "5", or "6" cast in the dynamic jaw. Those are not worth anything above scrap price IMO.

 

[ndnchf]

Its not like I'm hurting for a vise. I currently have:
Reed #104
American Scale #210
Craftsman (Reed) 5181

Its just that none of these are have a swivel base. I'll offer him $20, all he can do is ignore it. Thanks for your advice.

 

[Outlawmws]

Need to have a sense of humour hoss. From just looking at the picture that vise is going to take some serious work to restore. If you are willing to take the time to do it right then it may be a great deal for 20 or 30 bucks. Also depending on where you are from and how much time you want to spend looking for a vise then I think there may be better deals to be had on better vises.
Just stay away from the Chinese junk.

You need to show you were trying to be humorous Hoss, That sort of post looks like thread crapping unless you communicate your intent (Smilies, "jk" etc...), and could easily have been reported...

All we have to go on is what you type, we are not mind readers.

 

[Mohawk Dave]

That vise is 100% salvageable. Blast it...I just did one. They clean up fine. I'd pick it up. With it rusted like that it really makes you feel good when you breathe new life into it. Assuming you can get it for the right price.

Here's my link...http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2798178#post2798178

 

[ndnchf]

Nice job Dave. I'm sure this one could be salvaged, it will just take a lot of work. Certainly not worth anywhere near what he's asking for it.