My Vise Finds

[lambo13]

All -

I've been searching for a vise for some time now. Having just gotten into the tool game I'm still building my collection, typically based on what tool I need next in my '53 Chevy pickup restoration.

Well I finally found a vise, two in fact. I got both vises plus the 200+ lb steel 'bench' for $45. Not sure if I got a good deal or not, don't really care. The guy I bought it from needed the money much more than I did and I was quite happy with what I got. Win-win.

First up, a small Columbian:







Next is this Cole Tool vise, which according to this site came with a hand drill originally. Other than that site and some folks on Ebay trying to sell them for $100 on up, I can't find any other info about it. So if you know anything, please share!


Blurry pic. I took the table too just cause I needed something to mount this beast to.




Opens much further than this. And the small handle on the right is a set screw that allows the entire vise to rotate vertically. You can see the spring inside as well... not sure why it would have a spring?


Cole Tool Mfg


Chicago HTS ILL (HTS???)


Standard caulk gun for scale. But it is even larger than this pic would suggest.

 

[lambo13]

Looks like 'CHICAGO HTS ILL' is Chicago Heights Illinois.

And now I really want to find a Cole drill to match the vise.

 

[spongerich]

That Cole is pretty damn cool.

The little Columbian isn't anything special, but you could probably clean her up and get $35 on eBay.

The table alone warrants a You **** for $45.

 

[bgott]

Yep, you ****! You could use that table for light forging if you had a mind to.

 

[Flatland Dave]

You gave half of what I would have for the table and got the vices free.
How thick is the table top?
Yea, it is a "You **** deal"

 

[lambo13]

Ha! I was excited about the vises and all anyone on GarageJournal can talk about is the table I got with it!

The top is 5/8". Thinking I will wire brush the entire thing, paint the legs and then keep the top bare metal (with some oil or rust preventer).

 

[lambo13]

Thought I'd get some advice on how best to clean up the steel table. I want to use it as a place do work that is high impact or really messy. The Cole vise will be mounted to it still - right now it is in the electrolysis tank.

I was thinking of sanding the thing down and applying rubberized underbody coating to the legs and then putting some rust converter on the top (the paint that turns rust black). Basically I want it to look a little better than it does now, but stand up to abuse.

I live in VA Beach, so high humidity means rusty tools if I don't protect them.

 

[Brad54]

Dayum! You STOLE that set-up. Seriously.

You got a deal on that big vise, and the rest was free. Or, like someone else said, you bought a $100 table for $45 and got the rest free.

My first piece of advise would be to move the vise over toward the side, rather than centered on the front of the table. To drill the new mounting hole, go slow with the right size drill, and use some cutting oil. (Take a center punch and make a divot to start the hole... if you have a set punch, with a more blunt end, open up the center punch divot with the set punch. This will keep the drill bit from skating). If you have a really big fender washer, lay it over where you're going to drill the hole, and fill it with oil. Then drill slow through the table top.

For clean-up, I would get a right-angle grinder with a twisted wire cup, and strip the rust off the whole thing. It'll be incredibly dirty work, your hands will be numb from the vibration, and if you don't use ear protection you'll be deaf by the end of the day.
But in my experience a twisted wire cup has always stripped rust off cleanly, and then somewhat burnished the metal's surface, which seems to keep rust at bay with even moderate use. I did a hunk of railroad rail like this once, and the top of the rail stayed rust-free for 7 years in Florida's humidity, and 8 years here in Georgia.

For the rest, I like to use Rust-oleum "hard hat" flat black and "hard hat" red. The red is glossy, and doesn't hold up well to contact with tools. I use it on legs and any pieces that will not come in regular contact with anything.

The flat black seems to become one with the metal... I painted my grandfather's vise table with Rusto flat black almost 35 years ago, and it's sat in my dad's Ohio garage ever since and looks like I just painted it yesterday, while I've done a ton of my own stuff with it and it's held up very well.

I would NOT do the table surface in paint... leave it bare metal. You'll have enough work stuff on there to keep rust from building. Especially if you burnish it with the wire cup. I don't think I'd even intentionally oil it... you'll have enough grease and oil from projects leaking onto it.

Excellent approach to buying tools--as you need them for a restoration project!!! My hat's off to you.

-Brad

 

[Packard V8]

Heckuva deal on the table and the Cole vise. I'd pay $45 for either piece all day long.

The Columbian is a nice basement or garage vise, but not really an industrial duty unit.

jack vines

 

[lambo13]

Brad - moving the vise to the side would have been my first move too. Then I took it off and found that the previous owner had cut three holes into the top because the bottom of the vise has two 'feet' plus the mounting hole. So I believe I'll just keep it where it is and turn the table sideways and move it to a better spot so I can access both sides easily.

I will however use your advise to drill mounting holes for the bench grinder I recently picked up. This will be my first time drilling through metal that thick, so your tips are appreciated!

I will pick up some of that hard hat black. Flat colors always seem to look dirty to me, so I may go with regular gloss black (if they offer it in that Hard Hat series). And I like the idea of a low-maintenance top, so bare metal it is. If I find it rusting then I can always paint it later.

Thanks for all the advice! I appreciate it!

 

[lambo13]

Just thought I'd throw up some (terrible) pics of my cleaned up vise and table. Let me tell you, this table must be close to 300lbs, ridiculous. Hope I don't have to move that thing again for a long time.

Decided to paint the legs per Brad54's advice and thought it turned out fantastic.


Left the top basically bare metal (light coat of oil) as it is a working surface.


And I left the Cole vise bare metal for now but may try to paint it the original green color eventually.


Thanks everyone for the awesome advice I received here!

 

[Joe B.]

That vise is super cool.

 

[Outlawmws]

Very cool finds.

That vise is basically a bench mount post vise. I'm going to guess late 1800s? by 1900, few if any post vise's were being made.


I'm going to recommend NOT mounting any more tools to that table; you may want its work surface for other things (Welding or other fabrication?).

I like to conserve space, so foa many for smaller bench tools (small Vice, grinder, smaller band saws, belt sander, arbor press, or what have you…), you can get a Black and Decker WorkMate and make a mounting “plate” of wood/plywood, and make an upside down “”T” rail for the WorkMate to grip. Then all these tools can be racked on a shelf, and to keep them from rocking on the T rail set them on a pair of 2x2 rails to keep them from tipping. Just clamp the tool needed into the WorkMate and fire it up.

I have even setup one storage shelf and use the tool mounting plate as the "shelf" and drop it onto adjustable shelf standards.

 

[30-30remchester]

Im curious about the Cole vise. I have checked out the @200 pages on vises on this site and have never seen one like this. In a past life I had a very similar vise on an outside workbench. I got it @1975 and it is identical construction and size but I could swear mine said " MADE IN CANADA". I gave it away in 1995 and have always wondered about it. These are unique designs and mine was used roughly for decades and is still in service with its new owner. Can anyone give me some more history of this design?

 

[lambo13]

Outlawmws - awesome idea about the interchangeable bench tool system. I had already decided not to add anything else to the bench. It is small enough and because the vise was already mounted in the center (boo), it leaves little room anywhere else.

 

[lambo13]

30-30remchester: I've been curious too! If you look on ebay, you'll always see 2 or 3 of these for sale, generally for crazy money (over $100 usually). Sometimes they'll come with the drill which was apparently sold with the vise for a period, although interestingly I've never seen the drill sold alone.

According to this site, if you look at the instruction book cover (which looks to be '40s or '50s era), the Cole Tool Mfg company address was 1640 School Street, Chicago Heights, IL. A search on Google shows a large parking lot, but what seem to be normal residential houses. Very weird.

I have yet to see or find another tool from this company.

 

[-Brent-]

Im curious about the Cole vise. I have checked out the @200 pages on vises on this site and have never seen one like this. In a past life I had a very similar vise on an outside workbench. I got it @1975 and it is identical construction and size but I could swear mine said " MADE IN CANADA". I gave it away in 1995 and have always wondered about it. These are unique designs and mine was used roughly for decades and is still in service with its new owner. Can anyone give me some more history of this design?

The Cole vises are pretty neat. They had an optional hand-cranked drill press that would fasten into the jaws. I see them pop up on eBay every so often. Here's on I've been trying to sell locally. It still has the original green paint and works like a charm.

 

[Outlawmws]

Do you have the drill? if so, pics?

 

[-Brent-]

No, I don't have the drill, unfortunatly but I'll dig up a few photos.

 

[-Brent-]

Here's a page with a bunch of decent angles.

 

[Outlawmws]

OK, I went of the site Lampo listed, and I had not realized this vise rotated nor that it had the hole in the bottom.

I disagree with the site author that the hole on the bottom is for a pipe to make it a pipe wrench. IMO the hole is for a pipe, but for making the vise into a full post vise so any rotational force does not get put onto just the set screw (which I had not noticed before...)

Neat concept. you get all the bennies of a post vise, but with the ability to rotate it for holding something vertically. you could even have a pipe setup to stabilize it horizontally or at an angle if desired...

 

[Legba]

Old thread, but wanted to show what the vise looks like with the ratchet drill.
View media item 32230

 

[silentpoet]

Old thread, but wanted to show what the vise looks like with the ratchet drill.
View media item 32230

Very cool, couldn't picture it. I missed out on the drill part today, but I got one of the vises.

 

[David Jackson]

Long time since any posts about the Cole vise. I have one of those, hurts to carry it around! It is heavy!

 

[normmack]

Hello, I found this site looking for info on the Cole Vise and Drill press as I just bought two "new old stock" sets from a dealer who is selling out. Was fortunate enough to get original paperwork also. I saw where some one questioned the use of the vise as a big pipe wrench when it is removed from the bench clamp part and a pipe is inserted in the bottom hole. The literature confirms this was the intention.
I always wanted a magnetic drill but could never justify the $1000 price tag, so am excited (and dreading ) the opportunity to use this.
I am curious to follow this site for a while as I fix and sell old horse drawn (and pre 1950 tractor) farm equipment, so my days are filled with working with this stuff.
Norm

 

[Outlawmws]

Welcome aboard the runaway train Norm!

Pics wold be great of your finds, and I'm sure getting pics of a NOS Cole vise and literature into the "Vises of GJ" would really gets some attention!

 

[normmack]

Thank You, I am not sure I am smart enough for pictures , will try over next couple of days. The only thing that the pic from "legba"? is missing is key and there is a vee shape casting (for pipe) that can go on the bottom bracket.
The literature is very small print, I am not sure a picture will allow anyone one to read.
Norm