New Vise Acquisition...ID please

[Gearhead00]

Hi,

I recently picked up two new vises. One has been on the side workbench of my Dad's fabrication/welding shop for over 40 years. The Craftsman was a CL find.

Can you tell me more about the Littlestown? What color was it new? It has a small crack on the horn of it. Anything to worry about?

Obviously the red vise is a Craftsman. Any idea on the vintage?

Thanks.

 

[Dust Devil]

Cant tell you anything but...SWEET!

 

[zkling]

The littletown, is probably one of the most common homeowner vises out there. They are very basic, but will do quite a bit for basic tasks. I wouldn't call that a little crack, but it probably happened from someone thinking the horn/anvil was actually meant to be used for smithing. It's not. All of the ones I've seen were a green color from the factory.

The craftsman should be a Japan made vise. Not sure how to date though, but I'd guess 70's vintage

 

[Gearhead00]

Great! Thanks!

I found some other pictures of the Littlestown, looks like a pale green color like you mentioned.

 

[Carla]

Those inexpensive 'Littlestown' vises are popular with welders, as two or three can be clamped up easily to a welding table, when convenient to fixture parts for welding. This is an application where light weight and convenience mean more than its limited 'holding power'.

Woodworkers also like them, and fit them with hardwood jaw facings, as they are easy to clamp up on a bench, for temporary use when one needs an 'extra hand' to hold a long or clumsy assembly.

I'd use the 'saws-all' to completely remove that cracked 'horn' if it was mine.

cheers

Carla

 

[Fretters]

It has a small crack on the horn of it. Anything to worry about?

IMHO, nope. One thing I would suggest is that you find the absolute end of the crack, (not always easy to do. I generally find that dousing the surface with something like white, (mineral), spirit and seeing where the wetline ends when the surface dries works best. The crack will remain wet longer than the surface as the solvent evaporates), and drill a vertical hole through the cast at the end of the crack to stop it progressing.

 

[ZRX61]

Can you tell me more about the Littlestown? What color was it new? It has a small crack on the horn of it. Anything to worry about?

Here's mine with the original paint & then with some Rustoleum rattlecan color...

 

[countrytech]

My 6" Littlestown is red from the factory. Found it for $5 on Craigslist. It's a handy vice that works well for me, but I don't use it for a lot of hammering or heavy work.

 

[gus1962]

I don't know anything about it but that's a nice vintage vise.

 

[ajchien]

Ive seen a lot of littlestown vises. Almost all were green.

 

[franzdom]

My 6" Littlestown is red from the factory. Found it for $5 on Craigslist. It's a handy vice that works well for me, but I don't use it for a lot of hammering or heavy work.

Factory overspray on the jaws as well?

 

[zkling]

Here's mine with the original paint & then with some Rustoleum rattlecan color...

That looks really good, do you remember what color you used? That is just like my 1st and for a long time only vise. I wonder if they dropped or added the scallops (proper term?) in later years because you don't see them on all their vises. Do you have the swivel base?