New vises this week! :)

[Fugio]

EDIT: pics uploaded now!

If my math is correct I'm up to 14 vises now. This is a sickness! But they're just so cool I can't help myself!

So last Thursday I was helping my dad clean out yet another of his famous sheds.
I found a Columbian 6" vise he said was from about 1970. No swivel base, but nearly perfect condition. Horrid safety yellow color!

Then I found another 6" bench vise that I can't identify. Dad said it was one of my grandfather's vises. It's all black (I think) and in really good condition. The only marking I saw was a huge number 5 on one side. Craftsman maybe? I put that one back in storage for another day.

And lastly, at the bottom of the last shelf, I found a brand new NOS Wilton under-bench wood vise. Not bad. It's got some surface rust from being stored for so long, but should be like new with a little rust remover.

Then, just now I was driving out in the country to get my wife a special scented candle she likes, and for some reason I just had to check out the antiques store next door to the candle lady's shop. WAY in the back on a table full of garbage I found a old (1950's maybe?) Parker model 63 1/2 marked at 50 bucks. I talked it down and got it out the door for 27 dollars. Not bad! I'll probably clean it up and use it for my outside beater. Or maybe I'll just paint it and display it.

Then on the way home I stopped by a scrap yard to see what aluminum was selling for and to find a piece of plate for a metal table I'm making. The had a drum FULL of rusty old hand tools. I got some German box end wrenches for free. They cleaned up a little. Not trash at all, but pretty ugly! Globemaster is the brand. Never heard of them.

The owner had a spreadsheet where you could add your name and email and what sorts of stuff you were looking for. I scanned the list and noticed that NOBODY was looking for tools, anvils, vices, or guns! I'm the only one on the list for those, and he said he gets that sort of stuff all the time. Score!

They had 2 vises for scrap there. One was a China made junker. Broken drive screw. The other was a 6" or so and was REALLY short and WIDE. No markings on it that I could see. Strange vise!

I got the wrenches, a 3'x3' piece of 1/4" plate steel, and a tow chain with 1 hook for 6 bucks. I also got all the free mud my boots could carry! Double score!

Still no big anvil though!

 

[drivesitfar]

Fugio: i had to stop reading because i need to see pictures of all those vises. can you post a few? i use the paperclip just above where you write our posts that attach pictures sort of like attaching a picture to an email.

BTW what part of the world are finding all these old vises?

 

[Fugio]

I live just barely east of Dallas. And yeah, I'll post pics asap. I think I've already posted pics of my good Wiltons in another thread if you can find that.

 

[Fugio]

Ok here's the Columbian....

 

[Fugio]

And the Wilton...

I removed the wooden handle already, but you get the idea.

 

[Fugio]

And the Parker. The swivel handle is bent pretty bad, but the rest of it seems like it's in pretty decent shape.

 

[Fugio]

And here's the one I couldn't identify...

 

[Fugio]

Oh, and I got an old, worn out Estwing 22oz framing hammer for 2 bucks. The milled face is almost completely worn smooth. But it's doesn't ping too loud now and still drives nails just as good as when new.

It was pretty ugly, so I blasted it and threw some pain on it just to keep my hands clean.

And yeah, that's a 550 para-cord katana wrap I did on it just goofing around last night. It was just there to hold the handle tight together while the glue dried. Someone had cut the hell out of that handle! Lucky for me I had a tube of the world's strongest glue sitting here. Good as new!

 

[Fugio]

And well ****, I guess I didn't take a pic of the other big one with the "5" on the side. It's back in storage now, but I'll take a pic next time I'm up there. I'm 100% sure it's either an old Craftsman, Wilton, or Columbian. My dad and grandpa wouldn't have bought any other brand. Dad was friends with the Wilton sales rep here which is why I have so many old NOS Wiltons. Still no baby bullet though! One day one of those little 820's will be mine!

 

[Fugio]

Hey, it's ok if no one wants to comment. I just thought you might like to see the pics.

But really, if anyone knows what type of vice the mystery vice in the pics above is, please let me know!

 

[firemanast]

Nice vises you should post them in the vise thread .

 

[Fugio]

I think I posted most of my other ones there. I posted a bunch a few months ago when I found my 1970's NOS Wilton Bullet vise and my NOS Wilton turret vise.

Now I probably need to take a group photo of all the **** China vises I've got and post them. Do we have a humor section?

 

[drivesitfar]

Fugio: i thought you were still posting vises because I've been watching for the NOS Wiltons. so far I've only seen a wood vise. please post those new Wiltons here and are they bullets or please put in the model and width of jaw in your descriptions so we can all be jealous.

don't worry about not getting comments because you'll find out months later that somebody saw it and just didn't have time to post. i probably posted 50 vises on the vise thread over the last year or two and rarely get a comment from most of the members. keep posting pictures and don't always expect conversation on your threads. ask questions if you have any or just post what you know and we'll all benefit.

as far as your mystery vise you can pretty much know that it's an import with that slab of steel as an anvil and the shape. my guess is it is also missing the swivel base. it's not worth much hence being tied to a stump and gramps using it as an anvil.

thanks for your thread and if you plan on restoring any of them please take plenty of pictures and maybe post before and afters on the vise repair 101 thread.

 

[Fugio]

Yeah I figured it was a China vise. I wonder if that steel plate was added later. It looks like a chunk of a large leaf spring.

If you want to see my other Wiltons, they are all here with lots of pics!

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=271403&highlight=weird+wilton

There's also some pics of the hardware packs, tags, and even a mounting patterns that came in the box with them.

Only thing I didn't take pics of was the boxes. Rats/mice had eaten them really bad, so I didn't really think about taking a pic until I had already thrown them out. They were really shredded and disgusting.