Reed 308S info

[NotStock]

Hey Folks,

I am planning to go pick up this vise tomorrow. It appears to be a Reed 308S, but I cant find much info on that series (lot more info out there on the 1,2 and 4 series). I found one thread on a 308, but it looks nothing like this guy. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Big vises don't come up for sale often in my neck of the woods and this seems like a rare chance to finally own a monster.

It is about 250km from my house, so a long enough drive that if I go, and its not a turd, its coming home. Any idea on the weight of one of these? I am assuming that it has 8" jaws based on the numbers. Seller indicates it is a 16" vise, so I assume that is how far the jaws open. Also figures it weighs 100lbs, but that sounds light to me. Anyway, any info is greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[wrenchguy]

looks ok 2 me. good luck with ur trip.

 

[Fierljeppen]

I believe this is a newer Reed machinist vise that was actually manufactured by Columbian. I say that based on the look and weight. The catalog scan below also mentions "malleable and ductile", which were Columbian vise terms. It resembles an older Columbian machinist vise with the newer style replaceable jaws, as seen in the 1959 Columbian catalog scan below.

With that said, I picked up a local Columbian 506 vise about -5- years ago with the idea of flipping it. After trying it out for a couple of weeks, it became my daily user, replacing my Wilton 450S. Columbian machinist vises might be the most underrated vises out there.

Although it's not a traditional Reed 8" monster, if the price is right and it's in good condition, I wouldn't hesitate to grab it.

 

[NotStock]

Perfect! That is 100% the correct vise. No wonder it doesn't look like the older Reeds I was trying to line it up against. It appears to be in good shape and at 180lbs its no slouch (even though I was hoping for one of the 200+ big boys). I can definitely work with that. I am certainly not getting it for flipping prices, but like I said, these are hard to come by in my area so I can justify paying a premium. I will admit that I am bummed out that it isn't one of the highly regarded older Reeds.

Thanks for the info!

 

[mpckd]

That's definitely a Columbian-made vise. You can tell by the design of the third mounting lug on the base under the slide. My Columbian 608 was 172lb and was pretty easy to move in two pieces by removing the slide.