Rusty Prentiss No. 22 Vise

[Avispex]

I went to look at some old woodworking machinery and there was an old vise sitting outside in the yard. After looking at the machinery and being told that everything was for sale, I asked if she was also trying to sell the vise. She said that if I would take it away, I could have it. She said that it had been sitting in the same place in the yard since she was a kid. When I say "yard", think junk yard, but with less landscaping. Her father had run a european car mechanic's shop for 40 years, was also a hoarder and collector, and had recently passed, leaving this lady and two siblings with a junk yard and auto repair facility with millions of items going back 40 years, but then add in all of the pre- war stuff he had collected, stacked, and hoarded. That was overwhelming.

In any case, she gave me this massive, rusty vise and it has two small problems and one missing pin.

First problem, the top center of the slide seems to have a pretty orderly crack running straight down the middle of it. Is this s forging artifact or a mechanical problem that I should have brazed or fixed some other way?

Second problem, tiny hole near handle- I'm thinking JB Weld for this one.

I am missing the pin/ peg for the swivel jaw. I doubt I would ever find it in the yard, but I will definitely look on the ground near where it had been sitting around for the past 35 years of rain, sleet, sun, and snow.

Could somebody post a picture of what these pins look like outside of the vise so that I could make a drawing and have one made. Or, if anybody has made up a bunch and has some spares, I would be interested in buying one.

Lastly, this is the stiffest vise I have ever had my hands on. It was free, so I am not complaining, but nothing moves easily. I did not force the handle, but I could tell it was much stiffer than I wanted it to be and I thought if I just started cranking on it I could break something. So, here is my dilemma. Penetrating oil first or electrolysis first?

What would you start with?

Thanks,

Andy

 

[BFBOB]

E-Tank first for sure, even if you have to cobble up a new one big enough to hold it. Oil will "waterproof" the vise and inhibit electrolysis. I think that's one reason Washing Soda is the electrolyte of choice - it is a bit of a degreaser too. I know my hands need a good shot of Jergens after handling e-tanking stuff!
Once the little electrons have worked their magic, the hit it with your penetrant of choice, with a liberal application of patience.
And keep us posted!! With pix - this looks like a really tough one.

 

[jrobb316]

Thats a helluva score. I just picked one of those up and went through days of wrestling to get the pin out. Looks like you don't have that problem, I will post up a pic of the pin from mine. As far as the slide goes, common with Prentiss vises, I would braze it and call it a day. Also, that vise is 100 years old, should date circa 1910s.

 

[jrobb316]

The pin and the jack bolt I made to help remove it. In the end it got an ATF/ACETONE bath for 24 hours before it came out.

 

[Avispex]

Oh ****, I forgot they were tapered. That might be harder to make.... Is it a standard taper like a Morse 2? Also, I realize this should probably have gone in the vintage tools discussion, not general. IS there an easy way to move it or should I flag a mod?

In any case, it's going into the e-tank then!

Andy

 

[chrisnazzy]

Nice early Prentiss Swivel Jaw. I recently scored a Prentiss 21 for $40 and it too only had branding on the top behind where the static jaw swivels. I agree with Jrobb, the consensus seems to date that style pre-1910 and before they went to the graffiti style lettering.

If you have the ability to put it in an e-tank that is certainly one way and an effective one at that. If all the parts are free and it can be taken apart other methods include media blasting or wire wheeling everything. It really depends on what look you're trying to achieve. I've done both methods I brought up and I've realized that I like to use a wire wheel on a drill or grinder the best if the goal is to strip down to bare metal without bringing it all the way to bare casting like a media blast is going to. A common treatment if paint isn't in it's future would be to coat all the parts in boiled linseed oil (BLO) prior to reassembly.

Definitely check out the Vise repair 101 thread and consider posting some pictures of your Prentiss there. Here is a link to it.

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?ur...share_tid=252830&share_fid=20318&share_type=t

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[chrisnazzy]

I went back and looked more closely at your pics. Your vise has removable jaws. From what I've learned from other vise gurus here on GJ, Prentiss patented their removable jaws around 1911. They also switched to a lever style swivel base release instead of that round pull knob around 1925 so a re-evaluation of the age of your vise would fall somewhere between 1911 and 1925.



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[Mr. Wonderful]

Oh ****, I forgot they were tapered. That might be harder to make.... Is it a standard taper like a Morse 2? Also, I realize this should probably have gone in the vintage tools discussion, not general. IS there an easy way to move it or should I flag a mod?

In any case, it's going into the e-tank then!

Andy

I had a stuck pin on my Hollands 46 it was also broken off at the top. I made a new one on the bench grinder out of an old bolt. I had seen where others had done it on here and tried to think of a better way with no luck. It's not actually that bad once you get started. I rolled a piece of heavy paper into a cone until it fit the top and botom of the hole. Then I taped it so it wouldn't unroll. I used that as a rough patern. I could keep trying to fit the new pin inside that cone until it matched the angle. Go slow and you'll get it.

 

[Avispex]

Thanks fro the pin suggestions. That type of work will probably need to wait until I find out if I can get this vise working. I did try to do a little exterior cleaning and I found somebody's initials and a date stamp of 1922!!!!

Andy

 

[jimreed2160]

Nice score. Good luck with your restore. The swivel pins are easy to make on a grinder Just get a hex lag, turn the head round, and then spin the bolt against your grinder.

As the for cracked slide, that is pretty much a "feature" on Prentiss vises.

 

[454ragtop]

Here's some pics of my Prentiss swivel jaw, think it's a 21, has no markings at all. Think the swivel pin is original, at least as far as I know. https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=6511553&highlight=Prentiss#post6511553

 

[jrobb316]

What part of the vise is 1922 stamped? I'll look at mine, but Prentiss wasn't known to date stamp their vises. I Wonder is someone stamped that in themselves, but that is the correct vintage. The script letter vises seemed to have started somewhere in the 1920s which would have been the generation after the ones we have with the model number behind the jaw.

 

[turbowoodworker]

What part of the vise is 1922 stamped? I'll look at mine, but Prentiss wasn't known to date stamp their vises. I Wonder is someone stamped that in themselves, but that is the correct vintage. The script letter vises seemed to have started somewhere in the 1920s which would have been the generation after the ones we have with the model number behind the jaw.

My 522 has the same font date stamp.