Small Two Car Operation

[HSpencer]

Herb: i know it's your vise now, but PAT. PEND 11/46 date stamped Wiltons are not easy to come by so if you leave the jaws and screws as is i bet you'll appreciate more as time goes on. of course if the screws and jaws are not functioning as well as you like then it's your call. a good pair of copper or aluminum jaws would work well to give you more grip instead of new vise jaws if you need more grip. paint can always be changed unless original paint is in pristine condition then i'd advise members to keep original paint. here's my 60 year old Craftsman 5196 with original paint i'll just put BLO on or leave as is and my Rock Island 597 for a couple of examples of nice original paint on an old vise.

here's my Reed 4c sandblasted and with BLO with a before an after shot for a couple examples. you deserved a good vise and you got one of my keepers, but i know you'll take good care of it.

good luck

Drives

I am not going to replace the jaws right away at least. I could use some better jaw screws or I might be able to recut the flathead screwdriver slots in these I have.
I will be painting the Wilton to match my CMAN Block Grinder. Both will share prime real estate on my main bench, and neither will probably be used very much or at least very hard. I do appreciate your allowing the release of my favorite model Wilton. I hope your not having second thoughts? Do I need a Notarized Letter of Adoption? LOL Just Kidding!!

The Wilton will exactly match colors with the photo of the CMAN BLOCK in this photo.

Best Regards
Herb

 

[drivesitfar]

HS: i love that BLUE you painted your Block so you have my blessing. i forgot to have you agree to put the Wilton in your will for me on a BUY BACK for cost so next time you change your will you might add that in and might as well include the block since the colors will match.

cheers and again it was a pleasure doing a little horse trading/business with you and looking forward to our next on already.

BTW you might put those Alloy 400's in the safe the more i read about them!!

 

[HSpencer]

drives

My attorney will draw an Irrevocable Living Trust on the Block & Wilton with you as Trustee and Sole Receiptant of Said Trust. I have hereto put my hand and seal.

Best Regards
Herb

 

[drivesitfar]

HS: thanks. Maybe i better send you a few more ALLOY 400's to pay for all the paperwork for the living trust when you figure out what you might do with the ones you have.

cheers and your wilton already looks 100% better than it did on my shelf and appreciate all the good words you've had to email and post to keep me smiling so i can handle the loss.

have a great evening

 

[Joe-R]

Hi Herb,

Congrats on your new Wilton baby!!! Well deserved I might add. That Drivesitfar guy is certainly a very nice fellow!!! I can't wait to see it restored. I am already more than a little bit jealous!!! I see scads of them on my way into my office. I work for Boeing (formerly McDonnell Douglas) and I walk through part of the airplane factory every day. It is a mouth watering experience to say the least!

Joe

 

[jbmatth]

Drives/Herb,
That vise will turn out top notch I'm certain, and has been left in very capable hands. Now for those bolts, although expensive I don't think they would warrant their own safe deposit box, but I would keep them with the fine china or antique firearms under lock and key. Good news is they will essentially never rust even if used outside for decades.
JB

 

[drivesitfar]

HERB & ALL: over in the VINTAGE TOOLS SECTION that some of you may not visit often i started a thread to try and figure out the date stamping methods of Wilton bullet vises. when i first joined GJ everything i read and heard said the dates were 5 years after the stamp's date.

as time went on and i and others were picking up older Wilton bullets with 1945 date stamps on them things were just not adding up cause Wilton wasn't in business until 1941 so i started the thread. with the help of all the members and especially Bluebolt for putting all the data on an form i think we are getting closer to solving that mystery.

we are into patents, original owner and more cool stuff on this thread as of this week so here's a link in case any of you would like to know Wilton's history:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=269079

Herb: here's what i think is the back story of yours before i found it in the back of a huge container at a client's steel yard many years ago on a shelf waiting to find your bench.

Wilton after WWII was scrambling to keep it's head above water with it's losing Uncle Sam's contracts and so it had some of these Pat. Pend vises sitting on shelves at it's Chicago factory it decided to sell even though Wilton already had the patent. so Wilton was maybe the first to give a guarantee and they started stamping dates on them instead of using paper reciepts. so your October 1946 vise was probably cast in 1941 when Wilton was applying for it's quick patent to do business with Uncle Sam during WWII. then sat on a shelf for about 5 years before leaving the factory into a customer's hands. no telling who was the original buyer of it and the history i know only goes back 5-10 years so your guess is as good as mine how that vise made it from Chicago in 1946 to SEATTLE 50 years later.

hope you enjoy it as much as i do my vises i still own and if i was to buy a Wilton to use it would be that model or a Wilton 1C or 2C cause those are the ones with the LOOK and the highest quality.

again i'm very happy it's in your hands and i'm certain it will have a good life from now on until you leave for the place where they make Wilton bullet vises made of GOLD.

JB: speaking of Gold i don't recall how spendy these bolts are, but i do have a few so if you have an outside vise to mount or a use for a few of them PM me with your address and i'll ship you a few. I'm running out of nuts, but i have a few of the bolts with the cool bolt condoms on them left. maybe drilling and tapping holes for these bolts will become my option when i run out of the nuts i have, but these 3/4 inch 3.5 inch Alloy 400 bolts are nice.

cheers

 

[HSpencer]

Hi Herb,

Congrats on your new Wilton baby!!! Well deserved I might add. That Drivesitfar guy is certainly a very nice fellow!!! I can't wait to see it restored. I am already more than a little bit jealous!!! I see scads of them on my way into my office. I work for Boeing (formerly McDonnell Douglas) and I walk through part of the airplane factory every day. It is a mouth watering experience to say the least!

Joe

Joe

I'm really glad you stopped by the thread and I am pleased you like the Wilton. It is currently at the beauty shop, and will look a whole lot better the next time you see it.
I dropped it in my tank yesterday and it is getting a good degreasing and will be cleaning up rather nicely. drivesitfar really took good care of me on this Wilton.

Thanks for stopping by again

Best Regards
Herb

 

[HSpencer]

HERB & ALL: over in the VINTAGE TOOLS SECTION that some of you may not visit often i started a thread to try and figure out the date stamping methods of Wilton bullet vises. when i first joined GJ everything i read and heard said the dates were 5 years after the stamp's date.

as time went on and i and others were picking up older Wilton bullets with 1945 date stamps on them things were just not adding up cause Wilton wasn't in business until 1941 so i started the thread. with the help of all the members and especially Bluebolt for putting all the data on an form i think we are getting closer to solving that mystery.

we are into patents, original owner and more cool stuff on this thread as of this week so here's a link in case any of you would like to know Wilton's history:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=269079

Herb: here's what i think is the back story of yours before i found it in the back of a huge container at a client's steel yard many years ago on a shelf waiting to find your bench.

Wilton after WWII was scrambling to keep it's head above water with it's losing Uncle Sam's contracts and so it had some of these Pat. Pend vises sitting on shelves at it's Chicago factory it decided to sell even though Wilton already had the patent. so Wilton was maybe the first to give a guarantee and they started stamping dates on them instead of using paper reciepts. so your October 1946 vise was probably cast in 1941 when Wilton was applying for it's quick patent to do business with Uncle Sam during WWII. then sat on a shelf for about 5 years before leaving the factory into a customer's hands. no telling who was the original buyer of it and the history i know only goes back 5-10 years so your guess is as good as mine how that vise made it from Chicago in 1946 to SEATTLE 50 years later.

hope you enjoy it as much as i do my vises i still own and if i was to buy a Wilton to use it would be that model or a Wilton 1C or 2C cause those are the ones with the LOOK and the highest quality.

again i'm very happy it's in your hands and i'm certain it will have a good life from now on until you leave for the place where they make Wilton bullet vises made of GOLD.

JB: speaking of Gold i don't recall how spendy these bolts are, but i do have a few so if you have an outside vise to mount or a use for a few of them PM me with your address and i'll ship you a few. I'm running out of nuts, but i have a few of the bolts with the cool bolt condoms on them left. maybe drilling and tapping holes for these bolts will become my option when i run out of the nuts i have, but these 3/4 inch 3.5 inch Alloy 400 bolts are nice.

cheers

drives

Thanks for the great information on Wilton. I will post up my Wilton Restore on your vise thread in Vintage Tools, or if you like you can post it up using any photos I have submitted to my thread or to you in email. If you choose to do it, you can author it and just let me know.

Thanks again for the information. The Wilton is currently in the bathtub, and getting squeaky clean. Today I bought a white molybedium grease to relube it. As all of us know a little lube goes a long way in having much success that otherwise would have failed.

Thanks again

Best Regards
HS

 

[HSpencer]

Drives/Herb,
That vise will turn out top notch I'm certain, and has been left in very capable hands. Now for those bolts, although expensive I don't think they would warrant their own safe deposit box, but I would keep them with the fine china or antique firearms under lock and key. Good news is they will essentially never rust even if used outside for decades.
JB

JB

That's great advice on the bolt storage. I can empty out a shelf in the kitchen hutch of Mrs Spencer's lifetime collection of Blue Willow dishes and put the bolts in their place. Since the shelves in the hutch are glass, I will have to display the Wilton on the bottom wood shelf, as it would crash through the 1/4 in glass. I will talk to her tomorrow and show her your post. I'll say "yeah, he is the young man with the blue sports car"---

LOL

Best Regards
Herb

 

[jbmatth]

Let me know how that goes for you Herb. That would be a fitting display for such a piece.

Drives,
I am having trouble finding pricing on that size bolt, the one place I could without requesting a quote was for 1/2" x 3" and they were $55 each! A word of caution if using these in the elements a threading them into tapped steel. You have to be careful about galvanic corrosion, the steel would become the anode and rust away rather quickly unless you coat the bolt with something to break the bond. Check out this exert from Wikipedia:
The New York Times on August 12, 1915 published an article about a 215-foot yacht, "the first ship that has ever been built with an entirely Monel hull," that "went to pieces" in just six weeks and had to be scrapped, "on account of the disintegration of her bottom by electrical action." The yacht's steel skeleton deteriorated due to electrolytic interaction with the Monel.

That was a very expensive oops. As for my need for them I appreciate the offer but don't believe in keeping tools outside if at all possible even a great vise like the Wilton can't last forever.
JB

 

[HSpencer]

One clean Wilton

The Wilton came out of the tank very well. The cleaning solution was nearly black.
I found my buffing and polishing stand to be invaluable in cleaning up this vise.
My jaw inserts and screws are a little rough, but I think I can improve them enough to get by for now. I will recut the slot head screws with a dremel tool.

I know that drives likes them naked, but I will have to send this to the paint shop for my Metallic Blue. (I do admit drives, that the vise looks better naked than I do!)

Anyway, a little grinding on the jaw inserts and then the paint job.

Best Regards
Herb

 

[-Brent-]

Herb, the Wilton is looking great!

 

[Bob Hall]

One clean Wilton

The Wilton came out of the tank very well. The cleaning solution was nearly black.
I found my buffing and polishing stand to be invaluable in cleaning up this vise.

Herb

Herb, I really like the buffing and polishing station. I have something like that but not so well executed. I think if i can ever get back to working on the shop ( and not the house) one of my first jobs will be to bring it up snuff. I'm thinking about a "Binford" color scheme as seen in the old Tim Allen show "Home Improvement", for some of my machines that are not old authentic USA stuff, but still solid and usable. Keep on inspiring us!

 

[HSpencer]

@drivesitfar

drives

Just for YOU, I put the Wilton together "naked" so you could see it one last time before
I start the painting.

I admit it looks pretty nice "naked" but it has been planned a long time for color political correctness in my shop.

Best Regards
HS

 

[drivesitfar]

Herb: thank you very much. I'm guessing the gap on the one jaw is because you didn't want to tighten up the screws yet until you do a little dremel work on the slot? i have a few Wilton bullets sitting on my shelf i think i'm going to wire wheel and put some BLO on them cause DAMN THAT LOOKS AWESOME.

i bet your blue will too or if not you can strip and BLO and have a naked Mr. Wilton.

cheers and nice work so far!!

 

[HSpencer]

Herb, the Wilton is looking great!

Brent

Thanks for stopping by and for your nice comments. I have been following your thread and you are doing some awesome work in your garage.

Thanks again

Best Regards
Herb

 

[HSpencer]

Herb, I really like the buffing and polishing station. I have something like that but not so well executed. I think if i can ever get back to working on the shop ( and not the house) one of my first jobs will be to bring it up snuff. I'm thinking about a "Binford" color scheme as seen in the old Tim Allen show "Home Improvement", for some of my machines that are not old authentic USA stuff, but still solid and usable. Keep on inspiring us!

Bob

Thank you for your visit!! I built the polishing station as I was tired of never having my buffers and wheels handy to do that type of work. Now everything I need is on one stand with wheels, and sits out of the way until I need it. Makes life easier!!

Thanks for continuing to visit the thread and your interest in my restorations of antique items.

Best Regards
Herb

 

[WarrenJ]

Herb
you've been busy. the wilton looking good after a couple of days.

 

[HSpencer]

Herb
you've been busy. the wilton looking good after a couple of days.

WarrenJ

Thank you! I am very pleased with the clean up. I will now start the Metallic Blue painting and I think I will be even more pleased! I was even able to dig in my hardware and come up with four jaw insert screws, so I won't have to worry with recutting the originals!

It has been a good day here!!

Thanks so much for visiting!!

Best Regards
Herb

 

[taumac]

I vote for keeping it naked. I cleaned up my Reed 204 and just oiled it down. Now I can't bring myself to paint it.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Herb, top job

In regards to a naked vise, I am not sure if you remember my Dawn?

View media item 36383
That said I do like originality.


Regards

 

[HSpencer]

I vote for keeping it naked. I cleaned up my Reed 204 and just oiled it down. Now I can't bring myself to paint it.

Gerard

I highly value your opinion on the vise. I am getting that same thing from drivesitfar.
I think I will wait a bit, maybe see if my other GJ friends want to share their opinions.
If this was just any vise I would have already had it painted, but being a Wilton, and a hard to find one at that, maybe you and drives are pretty wise on your thoughts.

I may see if my other friends on here want to give an opinion. I am going to wait a few days before making a decision to paint.

Thank you for your thoughts!!

Best Regards
Herb

 

[HSpencer]

Herb, top job

In regards to a naked vise, I am not sure if you remember my Dawn?

View media item 36383
That said I do like originality.


Regards

1/2 Cup

That is indeed a beautiful vise. I am going to heed Your, Gerards, and Drives opinion and seek others opinion.

Since I completed the cleaning and polishing, I am leaning towards leaving it as yours shows in the photo.

I am going to post in the next frame and ask anyone who reads my thread to comment and give an opinion to paint or not to paint.

Best Regards
Herb

 

[HSpencer]

ALL

I have come to a quandry on whether or not to paint my Wilton. I have great advice from drivesitfar, Gerard, and 1/2 Cup to leave it bare. I highly value the opinions of my Garage Journal friends. If you would care to give your opinion, I could make a quick survey on this. I WAS going to paint it Metallic Blue to match my Craftsman Block Grinder, but am having second thoughts.

I do appreciate and value your opinion on this matter. If you care to comment on this, I will be grateful.

Best Regards
Herb

 

[ajohno]

Herb, leave it bare.

 

[Grumblebum]

Herb, how about a 3 month trial bare ?

 

[drivesitfar]

Herb: nice to see the members seem to like my NAKED VISE IDEA TOO. if you put 2 or 3 coats of BLO (boiled linseed oil) on your wilton it would need maybe another coat in 2 or 3 months to keep surface rust at bay. that said GB's idea of doing a 3 month trial might not be a bad idea cause you'd have to put on more BLO or if you'd rather have the blue painted vise to greet you in your shop paint it now or then cause it's YOUR VISE. for those of you that don't follow the vise thread and the vise repair 101 thread several members have painted over the top of BLO with great success and others have stuck their vises with wet BLO in shop ovens and smokers and baked on the BLO for a sort of Japanning look that really shines. (don't bake in an oven that you cook food in!!)

cheers and have a great weekend.

speaking of blue I cleaned off one of my benches today and i'm going to strip this big 170 pound Yost combo vise this weekend and i'm hoping it's going to be in the 70's this coming week so my BLO can dry fairly quick for a picture to post for you. i know your blue would look much better than Yost's blue, but just saying a NAKED VISE does have that look. DOESN'T IT?

How do you like it is all that counts.

 

[don long]

Hi Herb
I think that if you leave the vise naked it will always look un finished in your work shop because it would be the only bare tool in the place Just mho

Don

 

[bj383ss]

I say paint Metallic Blue! When the writing is painted in contrast such as Silver they just look awesome. I actually have a Wilton 8400 bullet vise and I didn't even know it. It was my father in laws. I plan to strip it and paint it In the near future.

Bret

 

[HSpencer]

@All

The opinions received so far are leaning towards not painting. I like Grumblebum's idea:
Herb, how about a 3 month trial bare ?

It is much easier to try it bare than to "unpaint it" labor wise.

Thanks to all who have commented so far, and I am still very open to any other comments you may wish to make.

Thanks and
Best Regards
Herb

 

[1/2 Cup]

Herb, good call.

Regards

 

[HSpencer]

@ALL

Thanks everyone!!!

Here is how we will stand for now. @Drives Notice I am using the BLO like you suggested!!

Sincere Thanks

Best Regards
Herb

 

[BBChevro]

Hey Herb, for what it's worth, I cast my vote for painting it - mainly because (like Don said) everything else in your shop is painted.

Mind you, the only vise I have is a cheap "ETC" (Eastern Tool Company?) that I bought when I was in my teens and have used and abused ever since.

Basically it's your vise and your shop, so do what you want- I'm sure that it will look great like all the other tools that you have.

 

[drivesitfar]

Herb: it might take a few days, weeks (or month or so in my area) for the BLO to fully dry, but if you maybe have a few hot sunny days and can set it outside in the sun it will help.

also Fretters and a few other members put in a tablespoon (or maybe it's a teaspoon) of Japan Dryer that helps BLO dry quicker. other additives can help if you want to experiment with that later cause you'll probably need to re apply some BLO on your vise every few months to keep it shiny and keep the rust at bay.

all that said your WILTON LOOKS ABSOLUTLY AWESOME and hard to believe it's the same vise as this one sitting on my shelf here a few weeks ago.

cheers and hope you are enjoying your weekend.

 

[rmalkow2]

Herb, the Wilton looks great! Had I voted on time I would have also said paint it to match the rest of your shop theme but, as was said earlier you still have that option down the road if you change your mind. And in the interim you have a fantastic looking good new tool in your shop.
Another job well done sir.

 

[HSpencer]

Survey Results

No Paint:
Drivesitfar
Gerard
1/2 Cup
ajohno
Grumblebum (sleep on it)

Paint It
Don Long
BBChevro
bj383ss
rmalkow2

Results are about even. Were I to vote I would go with Grumblebum and do the trial, which means for now leaving it bare.

To end this madness, I woke up last night in the middle of the night thinking about it, and I have devised a brand new plan. I will leave the garage bench with the red vise already on it. I will tear apart my backshop bench, Oak the top, remove and rebuild the backwall to accomodate my two craftsman tool boxes side by side. That will accomodate the CMAN Block on the left, and the Wilton on the right. This won't happen before next month. By that time I can almost guarantee you the Wilton will be Metallic Blue to match the Block. Now I will have a 5 inch Delta grinder and my 3 1/2 Craftsman vise to find a home for. This plan will also keep me from banging up the CMAN Block and the Wilton (you can't really hurt a Wilton though). More work, but the end results will be exactly what I want. In the meantime, the Wilton will go naked until I get the reconstruction of the back bench done!

A huge thank you to all who expressed their opinions. Hopefully the next time I post will put a finality to my talking on and on about this Wilton. One more thank you to drivesitfar for providing the fuel for this fire!!!

Best regards
Herb

 

[CoopVA]

That sounds like a good plan Herb...

 

[HSpencer]

That sounds like a good plan Herb...

CoopVA

Thanks for stopping in! Yes I have figured things out now and I am anxious to begin setting up my back shop bench to house my new toys!!

Thanks Again!!

Best Regards
Herb

 

[HSpencer]

These photos show what I described in my previous post. I will remodel the back bench with an Oak top like the one shown in the photo with the red vise on it. (Photo 5). I will also add some electrical outlets on the upper bench. The two small craftsman tool boxes will be set side by side. The Craftsman block grinder will be on the left to replace the small Delta 5" grinder. The Wilton vise on the right replacing the smaller Craftsman 3 1/2 Inch.
The upper wall over the bench will be redone to probably use either upper cabinets or metal tool boards. The lighting will get upgraded.

The Wilton Vise and Craftsman Block Grinder have caused a remodel!!!

Best Regards
Herb