The VISES of Garage Journal

[Outlawmws]

Given the location of the crack I'm assuming this is probably a long shot for a repair?

Not at all. collector value is of course lost, but I've seen those brazed up and used for decades more hard use.

Key things for the repair to be effective:

• Make sure the thing is clamped back together square.
• "V" groove the break so it can be filled well
• Preheat the jaw slide a LOT before brazing
• Bury the jaw in hot sand or under hot coals to cool slowly overnight.

 

[TheRealZeus]

i took it apart.. the base has teeth like the others but on this one the lock nut has a threaded bolt attached to it which goes through to the plate.. im guessing at some point the parts were lost/broke and he put it back together as best he could. the inside shaft says 6 83

Wilton vises are infamous for their five-year warranty. But I do believe there’s a 10 warranty at some point applied.. honestly I just can’t pry that drawer in my brain open rn… if it is correct that the five-year warranty applies: Here is the catalog at around the time of the production of yours.


(I’ll be back… with screenshots if this PDF does not attach)

 

[four.cycle]

^ 1978 Wilton catalog No. 954 downloaded no problemo!

 

[ebarker9]

Not at all. collector value is of course lost, but I've seen those brazed up and used for decades more hard use.

Key things for the repair to be effective:

• Make sure the thing is clamped back together square.
• "V" groove the break so it can be filled well
• Preheat the jaw slide a LOT before brazing
• Bury the jaw in hot sand or under hot coals to cool slowly overnight.

Appreciate the advice. I'm certainly not interested in collector value, I just enjoy cleaning up and using these tools as they were originally intended. My cumulative experience between brazing and welding is approximately 1 hour, but I'm keen to learn and have friends with tons of experience so I'll seek their help and give it a go at some point.

 

[fullthrottle24]

I unfortunately managed to break my Chas Parker 973 swivel vise putting entirely too much force into it doing a bicycle project. Given the location of the crack I'm assuming this is probably a long shot for a repair?



I did take the opportunity to track down another Parker vise, this time a larger 23x as a replacement. This one might get a full strip down and paint job.

So what type of force were you using? Striking force? Pressing force? Might I recommend you switch brands. Instead of a Parker, look for a Columbian vise made with malleable iron. They advertised them as sledge tested.

 

[Beerhippie]

What the hell kind of bicycle work breaks a Chas. Parker? Pretty sure I can crush most any bike part in mine.

 

[ebarker9]

What the hell kind of bicycle work breaks a Chas. Parker? Pretty sure I can crush most any bike part in mine.

I thought someone might find that odd. DT Swiss rear hub ratchet ring removal. The pedaling action is constantly tightening the ring in the hub so they're extremely difficult to remove. The Internet is littered with stories of people breaking vises in auto repair shops, bending breaker bars, etc on these. I heated it with a torch and many soaks with penetrating fluid with no luck. At this point I've given up and ordered a tool that fits my 1/2" impact. Naturally the manufacturer video shows the mechanic casually spinning it off.

So what type of force were you using? Striking force? Pressing force? Might I recommend you switch brands. Instead of a Parker, look for a Columbian vise made with malleable iron. They advertised them as sledge tested.

Wheel with the hub effectively clamped in the jaws and a large amount (like everything I could muster) of force being applied to the rim trying to twist an internal hub part loose . My general usage is much, much lighter and certainly I'll never do this procedure this way again, despite it being the manufacturer instructions.

 

[INSP380]

Started on this Columbian 604-1/2 I got over the weekend. Pulled it apart and hit it with some Totally Awesome. It’s now ready for the glass bead cabinet. Came apart very easy. Can’t decide if I want to push my luck and remove the jaws…..Time will tell. This thing is in pretty decent shape. I will have to massage the top of each jaw to clean up the casting, someone liked to cut on it. I’ll post more as I go…

Steve

I guess I forgot to come back… Yikes!

I did finish off the Ol 604-1/2. Got the “guts” cleaned out and deburred the main nut to avoid any future stress points. I was able to save the pin and reuse, the main screw was very nice, but I had to straighten the main handle and lock handle. I took the front & back jaws as well as the swivel base to the glass bead cabinet. I love using a fairly worn media to do as little damage as possible. Once out, I hit the jaws with some 36 & 60 grit to pull out what sins were left. Back in the cabinet for a final finish. I used a 3M 6” x 1” wheel to clean up the jaws and finish the handles. Thankfully I had enough of the original gray left to know where to paint & to match the color. I’m pretty happy with it.

Steve

 

[lyonkster]

So I've had this very rudimentary Craftsman vise since new (1975). Over the years I've acquired bigger vises, but still kept this one, relegating it to portable/mobile duty. Now for some reason I find this vise sort of cute and I am considering adding it to a workbench. Given that it's presently 100% original, should I keep it that way, or clean/strip/paint it?

 

[Outlawmws]

I had enough of the original gray left to know where to paint & to match the color.

Overall looks great, but the working part of the slide isn't usually painted.

 

[Shiftless]

Overall looks great, but the working part of the slide isn't usually painted.

Outlaw is right.
If that vise get used at all, the back end of the slide is gonna get all scratched up.

 

[INSP380]

Outlaw is right.
If that vise get used at all, the back end of the slide is gonna get all scratched up.

I only painted it because that’s the way it was when I washed it down. You can see the paint in the photos…..will it stay that way, nope. I honestly did’t want to paint that machined finish as I took a bit of time to preserve it.

Steve

 

[Andy FitzGibbon]

I thought someone might find that odd. DT Swiss rear hub ratchet ring removal. The pedaling action is constantly tightening the ring in the hub so they're extremely difficult to remove. The Internet is littered with stories of people breaking vises in auto repair shops, bending breaker bars, etc on these. I heated it with a torch and many soaks with penetrating fluid with no luck. At this point I've given up and ordered a tool that fits my 1/2" impact. Naturally the manufacturer video shows the mechanic casually spinning it off.



Wheel with the hub effectively clamped in the jaws and a large amount (like everything I could muster) of force being applied to the rim trying to twist an internal hub part loose . My general usage is much, much lighter and certainly I'll never do this procedure this way again, despite it being the manufacturer instructions.

That's not a whole lot of force. Sounds like it was probably already cracked, and ready to go.

 

[micahd1997]

If I’m being honest, this is the most unique tool catalog cover I’ve ever seen, having come across several over the last few years. As someone fascinated by the history of Prentiss, I’m incredibly grateful to a good friend for sending me his copy.

For reasons likely lost to history, the Prentiss Vise Company chose to harness the talents of New York artist Laurence Mabie who pulled no punches in his illustration of the cover of the company’s 1925 catalog № 53. Based on other documentation I’ve seen, I believe this to be a re-issue of the catalog around 1929.

Its 55 pages include printed photographs of the interior of the vise department manufacturing works in Watertown, NY, lengthy explanations regarding various innovations made by Prentiss (ex. their detachable steel jaws, newly-patented screw collar, etc.), depictions and details of every vise offered at that time, and (my personal favorite), a depiction of the company’s “Silent Salesman” vise display stand.

 

[Shiftless]

Amazing!
Thanks for posting.

 

[micahd1997]

Amazing!
Thanks for posting.

My pleasure! I believe @SweetD posted pictures and scans of his a while back

 

[four.cycle]

Given that it's presently 100% original, should I keep it that way, or clean/strip/paint it?

Depends upon what you want the finished product to look like.
I tend to follow the tenet of "Do no harm", so I approach items like that with the least aggressive methods first.
That little vise will clean up quite nicely with a can of WD-40, a little brass brush, and about 45 minutes of elbow grease, and it will not remove the paint. (Scroll down just a bit from that post and check the tin snips, which were in far worse condition than your vise.)

Just my two cents.

 

[lyonkster]

Depends upon what you want the finished product to look like.
I tend to follow the tenet of "Do no harm", so I approach items like that with the least aggressive methods first.
That little vise will clean up quite nicely with a can of WD-40, a little brass brush, and about 45 minutes of elbow grease, and it will not remove the paint. (Scroll down just a bit from that post and check the tin snips, which were in far worse condition than your vise.)

Just my two cents.

Thank you, I'll start with that approach (I'm going to post on that thread about my Cyclops nail puller).

The small craftsman vise will go on the workbench of the newly built garage. I'm torn about the "look" - the garage itself and thus all the built-ins are brand new (see attachment), but I do have an old Cornwell tool chest in there, as well as an equally old Craftsman compressor. So I think the old Craftsman vise will fit in nicely, for the small garage projects. The big boys for more serious work (Charles Parker, Wilton, and Yost 33C, if it ever gets delivered), will be in the workshop.

 

[four.cycle]

^ You will be surprised at what you can do with just a brass-bristled brush and a can of WD-40. Those tin snips in that other thread were rusted shut.

 

[Maui]

I just picked up this vise earlier today. The only markings on it are what you see in the photos. It has 6 inch wide jaws, and weighs in the neighborhood of 150 lbs. The design looks familiar to me, but i can't seem to put my finger on who built it. Any ideas?

 

[micahd1997]

The design looks familiar to me, but i can't seem to put my finger on who built it. Any ideas?

Congrats, Maui! I have a friend who has the exact same vise, and the consensus was Rock Island. His appeared to have a 1922 date stamp on the slide as well. See pics

 

[Maui]

Thanks Micahd! I looked over the slide and there are no date stamps on mine. The jaws are non-replaceable too. So I'm guessing this means it is pre-1920s.

 

[micahd1997]

@Maui Certainly! I admittedly don’t have a very robust knowledge of Rock Island’s history, so I hope others chime in. With that said, if the 1922 date stamp on the vise that I posted pictures of can be trusted, that tells me that Rock Island was still making vises with cast-in jaws as late as 1922. However, it would take someone with a better understanding of the company to confirm the time frame during which Rock Island moved away from cast-in jaws to detachable ones. The 1922 date stamp might just be the date that that owner (first owner, second owner, etc.) obtained the vise.

By the way, I did find the 6” #137 in Rock Island’s 1910 catalog. Unfortunately, whoever uploaded the pages didn’t upload all of them, but the very last page in the scans does show the cost of replacement parts for that series: https://archive.org/details/rock-island-catalog-e-1910/page/n14/mode/1up

 

[RTM]

I just picked up this vise earlier today. The only markings on it are what you see in the photos. It has 6 inch wide jaws, and weighs in the neighborhood of 150 lbs. The design looks familiar to me, but i can't seem to put my finger on who built it. Any ideas?

Interesting, the vise spreadsheet did not have a Rock Island 137, but did have a Hollands , but no pic.

There is a Rock Island 136, shown here

The VISES of Garage Journal

Here are better pics, I think my Service was crappy when I tried to upload earlier Also does anyone know what kind of vise that is in the last picture?

www.garagejournal.com

@KMScott one to add to the list




And there was a Massey 137 listed, at 7" and 220#0, just for drool factor

 

[lyonkster]

^ You will be surprised at what you can do with just a brass-bristled brush and a can of WD-40. Those tin snips in that other thread were rusted shut.

So I soaked it in Simple Green, then went at it with a brass brush and WD40. It's definitely an improvement, but obviously won't knock anyone's socks off. I'll probably just leave like this for now and ponder if I want to go any further with painting etc.

 

[Outlawmws]

So I soaked it in Simple Green,

You need to be very careful with SG. it is quite a good paint remover... Mind you, I'm a fan of SG but I have largely switched to Grez off. (Can also impact paint, but doesn't seem to be quite as reactive)

 

[lyonkster]

You need to be very careful with SG. it is quite a good paint remover... Mind you, I'm a fan of SG but I have largely switched to Grez off. (Can also impact paint, but doesn't seem to be quite as reactive)

Thank you, I noticed that when I started scrubbing with the brass bristle brush, some paint was definitely coming off. Fortunately I caught it early enough, and this vise is not all that valuable, but it's a good cautionary tale when working with something where you don't want to remove the original paint.

 

[TheRealZeus]

Heck yeah… Often; Less is more.
Good stuff.

Paint can always be reapplied. What is ground off, cannot.. well, not so easily.

 

[four.cycle]

@lyonkster -

^ Yes, Simple Green undiluted will remove paint, as demonstrated HERE.

The WD-40 / brass brush method will leave the original paint intact (unless you really get aggressive with the brush.)

Looks pretty good as it sits.

 

[lyonkster]

Looks pretty good as it sits.

Thanks! But I'm beginning to lean towards hitting it with some new paint to make it pop a bit more.

 

[Shiftless]

I'm beginning to lean towards hitting it with some new paint to make it pop a bit more.

I have 3 or 4 of those Craftsman vises laying around. One of them came to me heavily damaged so I decided instead of painting it red after the epoxy filler, I would do it up in one of the color combinations available for the 1957 Chevy Bel Aire. See the pointed “tail fins” ?

 

[lyonkster]

I have 3 or 4 of those Craftsman vises laying around. One of them came to me heavily damaged so I decided instead of painting it red after the epoxy filler, I would do it up in one of the color combinations available for the 1957 Chevy Bel Aire. See the pointed “tail fins” ?

That's very inspiring! I'll probably go with basic Regal Red for this one, baby steps .

 

[four.cycle]

Well... sure... but if you're going to do it, may as well do it right, eh?

Here are a couple nice two-tone combinations you might want to consider:

 

[Shiftless]

I did a craftsman just like that one in silver and black for a relative. The vise was his father’s and silver and black was the color combination of the old man’s favorite car… a ‘57 Ford.
Sorry, I don’t have a pic.

 

[Outlawmws]

Someone on Eprey used to polish that model of vise to a mirror shine. IIR the casting grain was also smoothed? It was incredible. Not sure if they still do.

 

[lyonkster]

Thanks for all the ideas, I'll have to give it a bit of thought. I think polishing this vise is beyond my capabilities/time constraints, but a cool paint job may be interesting. For now I'll just bolt it to the workbench and use it, and hopefully an inspiration will come to me at some point .

 

[Shiftless]

Someone on Eprey used to polish that model of vise to a mirror shine. IIR the casting grain was also smoothed? It was incredible. Not sure if they still do.

I remember those. I thought I grabbed a screenshot of one of them, but I can’t find it.
IIRC, they sold for about $300. That’s a big number for a common modest little vise, but those of us who polish things know how many hours it takes to get to the level of mirror shine. Maybe that guy had access to commercial grade equipment beyond the level of us commoners. Maybe he did it at work on the boss’es time.

 

[Outlawmws]

I remember those. I thought I grabbed a screenshot of one of them, but I can’t find it.
IIRC, they sold for about $300. That’s a big number for a common modest little vise, but those of us who polish things know how many hours it takes to get to the level of mirror shine. Maybe that guy had access to commercial grade equipment beyond the level of us commoners. Maybe he did it at work on the boss’es time.

That is as I recall as well shift. And same - if I saved a pic, its long gone.

 

[1Bad55Chevy]

Well... sure... but if you're going to do it, may as well do it right, eh?

Here are a couple nice two-tone combinations you might want to consider:

My grandfather use to pick me up from school in the 80s/90s in a puke green/puke yellow 56 chevy 4 door hard top like that. It was a crazy clean survivor car but with a 350 700r4 that my dad swaped in it. My dad use to put a new motor and trans in it for him every time the OD rolled over.

I would be so embarrassed getting in that car and now I would do anything to have it back.

 

[TheRealZeus]

That is as I recall as well shift. And same - if I saved a pic, its long gone.

Like this?