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USA or Quality Bench Vice

W

Weedwaka

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 28, 2008
Messages
737
Hey Guys,

Where are you getting your USA made bench vices ? I picked up a 5" universal style with the pipe jaws on one side but I am going to return it. The castings are cheap and it feels like a big pile of ****. Chinese unit by the name of precision tool ( the cheap plaque riveted on crooked made me laugh )

I went to KMS and they said all their Wiltons are chineese. Wilton had the same style / size unit that I bought but with better fit and finish. What brands should I look for. I will restore some older units if necessary.

Specifically, I want a swivel style with pipe jaws on one end and a second large standard unit with heavy anvil.

Cheers :beer:
 
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A

asp

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 24, 2010
Messages
186
Location
Westport, MA
My first one was an old one on craigslist. The others were from a friend of mine's grandfather. I know Nick (autopts) gets a lot of his at estate sales and yard sales.
 
D

Davefr

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 7, 2010
Messages
11,851
Location
OR
1. Buy a Wilton Machinist or Tradesman vise
2. Buy a Ridgid (made in Germany)
3. Buy an "oldie but goodie" from an estate or garage sale and restore it.
 
M

metal1313

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 28, 2009
Messages
3,416
Location
clinton NJ
where are you located? i have a few vises for sale, but shipping makes them expensive. im only looking for what they cost me, which was under 70 each
 
T

touchdowntodd

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 31, 2010
Messages
60
Location
milwaukee wi
i have to say taht i will be searching for an old one...

the new ones can be nice, but for a few hundred? i cant justify it vs rummage sale / craigslist prices and doing a quick resto (or leaving it alone)...

plus old stuff is always cooler in my opinion.. imagine the stories they could tell! and i love some nicks and scratches so i dont have to be the first (on tools atleasT)..
 
A

ajchien

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 3, 2010
Messages
2,652
Location
Los Angeles, stuck on the 60 freeway.
Argh. For a month I was looking for a vise - but then over the course of 1 week, I wound up with three. A Wilton bullet 3.5in was from a flea market ($30), a Parker slide came from CL ($25) and then a Japan made Craftsman slide ($20) also came from CL.

Now that i have 2 vises too many, I'm seeing them all the time. I passed on a 4in newer model steel Wilton (asking $25), a 3in Reed slide (asking $25), and a 4 in light duty exposed screw Rock Island (asking $10) at estate sales all in the past 2 days.

Its crazy, when you're looking for something, it takes forever to find it. Once you have what you need, there's too many.

So I think CL > estate sales > flea market is best yield to find a USA vise.
 
K

kb2tha

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 4, 2010
Messages
495
Location
Delaware County, NYS
Picked up this little 3.5" beauty at an auction today for $10. It will serve my smaller vise needs well after I get it cleaned up and put in service. I'm happy :)
Ken
 

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F

Flash21

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 23, 2008
Messages
2,173
I've always like bmwpower's vise.

bmwpower said:
My 6" Ridgid 60FSN
Click to expand...
attachment.php



I'm not sure who currently manufactures a vise that is comparable to this vise, both in quality and general form.

Anybody know? Maybe a Reed 306S?

http://www.reedmfgco.com/index.html?screen=machinists_vises
 
M

MrMark

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 25, 2010
Messages
4,626
Location
Southern Cal.
That is a beauty. It looks almost exactly like a 60's Columbian, but the jaws are wrong. Who made that?
 
S

spongerich

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 17, 2010
Messages
2,339
Location
Monroe, NY
KLars1 said:
I've always like bmwpower's vise.

I'm not sure who currently manufactures a vise that is comparable to this vise, both in quality and general form.

Anybody know? Maybe a Reed 306S?
Click to expand...

Yost makes one that's close.

A 4" with swivel base can be yours for the low low price of just $498. (Which presumably does NOT include shipping)

If you're setting up a factory and need 20-30 of them, I suppose it makes sense. It does make the prices of vintage models look downright reasonable.
 
B

bmwpower

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 24, 2005
Messages
12,578
Location
NJ
Thanks. I love my vise. I just got in from doing some work on my struts. 6" wide jaw is a nice sweet spot - not crazy big, but big enough to hold onto just about anything.

From what I have seen, it was likely made by Columbian. Here is an example of a similar Columbian. Jaws are different, but everything else looks the same.

Columbian6_clean.jpg


This is the shot I have of the other side:

myvise.jpg


Sadly, Columbian doesn't make them like this anymore.

If new is the way you want to go, try:

http://www.milwmal.com/v_mach.htm

or

a Reed.
 
F

Flash21

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Joined
Jul 23, 2008
Messages
2,173
bmwpower said:
Thanks. I love my vise. I just got in from doing some work on my struts. 6" wide jaw is a nice sweet spot - not crazy big, but big enough to hold onto just about anything.
Click to expand...

good feedback bmwpower...that is definitely a beauty. :drool:


One of the webpages was showing the Reed 306S was ~$800...there sure wasn't a lot of hits on places that sell it, makes me think they are probably not distributed far and wide.

Morgan 150 is showing $565 on one page

(The weight on the Reed 306S w/ 6" jaws is 107 lbs and the Morgan with 5" jaws is 91lbs...but if you step up the 6" Morgan it goes to 147 lbs :shocking:
 
B

bmwpower

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Staff member
Joined
Apr 24, 2005
Messages
12,578
Location
NJ
KLars1 said:
good feedback bmwpower...that is definitely a beauty. :drool:


One of the webpages was showing the Reed 306S was ~$800...there sure wasn't a lot of hits on places that sell it, makes me think they are probably not distributed far and wide.

Morgan 150 is showing $565 on one page

(The weight on the Reed 306S w/ 6" jaws is 107 lbs and the Morgan with 5" jaws is 91lbs...but if you step up the 6" Morgan it goes to 147 lbs :shocking:
Click to expand...

Hmmm... yea, that looks to be 147lbs...

vise009.jpg
 

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C

canuckian

Well-known member
Joined
May 7, 2009
Messages
4,103
Location
East coast of Canaaada
GeorgiaHybrid said:
Funny you should ask this today:

http://www.tooltopia.com/daily-deals.aspx

They have a 5 1/2" Wilton Tradesman (made in the USA) on the daily special for $307. I have one of those mounted on my bench and it is as good a vise for that size as you could hope for.
Click to expand...

tried to buy that one myself but when I asked for a shipping quote, they replied that they can't ship this item to Canada. Must be because of the weight I guess. Ah well, my search continues.......
 
B

bmwpower

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Staff member
Joined
Apr 24, 2005
Messages
12,578
Location
NJ
KLars1 said:
AWESOME

Thanks for the pic

Look at the length of that handle! Talk about leverage! :drool:


Do you know how much your Rigid weighs, bmwpower?
Click to expand...

I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing it's gotta be close to the same weight, right? I mean, it's about the same size/look as that Morgan.

Just looked at the pict again... those jaws look like my jaws. Interesting.
 
K

Keep

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 1, 2009
Messages
1,398
Location
Oshawa, Ontario
canuckian said:
tried to buy that one myself but when I asked for a shipping quote, they replied that they can't ship this item to Canada. Must be because of the weight I guess. Ah well, my search continues.......
Click to expand...

Keep an eye on kijiji, there are always Records for sale on there. I have picked up 4 Records, and not a one of them over $50.

(I will also second the GRAY recommendation, they are having a nice sale on them right now)

Also the Gray tools swivel bases will fit the Records, thats how I mounted one of mine.
 
F

Flash21

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 23, 2008
Messages
2,173
bmwpower said:
I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing it's gotta be close to the same weight, right? I mean, it's about the same size/look as that Morgan.

Just looked at the pict again... those jaws look like my jaws. Interesting.
Click to expand...

Is your vise that big in person? there isn't much to visually scale your vise to in the pic so maybe I'm not realizing how big it really is in person.

The swivel lock-downs on the Morgan look tiny relative to that big vise.
 
V

v7guy

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 7, 2009
Messages
557
Location
Hudson valley, NY
I have a 5" wilton I've been working on for a little bit now. I want to say I paid $30 for it off ebay and drove a couple hours to pick it up. Took me months to find a good sized one. I would encourage you to keep looking on craigslist and ebay and of course check out the local estate sells
 
G

gilbo

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 1, 2010
Messages
719
Weedwaka said:
Hey Guys,

Where are you getting your USA made bench vices ? I picked up a 5" universal style with the pipe jaws on one side but I am going to return it. The castings are cheap and it feels like a big pile of ****. Chinese unit by the name of precision tool ( the cheap plaque riveted on crooked made me laugh )

I went to KMS and they said all their Wiltons are chineese. Wilton had the same style / size unit that I bought but with better fit and finish. What brands should I look for. I will restore some older units if necessary.

Specifically, I want a swivel style with pipe jaws on one end and a second large standard unit with heavy anvil.

Cheers :beer:
Click to expand...

here another link for u

http://www.yostvises.com/
 
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