Hoot
Well-known member
Several weeks ago I bought a vise that Alex71 had for sale. It was an older Morgan, and looked pretty nice in the pictures. I had been wanting something like that for a LONG time, and it caught my eye. I was a little worried about replacement parts, but later found that parts were still available for it. We struck a deal, and a few days later it was sitting in my garage. Alex said it was in good shape, and he was definitely correct.
Being the type that can't leave anything alone, I quickly took it apart. I cleaned up the parts, got some tips about greasing it up from members on this board, and browsed the paint aisles at the local stores for a good color. I really couldn't decide on an exact color, but eventually went with a dark grey. I couldn't go with red (Wilton and Craftsman color), black seemed too dark, light grey just didn't seem right, and neither did blue. Then I saw a dark grey and figured that was good as anything else.
I ordered replacement jaw inserts and a new handle for the swivel lock. I have the new swivel lock handle installed now, but plan on putting the original back on after I straighten the handle rod a little bit. The new one just doesn't match the character of the vise...... I'm not going to install the new jaw inserts at the moment either. I like the smooth face of the ones that came with it. I've read several threads where members talk about having jaw inserts "made" and I think the ones that came on it are "made" and not original to the vise. They are made very well and are TIGHT to the jaws when installed.
Oh, and the rep at Milwaukee who sold me the parts mentioned the vise was made sometime between the late 20's and mid 40's based on the "Chicago" trademark on the side of the vise. I thought that was pretty interesting.....
Now I just have to come up with a way to mount it. I'm not really big on drilling holes in my new-to-me military surplus workbench. So I may mount it to a thick piece of wood that could be clamped to my bench when needed.....
The first two pictures are "before" and the last two are the "after" pictures.
Being the type that can't leave anything alone, I quickly took it apart. I cleaned up the parts, got some tips about greasing it up from members on this board, and browsed the paint aisles at the local stores for a good color. I really couldn't decide on an exact color, but eventually went with a dark grey. I couldn't go with red (Wilton and Craftsman color), black seemed too dark, light grey just didn't seem right, and neither did blue. Then I saw a dark grey and figured that was good as anything else.
I ordered replacement jaw inserts and a new handle for the swivel lock. I have the new swivel lock handle installed now, but plan on putting the original back on after I straighten the handle rod a little bit. The new one just doesn't match the character of the vise...... I'm not going to install the new jaw inserts at the moment either. I like the smooth face of the ones that came with it. I've read several threads where members talk about having jaw inserts "made" and I think the ones that came on it are "made" and not original to the vise. They are made very well and are TIGHT to the jaws when installed.
Oh, and the rep at Milwaukee who sold me the parts mentioned the vise was made sometime between the late 20's and mid 40's based on the "Chicago" trademark on the side of the vise. I thought that was pretty interesting.....
Now I just have to come up with a way to mount it. I'm not really big on drilling holes in my new-to-me military surplus workbench. So I may mount it to a thick piece of wood that could be clamped to my bench when needed.....
The first two pictures are "before" and the last two are the "after" pictures.
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