Wilton Cadet Vise

[greasemonkey14]

I acquired an old Wilton Cadet vise at a estate sale for $50 that I’d like to restore/repaint. The problem is that it appears the jaws are missing and/or have been partially fabricated/welded into place at least on one side. One side has holes but no threads and the other side has no holes. Based off these pictures does anyone have advice on how I could attach new jaws or recommendations? I’d love to save this old vise. I am new to these old vises so it could also be that I’m unsure of what I’m looking at. Thanks in advance!

 

[Old Radar]

Welcome to the forum, greasemonkey!
From the photos, it looks like the jaws have been brazed onto the vise. The stationary jaw is probably original and is designed for the fasteners to seat against the back of the jaw using threads in the tower--not in the removable jaw insert. The dynamic jaw looks to me like a piece of steel that was brazed in place of the original jaw.
My advise--if you are unwilling to use the vise as it is, is to go to the sticky on the Vintage Tool Forum and seek out the experts on the several Wilton-related threads to see if it is advisable/possible to remove the brazing to install new jaw inserts. Just remember--with these vintage tools, it's like peeling an onion--once you remove the outer offensive layer, another layer presents itself, with its own problems. In this case, the threads may have been destroyed, the towers may have been cracked or ??? Pick your poison!
Good luck!

Here's mine after a refurb.

 

[Jr5]

THATS the Wilton my dad had when I was a kid, and fueled my love for Wilton as an adult. I distinctly remember the orange color. Wish I had his (lost in time after he died and I had no appreciation for tools at the time)
Sorry, I’m of no help, just the cadet.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

People have asked why mine is orange. I tell them that's how it came!

 

[1982fxr]

I'd just use it as is. Strip and paint or whatever if you'd like, but I wouldn't get into those jaw faces. Smooth faces can be pretty dang nice to have anyway...

 

[oldmachinenut]

This is my Cadet that I rescued off a bench at my son’s previous employer. His boss bought a bench at an auction and it was being moved into the stall of the shop tool destroyer, he was hard on things. I traded a bigger import vise even-up for the Cadet. It was in excellent condition just poorly painted and dirty. I painted it orange like the other machines in my shop only to find out they were originally orange.

 

[Roberts210]

I have restored Wiltons with welded-on pieces of steel for jaw inserts and broken off insert screws. But that Cadet looks like it would work just fine as it is. Looks like the jaws meet perfectly. Kudo's to whoever did the repair job. I'd keep it like that, and just do some cosmetic work on it--paint and such.

By the way, what size is it?

 

[greasemonkey14]

I have restored Wiltons with welded-on pieces of steel for jaw inserts and broken off insert screws. But that Cadet looks like it would work just fine as it is. Looks like the jaws meet perfectly. Kudo's to whoever did the repair job. I'd keep it like that, and just do some cosmetic work on it--paint and such.

By the way, what size is it?

Thanks. I’ll just leave it the way it is and clean/repaint. It’s got 4” jaws!

 

[fishwatcher]

Thanks. I’ll just leave it the way it is and clean/repaint. It’s got 4” jaws!

What an awesome deal! Without investing $'s in rebuilding the jaw support (and as a novice, trying to do my own first vise restore), I would buy nice Wilton copper jaw covers as part of your clean/repaint project. It'll hide the "defect" as well as protect your welded jaw from further wear. Looking forward to seeing your completed project. For me, I'm waiting on weather to warm up, before I start final cleaning and painting.

 

[LNKMK8]

Here is mine that I recently finished up. Unless you have access to mill or a lot of time and patience, I would probably just clean up what is there and leave those jaws in place as they are.

 

[67carl]

I'm just going to leave this here. From Craigslist today...

 

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

People have asked why mine is orange. I tell them that's how it came!

Mine's orange because I painted it orange!

 

[Old Radar]

^^^ Wow! That's a nice transformation from boat anchor back to a vise!

 

[harris.jasonm]

This is the one I just finished up.

 

[SkyPuncher]

Looks good harris.jasonm! Here's mine I cleaned up last fall.

 

[Highway Bob]

I have struggled for years for suitable magnetic backed soft jaws for my 4" Wilton Machinist vise. Recommendations?

 

[harris.jasonm]

I have struggled for years for suitable magnetic backed soft jaws for my 4" Wilton Machinist vise. Recommendations?

Drop Logan an email or give him a call. Worst case he will for sure make a set for you. He is making me a custom set right now.
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www.antiquevises.com