Wilton model and value

[TXNinAZ]

Bought a cheap Columbian and old Wilton the other day and planned on cleaning up the Wilton, new jaw pads and put it to use, and sell or gift the Columbian. I then found a Wilton C-1 bullet, so I'm keeping that instead.

Cleaned most of the grease and surface rust off the Wilton but don't know the model. It's well used and I got it pretty dirty, but really all it needs is paint, new pads, maybe a new swivel clamp, and 5 min on a mill if one wanted the anvil to be perfect. Just one nick out of the iron on one of the jaws in terms of permanent defects. 5" jaws, with about 7 1/2" opening, max. Guesses on what it is and what I could sell it for?

 

[zkling]

Welding table vise. $20

, but really all it needs is paint, new pads, maybe a new swivel clamp, and 5 min on a mill if one wanted the anvil to be perfect.

O, is that all?

 

[1982fxr]

model 645 utility, i think. if you go on erplacementpartswilton and look at the diagrams under utility vises you might be able to find it...

 

[TXNinAZ]

Welding table vise. $20



O, is that all?

Doesn't seem like that much to end up with a solid made in USA vise, but yeah, not everyone sees things the way I do.

 

[1950mercury]

Is that a model p.o.s.

 

[1982fxr]

Is that a model p.o.s.

No, they are decent. imho and some others probably one of the better utility style vises out there...

 

[TXNinAZ]

Is that a model p.o.s.

It's ugly right now, but it turns smooth and easy, and grips nice and tight. Just needs to be prettied up.

 

[zkling]

Doesn't seem like that much to end up with a solid made in USA vise, but yeah, not everyone sees things the way I do.

Yeah, have you actually done it though? If so what would you charge? The easiest part is milling the anil, provided you have a milling machine....that is if you want to do it properly.

Not trying to harp on you, just so often i see sellers try to convince the unknowing buyers that "all it needs is....".

 

[1982fxr]

that anvil looks perfect to me?

I think you can still get new jaw inserts for those @ like $60 or so...

 

[1982fxr]

I have one.
It's just a thing that temporarily holds other things.
There's no good or bad.
If you break a vise it means you needed a press instead.
There are very few bad vises, lots of bad operators.

I have to disagree with that part. Most of the (chinese) multi-purpose vises I've seen, as well as bottom of the barrel chinese **** will let go when you start drilling, grinding, etc on the work piece. Annoying at best; dangerous at worst...just my experience.

Also on the cheap-o's, when the body breaks and the handle is still perfectly straight---that is a bad vise. Agree w/everything else you said.

 

[Mark in Indiana]

TXN,
I've restored and sold a few of these Wilton mechanic's vises. Generally, I pay around $20 for them, unrestored. After I'm finished with them, they sell for $125 to $175, locally. Sounds like your vise would be fairly easy to restore.

Here is a before & after picture of one that I restored, along with making new jaw faces for it:

 

[TXNinAZ]

Hopefully now I can get more than $20 out of it. Flipping there jaw pads over made a big difference and if the new owner wants new ones, they're not that expensive, I just didn't want to sink more than the $8 on paint and primer and $2.50 on new socket cap screws for the pads.

 

[davethorik]

It's similar to the lighter Columbian models, stamped steel slide. But because it says Wilton, you should do alright.

 

[TXNinAZ]

Touched up the blue and added a little flair to the lettering.