Wilton rarity?
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Roberts210
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You've got a darn nice Wilton vise. Its got pipe jaws, and I think its the HD Model. It's a re-paint, but the repaint was done very well. If you pull the dynamic jaw all the way out there will be a date stamped on the bottom of the slide. Who ever did the restoration did a good job, and the vise doesn't look abused at all. I suspect (with no evidence) that some filler was used on the upper part of both the dynamic and static jaws--they just look too smooth, but its a gorgeous vise, and USEFUL too. How wide are the jaws? Care to say how you got it?
Is it rare? I wouldn't say Wilton machinist vises are rare, but they are very sought after for their strength and beauty.
Is it valuable? YES.
Is it rare? I wouldn't say Wilton machinist vises are rare, but they are very sought after for their strength and beauty.
Is it valuable? YES.
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I got it an estate sale. I was surprised on how nice the paint was too. I looked it over and didn't see any over spray. I wanted to believe it was factory paint but I knew it was to nice for that lol. Do you know what something like this would be worth?
Ole Slewfoot
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Looks like it might be worth more to a Ford fan.
Roberts210
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3.5 inch jaws. It is surprising to me how much bigger a 3.5" Wilton is, than a 3" Wilton. I'd think you could sell it in the $350 to $450 range, or more, just depending on where you live and how you advertise it. I don't know if it would fit in a large USPS Priority Mail flat rate box, if so you could sell it on ebay to a national audience. But the downside to a heavy vise is how much it costs to ship them. If you sold it locally, through CL, the price would depend on where you lived. Care to say what you paid for it? If you ship it, use pieces of 1/8th inch plywood to line the bottom and sides of the box so the vise doesn't fall through the bottom of the cardboard box.
Shiftless
Well-known member
Roberts210 has it right.
Unless there is damage hidden under that shiny paint, it looks like a very well preserved C Zero that is probably over 50 years old. Great find!
Unless there is damage hidden under that shiny paint, it looks like a very well preserved C Zero that is probably over 50 years old. Great find!
Looks like it was totally refurbished. The paint looks great, but I would shorten the arms on the swivel clamps and smooth out the grinding marks on the spindle nose. I'd probably give the jaw inserts a few passes with a grinder to true up their lengths. Still, in the Chicago area that's easily a $300 vise as-is.
Fierljeppen
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I am new to vises and really have no idea what I have and if it's rare or valuable. I have attached a picture to get your guys input and knowledge
The Wilton "C" series are my favorite Wilton model vise, mostly because of the taller jaw towers and the very good pipe jaws.
Does your Wilton "C0" vise have a date-stamp on the bottom of the moveable jaw keyway anywhere from (1962-1964)?
Fierljeppen
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Your vise looks like this Wilton C0 vise, date-stamped "12-31-1962".
I suspect your vise is from the same era. Can you take a photo of the keyway like the photo below? It will give us a definite time period for your vise.
It could be a great, little user vise for yourself, if you decided to keep it. Otherwise, it has good value in the used vise market and you shouldn't have any problem selling it.
I suspect your vise is from the same era. Can you take a photo of the keyway like the photo below? It will give us a definite time period for your vise.
It could be a great, little user vise for yourself, if you decided to keep it. Otherwise, it has good value in the used vise market and you shouldn't have any problem selling it.
Fierljeppen
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You've got the "GUAR EXP" date-code. It looks like 12-30-6? Your photo cut off the last number, which would be the year. I'm guessing it's a "2", which would make the date-stamp "GUAR EXP 12-30-62".
Look at the photo below, to help you see what your looking for. We're close!
Look at the photo below, to help you see what your looking for. We're close!
Fierljeppen
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Thanks for the good photos! It does look like the last digit is unreadable, but I'm still pretty sure it would be a "2" or "3", making it GUAR EXP (12-31-62) or (12-31-63).
The "GUAR EXP" means "Guaranteed expiration date", which was 5-years for that model. So, your vise was machined, assembled, painted and packaged around 12-31-57 or so. Wilton moved from Chicago to Schiller Park IL in the mid 1950's, making your vise one of the first "Schiller Park" casted model C0 vises.
Very nice vise, good luck with it whether you keep it or not.
The "GUAR EXP" means "Guaranteed expiration date", which was 5-years for that model. So, your vise was machined, assembled, painted and packaged around 12-31-57 or so. Wilton moved from Chicago to Schiller Park IL in the mid 1950's, making your vise one of the first "Schiller Park" casted model C0 vises.
Very nice vise, good luck with it whether you keep it or not.
I have never seen a Wilton Combination vise with the HD markings. I've only seen that on 4" machinist models that had the 7/8" spindle when both 3/4" and 7/8" were offered at the same time.
I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong...would love to know either way.
Roberts210
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I wondered about that. I was going by what I thought was beefiness in the jaws. Fielrjeppen will know for sure.
Fierljeppen
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In late 1941, the Wilton Tool Corp. offered their first and only vise at the time, the 4" machinist model.
From 1942-1943, the Wilton Tool Corp. started offering many other vise sizes, including the 4" HD and 4-1/2" HD models.
While, the Wilton Tool Corp. did sell it's vises directly to the general public at that time, it needed the HD models in order to meet the US Governments GGG-V-436a requirements for their 4" and 4-1/2" vises to be sold to the military. This is the reason Wilton had -2- different models for the 4" and 4-1/2" machinist vises at that time.
They also made a 3" HD model briefly, although both the std. and HD of that size were GGG-V-436a qualified.
The Wilton C1 combination vise was first introduced in 1945 and was also GGG-V-436a qualified. The "C" series vises were never categorized as HD.
Wilton continued to sell the standard 4" and 4-1/2" machinist vises until 1953 as their "Export" model.
However, in 1954, Wilton eliminated the lighter duty machinist vises and changed the machinist vise models to what is still used today.
From 1942-1943, the Wilton Tool Corp. started offering many other vise sizes, including the 4" HD and 4-1/2" HD models.
While, the Wilton Tool Corp. did sell it's vises directly to the general public at that time, it needed the HD models in order to meet the US Governments GGG-V-436a requirements for their 4" and 4-1/2" vises to be sold to the military. This is the reason Wilton had -2- different models for the 4" and 4-1/2" machinist vises at that time.
They also made a 3" HD model briefly, although both the std. and HD of that size were GGG-V-436a qualified.
The Wilton C1 combination vise was first introduced in 1945 and was also GGG-V-436a qualified. The "C" series vises were never categorized as HD.
Wilton continued to sell the standard 4" and 4-1/2" machinist vises until 1953 as their "Export" model.
However, in 1954, Wilton eliminated the lighter duty machinist vises and changed the machinist vise models to what is still used today.
Roberts210
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Wilton's model numbers and product specs have always been very confusing to me. Fielrjeppen has brought a lot of clarity to the subject.
Roberts210
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If I had gotten it for really cheap, and I wanted to get it to someone who was going to use it, I'd list it at $350 or a little higher. But my own personal ballpark valuation for a nice 3" to 5" Wilton is $100 per inch of jaw width plus another $100 if it has a swivel base. So you might also get $450 for it, or even a little more. Just depends on how charitable you want to be, and how much you paid for it. I also try to get tools into the hands of guys who will use them. I'd much rather sell to a user than a collector. That's why I don't pretty up my sale vises too much. But that one has already been prettied up.
Roberts210
Well-known member
I've never sold here, but I have sold on Craigslist. If you've never sold on CL, people generally expect you to come down on your price 10%. The low-ballers will ask via email, "What's the lowest you'll take for it?" I never reply to those types of inquiry with a price, instead I always reply, "You are welcome to come take a look at it and make an offer." No low-baller has EVER taken me up on that.
Roberts210
Well-known member
I talked to another local guy that has a few took it over to him to look at. He said he would start there can always come down so I put best offer on it