Wilton WS6 Vise

[jsharpphoto]

Does anyone have experience with this Wilton Shop Vise?

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_48555_48555

I know it's not a USA made vise. But it seems the only vise at it's price-point with a lifetime warranty. I only do home-hobby work, repairs and minor fabrication for my own motorcycles.

1. Is this the same chinese junk that everyone sells, with an extra $75 for the Wilton name and warranty?

2. If i get it, and it DOES need warranty work, who pays for shipping to and from Wilton? or do I just take it back to the store I purchased it from.

Unfortunately the used market on Wilton's is too pricey for me to buy a vise of this size and be in the same neighborhood of price. I don't need a bullet, although they are beautiful, but i need something that I can use 3-4 times a month, and not have to worry about it breaking and falling on my foot.

 

[drivesitfar]

have you looked on your Craigs for a Reed, Athol, Rock Island, Parker, Morgan or other old US vise maker's brands? or just what comes up when you search vise or vice (English spelling and US mis spelling)?

i'd sell you one of my 3 or 4 inch ones either before i restore or after if you wanted one and PM me with your email and i'll send you a few options. i'm not quite sure how to ship the bigger ones yet, but i just shipped a 4.5 inch Craftsman that weighed about 30 pounds to a GJ member in California that is very happy.

by the way back to your original question. Wilton vises whether made in US or China or elsewhere are good working vises if the owner doesn't use it as a press or anvil or hammer on it. i had a Chinese made Wilton on my bench for about a year that was sort of similar to yours that worked fine. i did manage to bend the handle a little just by tightening it by hand without any pipe or other help, but i was probably abusing it.

i bet their warranty is pretty good since they have been in business for 70 years, but you might want to read the fine print.

 

[jsharpphoto]

i've been watching ebay and craigslist with a 100 mile range. There hasn't been anything not-asian for a while. Lots of pittsburgs and some vost imports. I'm not in a huge hurry, but i'm not really looking to wait 6 months for something that MIGHT pop up.

Thanks for the offer on the 3 or 4 inch versions, but I'm really looking for a 6 inch.

 

[drivesitfar]

another option is to buy a smaller vise maybe a 4 or 4.5 inch wide jaw which might be easier to find an old one in your area and buy a pair of 6 inch copper jaws made by Wilton on Ebay for $30. i used my copper jaws on my smaller vises and they work great. here's a picture of a 4 inch Wilton C1 with the 6 inch jaws on it.

also an old 6 inch vise is on the radar of the vise guys because they are rare to find in great shape.

i think another option for a new vise it tekton or close to that name where they have a great warranty if you break it in normal use.

 

[jjjrmx5]

Too bad you're not here.

Local guy on CL has a Wilton mechanics 5" for $55.

Imma guessin' he'll go lower.

As for the newer vises, I;d not lean hard on the warranty. In a "toss and replace world" of tools these days, I'd get clarity via an email to Wilton if me before buying.

 

[jsharpphoto]

i'm now considering 4 inch vices, after seeing the availability (more) and price (less) differences. How do the 70's and 80's USA craftsman vices perform? And does anyone have opinions on Fuller vices? It seems like they're craftsman designs made in Japan?

 

[Mr. Brooks]

I have a restored 8" 1780 if interested. Made in USA, 110 lbs, etc.

send me a PM with your cell and I can send you over some pics.

Oh and Im next to texas motor speedway, justin area.

 

[jsharpphoto]

I've found a few options on eBay. Is it at all reasonable (I'm sure it's possible) to modify an older vise to accept replaceable jaws? Have a machine show cut and tap the holes?

 

[zkling]

have you looked on your Craigs for a Reed, Athol, Rock Island, Parker, Morgan or other old US vise maker's brands? or just what comes up when you search vise or vice (English spelling and US mis spelling)?

Drivesitfar, what is your expert vise opinion on the Craftsman pro tubular slide vise for ~$120? I've fondled them in store and they seem pretty decent for the $ if someone wants a new vise.

 

[drivesitfar]

Zkling: the last vise i owned that was less than 20 years old other than a drill press vise was this Wilton i bought that was maybe 5 years old and still new in the box. i mounted it and had it on my bench for maybe a year or a little longer.

I owned several other old Wilton bullets and a few other vises and every time one of my clients or friends saw which vise i had on my bench they all told me to sell it and use one of the other ones. now i never did break it and it worked great for the little bit that i used it. i did bend the handle one time when tightening something as tight as i could by hand in the jaws probably to free up a bolt of something like that.

i caved to peer pressure and put it on Craigs for $100 and sold it in a couple weeks. it might have lasted me for years as a homeowner, but now i have a little repair shop and i own some big old US made vises and a few little ones that all work fine. the pictures are of the vise i owned that might have been more expensive new than the OP's vise he started this thread with.

as far as me being a vise expert i'll defer that title to several others that might be found on the vise thread or work at the factories where the new and old vises were and are made. i'm learning every day a little more about vises and tools and the more i learn the more i know that the older tools were made with better quality than what we can buy today. i'm guessing the steel in China could be made or maybe is made better than 70 year old US steel, but we never see that for sale in the stores here that i'm aware of.

my 2+ cents is to buy a 4 inch old US vise for $150 or less that might weigh 1.5 or twice as much as a new one you can buy in a store. some new products have great guarantees and have heard that they stand behind them in most cases, but i like old tools so hard for me to buy new anymore.

 

[Fretters]

i'm guessing the steel in China could be made or maybe is made better than 70 year old US steel, but we never see that for sale in the stores here that i'm aware of.

Iron rather than steel. Unless I'm mistaken, steel was in limited use in producing vices? Most would have been some variant of cast or malleable, (what's the actual definition of malleable iron, btw? Seen it referenced no end of times, but never actually found a specific answer as to what it is, as yet), iron. Same as close grained cast iron. Is that just some random marketing wording?

I don't believe China has any problems producing quality. They're simply not being paid to for quality by the companies who are exporting the goods. If we wanted quality at whatever expense, there'd be a lot less imported stuff.

my 2+ cents is to buy a 4 inch old US vise for $150 or less that might weigh 1.5 or twice as much as a new one you can buy in a store.

[...]

but i like old tools so hard for me to buy new anymore.

Sound advice, although if it's something which is going to be used and abused, buying new isn't so gutting if or when it goes pop. Not a fan of new stuff myself either, these days. I'll buy it if necessary, but not generally.

There are just so many times you look at new stuff, (not necessarily just cheap stuff either), and it just looks cheesy. Low quality, poor or slap happy finish etc., and there still seems to be a surprising amount of monkey metal kit around.


p.s: Just out of curiosity, what type of repair work do you do? No real reason for asking other than that I'm a nosey git.

 

[Fretters]

i'm now considering 4 inch vices, after seeing the availability (more) and price (less) differences. How do the 70's and 80's USA craftsman vices perform? And does anyone have opinions on Fuller vices? It seems like they're craftsman designs made in Japan?

Japanese made kit is rarely, if ever, shoddy kit. What is it you're planning on using a vice for? Unless you're planning on treating it like ****, pretty much anything will work fine when looked after and used as intended. Just use your gumption when choosing one. You can usually tell decent from **** just by a visual inspection.

 

[jsharpphoto]

I manly use a vise for freeing up stuck _________ or whatnot. A few times a year, I will use the anvil for hammering some rivets that hold Vespa transmissions together. I'm not seriously considering a tekton vise. New, cheap, not Chinese (technically) and lifetime warranty.

 

[Fretters]

Pretty much owt should do the trick then, by the sounds of it. Look after it, and chances are it'll be fine. Things like applying pressure towards the rear jaw rather than the front etc. all make a difference towards keeping a vice intact. Even the best of vices will break under the best of abuse. The photo I posted of a knacked Swindens the other day attests to that. This is the one.

That was being used as a press at the time it broke.

With regards the anvil, I'd personally be tempted to just bolt a thick slab of steel or similar to the bench top, (or even get one of those miniature anvils which Record used to make), and use that instead. I'm not against using an anvil portion on a vice due to thinking it will break it or suchlike, when used within reason, but simply for the fact that I don't like marking/damaging vices by hammering upon them. A thick slab of steel or such is easily replaced when the surface is beyond its best. Not as easy to rectify a marked anvil portion though. Another thing which makes a decent anvil, if you can find one, is a large engine valve. I have one knocking about, about two foot long and with a 6" or so wide face, for just that purpose, when I eventually get around to cleaning it up.

 

[jsharpphoto]

From the reviews of the tekton brand, in general... It seems to be regarded as the "gearwrench of vises". Not USA made, but a quality Asian import with good warranty support.

I've married it down to this one, I think.

TEKTON 54004 4-Inch Swivel Bench Vise by TEKTON http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FJXYKCW/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Fretters]

If it looks like it'll cope with what you want from it, (and for $50, it's hardly a killer if the worst did happen), I'd say go for it. End of the day, you may pick up an old, larger vice later on down the line, but if you haven't killed that one in the meantime, you always still have it there, and your immediate need is sorted to boot. Plus, you won't tend to molly coddle that one like you likely would an older, more expensive vice.

 

[byoungblood]

I had that very vise until I bought my bullet. A few comments/observations.

It is fairly stoutly made, and it took a fair amount of abuse from me beating on it and doing other stuff you probably shouldn't do with a vise. Only issue I ever had with it was trying to replace a u-joint (again, trying to use it for something it wasn't designed for) the threads on the bolt holding the main nut in stripped. They had used a short bolt that didn't even go all the way through the tapped hole in the bottom of the vise so it was only engaged by a few threads in the first place. I cleaned up the threads in the hole, installed a longer bolt that engaged all the threads in the base and never had another issue.

It uses a spring and C-clip inside the dynamic jaw to open the jaw. The c clip fell out on mine at some point and I had to pull it out by hand until I found a c-clip that would work. Grainger sells parts for this vise, but wanted somewhere in the neighborhood of $6-8 for the odd-sized chinesium c-clip. I bought an assortment from the hardware store for $2 and found one that was close enough.

I got $40 for mine used last year. I have a 4" bullet, which I actually find to be a better size for most general work.

 

[jsharpphoto]

Thanks for all the help guys. I have lots of experience in my garage, but never shopping for a vice. I've only used 3 vises my entire life..,

My dad's late 70's craftsman.

My great-granddads Stuart Handi-worker (which is now mine)

And a ****** Chinese Irwin clamp-on vise.

I mainly wanted a new bigger vise so I wouldn't use the Handi-worker. It's displayed in my garage as a monument to the generations of my family who have used it, I don't want to bang on it.

 

[drivesitfar]

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=232487&highlight=tekton+vise

here's a thread on a Tekton vise that had a pipe put on the handle using it as a press. of course not the recommended use or method for using a vise and the dynamic jaw broke.

as read in the thread the user bought the vise used on Craigs, it was about 10 years old and Tekton covered the break. of course that might not be covered all the time, but the owner or a customer service person at that company is a GJ member so if you are buying an import that might be the one to choose.

buy a cheap press for those jobs and a piece of RR track to use as your anvil and your vise will have a chance of lasting a lot longer.

good luck