The VISES of Garage Journal

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

Originally Posted by BanjoSavesTheDay

Well, I'm so proud of this that I reeeeally wanted to put it in it's own thread, but I decided to do the honorable thing. It just seems like very few people actually look at this thread.

Beautiful job! Wow!

[Pukeballs]

Originally Posted by stewart

Hey Pukeballs, nice job also, I had a crafstman just like it. It also had a bent beam?

Thanks. Yes it did have a bent beam. Did you have one that was bent as well?

I was thinking about bending it straight, but just gave it away to a friend instead. He needed one, and I didnt want the hassle.

[mjozefow]

Originally Posted by BanjoSavesTheDay

It just seems like very few people actually look at this thread.

That's what happens when they get long. I think if you have a resto to show off, it should be posted here and also get it's own thread. This is more of a group showcase.

If you want to just show a vise you acquired, this would probably be the place.

Oh, and nice job!

[emeraldcoupe]

i need a new set of jaw pads for my old wilton 5 1/2" vise, any of you guys know where i can get a set?

[bmwpower]

Hey, I always check this thread out. People are reading, just not replying all the time.

[BanjoSavesTheDay]

Well thanks everybody! I promise I wasn't sulking or anything. lol I apologize for offending the faithful. Honestly what I like most about this thread is that it's such a wealth of information on vises that the internet is largely lacking. There's no definitive book on vises anywhere either; I wish someone would write one!

mjozefow, I didn't know I was allowed to do that. I will make a separate thread for my big dawg vise when I really get started on the restoration.

emeraldcoupe, try this guy: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWAX:IT.

One other thing I forgot to say in my other post. The pastor doing my wedding is a Gravely tractors nut so I painted the vise with official Gravely red paint. That stuff is ridiculously expensive, but he happened to have left part of a can at my house, so I helped myself to a bit.

Last but not least, I have another funny "before" picture of the Wilton. I think I've posted this somewhere else but it is in the jaws of my Columbian 608. The bolts that connect the vise to the base were on there super tight.

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

Originally Posted by BanjoSavesTheDay

Well thanks everybody! I promise I wasn't sulking or anything. lol I apologize for offending the faithful. Honestly what I like most about this thread is that it's such a wealth of information on vises that the internet is largely lacking. There's no definitive book on vises anywhere either; I wish someone would write one!

You may have to do that yourself!

Originally Posted by BanjoSavesTheDay

Looking for an obnoxiously large bench vise. If you have any information as to the where-abouts of one, please contact me. : )

The Columbian you have isn't big enough?!

[BanjoSavesTheDay]

Originally Posted by Lookin4'67Galaxieconv

The Columbian you have isn't big enough?!

Haha! That thing's just a baby. You've seen the pictures of that big one that doesn't have a name cast into it (post 176). The Columbian only weighs about 180 lbs or so.

Seriously though, the difference in beefiness between a chipping vise and a machinist vise is almost as big as the difference between a machinist vise and a mechanic/homeowner vise.

Why do I want yet another one? Because I love the quality of craftsmanship and the history. That and they're just darn cool.

[mjozefow]

Originally Posted by BanjoSavesTheDay

mjozefow, I didn't know I was allowed to do that. I will make a separate thread for my big dawg vise when I really get started on the restoration.

Dude I didn't start this thread to be the only place that vises could be posted. I don't have that power. It is really just so that people on this board and lurkers could find a wide variety of pictures/stories/histories of these tools. And maybe keep a few out of the scrap heap.

BTW, I am also looking for a huge vise. So if I find one in your area I'll let you know, and if you find one in my area you let me know. Sound like a plan?

[BanjoSavesTheDay]

Originally Posted by mjozefow

Dude I didn't start this thread to be the only place that vises could be posted. I don't have that power. It is really just so that people on this board and lurkers could find a wide variety of pictures/stories/histories of these tools. And maybe keep a few out of the scrap heap. ?

lol I wasn't trying to say you wouldn't like it, just maybe someone would say I was taking up too much space with different posts about the same thing. Thanks for telling me though. I had been wondering about that.

Originally Posted by mjozefow

BTW, I am also looking for a huge vise. So if I find one in your area I'll let you know, and if you find one in my area you let me know. Sound like a plan?

We both just missed one!! I'm thinking about going to grad school at Ball State, so I poked around on the Indiana CL some and found a Wilton 800N. As far as I know, it's the biggest vise Wilton has ever made. The real kicker is that the guy only wants $65 for it. I called him yesterday and he said someone was supposed to send a check or something today but I could try back tomorrow if I was still interested. You should check it out; I didn't really want to drive all the way over there anyway. Here's the link: http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/tls/1579054826.html.

But yes, I will definitely keep on eye on things over your way.

[jrsndman]

Here is one of mine. It's just a little Columbian I got with some other misc. hand tools for $30.

[Dan in Pasadena]

My Wilton 6" mechanics vise. This was a Craigslist score a couple months ago. $60 for a vise that shows online as being $259. I wish it was a bullet body Wilton, but you can't have everything.

I have since cleaned it up a lot. I was going to repaint it, but the OSHA yellow is kinda growing on me. I don't understand the lame factory paint on the jaws. I'm going o pull them and clean them up some.

P.S. It's "Made in the U.S."

[Dan in Pasadena]

Oops!

The photo:

[BanjoSavesTheDay]

Ya know, that yellow is kind of growing on me too. I may paint the body of a bullet Wilton OSHA yellow, the jaws safety orange, the letters bright red, the handle a nice safe green, and the dust cap radiation purple. That way, no one could ever get hurt by it!!

See here: http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/sa...als-d_359.html

[emeraldcoupe]

well i have a columbian not a wilton, oops. bought ot off craigslist a few months back for $25. i still need jaws for it, would the wiltons work or do they need to be coulmbian? it's stamped D45 M5 what does that mean?

[BanjoSavesTheDay]

Columbians, Wiltons, and even Craftsmans of that style are all pretty similar. I'd say you could probably find some from one of them.

[stewart]

I'm looking at emeraldcoup's 5 1/2" Columbian. It's a bit cold for me to run out to the garage right now but it looks very similar to a newer craftsman that I have. I going to guess that craftsman's are made by columbian or at least they have rights to their tooling? Any feedback?

[emeraldcoupe]

if it helps any it's also cast made in USA under where it says 5 1/2"

[mjozefow]

Originally Posted by BanjoSavesTheDay

We both just missed one!! I'm thinking about going to grad school at Ball State, so I poked around on the Indiana CL some and found a Wilton 800N. As far as I know, it's the biggest vise Wilton has ever made. The real kicker is that the guy only wants $65 for it. I called him yesterday and he said someone was supposed to send a check or something today but I could try back tomorrow if I was still interested. You should check it out; I didn't really want to drive all the way over there anyway. Here's the link: http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/tls/1579054826.html.

But yes, I will definitely keep on eye on things over your way.

Called the dude, he said it OPENS 8 inches. Oh well, its sold anyway. If you do go to Ball State let me know. You always have a shop available to you in West Lafayette!

[BanjoSavesTheDay]

mjozefow, how wide did he say the jaws were? Maybe it was just my excitement, but I could have sworn that looked just like an 800N. Oh well...I guess the good news is that we DIDN'T miss a good deal. lol

Thanks for the shop invite! The chances are pretty good that I'll be going there so I'll definitely let you know when I've arrived in The Hoosier State. Actually, I don't even know what a Hoosier is...so this may not go well.