Bench vise - machined steel, not cast, 4" to 6" range

[3930dave]

I'm doing some research for a buddy of mine.

Pro mechanic. As my Dad would have put it, he goes at heavy metal work "Hammer and Tong", every day.

I'm looking for recommendations on tough bench vises in the 4 to 6 inch depth range. Not cast steel, he'd kill those pretty quickly. The last ones he bought about 25 years ago were Made in England, not sure of the brand - definitely battle-scarred today, but still working.

So far I've found Wilton and Yost.

I'm looking for recommendations on brands of vises, and distributors. Would prefer shipping to Canada options, but can arrange USA delivery if needed.

He's not interested in throwing money away (MIL spec, if there is such a thing) but is willing to pay for quality.

Rgds, D.

 

[ThomasH]

Any of the older (20+ year) ones made in the US, England, or Germany were good, which would include Columbian, Yost, Record, Parker, Prentiss, Atol, Reed.
I would stick to a 6" or larger if there is much metal bending, pounding, etc. to be done. Almost all of them were forged wrought iron as far as I know.

 

[3930dave]

Any of the older (20+ year) ones made in the US, England, or Germany were good, which would include Columbian, Yost, Record, Parker, Prentiss, Atol, Reed.
I would stick to a 6" or larger if there is much metal bending, pounding, etc. to be done. Almost all of them were forged wrought iron as far as I know.

Thanks Thomas, I'll have a look at those brands.

Just checking - are you voting for present day production from any/all of those companies, or more so just the old stuff ?

Rgds, D.

 

[bcp]

Make one. Choose materials of whatever size and strength is needed.

Building A Bench Vise of Awesomeness (Part 1 of 2) - YouTube

Homemade Bench Vise - YouTube

Bruce

 

[Arc weld]

I think you mean cast iron, not cast steel. A cast steel vise would be very strong. Irwin took over Record which were very good cast iron vises made in England. Very popular. You can buy them under the Irwin name now. Jet has some new cast iron "SG" vises that look pretty good. There supposed to be 80,000 PSI tensile cast iron.

 

[ultrarunner]

I bought a Rigid Machinist Vise in the 80's that serves me well... don't know if they are still made the same.

Here's a link that looks a little different than mine

https://www.ridgid.com/us/en/f-series-vises

Also have a hand-me-down that was blacksmith made... hand forged and I bet it will be here long after I'm gone.

If money is no object we had Bessy vises at the machine shop... guaranteed unbreakable with 90,000 psi drop forged steel.

http://www.besseytools.com/pdfs/sales_sheets/en/BESSEYVises_Eng_Mar212013.pdf

 

[Brad_Blazer]

Prices don't seem that bad. Check out the "also viewed" list. Bessey BV-DF6SB Vise 6" Industrial Bench Vise - Amazon.com

 

[3930dave]

I've said it before, but it's worth repeating..... One of the reasons I keep coming back to TBN is for what I don't know. Guess I'm gonna be here a while !

This end of metallurgy is well removed from my comfort zone; I appreciate the input.

Those build videos are interesting. I've seen my buddy fabricate, well, just about everything, so he does have those skills. One limitation may be access to proper forged material; anything less he'd just beat to death pretty quickly.

This is a great list guys, that gives me a lot to work with for options. Also appreciated is the lineage/history explanations of the companies.

Rgds, D.

 

[jones6780]

Both Yost and Wilton are very good vises. I would lean toward Wilton in some applications due to the enclosed clamp screw. For other applications I would lean toward the Yost. I have both in a Wilton C2 and a Yost 33C. Great American Iron. The Yost is made from 65,000 psi ductile iron.

Even the new products are very good.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I'm doing some research for a buddy of mine.

Pro mechanic. As my Dad would have put it, he goes at heavy metal work "Hammer and Tong", every day.

I'm looking for recommendations on tough bench vises in the 4 to 6 inch depth range. Not cast steel, he'd kill those pretty quickly. The last ones he bought about 25 years ago were Made in England, not sure of the brand - definitely battle-scarred today, but still working.

So far I've found Wilton and Yost.

I'm looking for recommendations on brands of vises, and distributors. Would prefer shipping to Canada options, but can arrange USA delivery if needed.

He's not interested in throwing money away (MIL spec, if there is such a thing) but is willing to pay for quality.

Rgds, D.

I don't think I have ever seen a machined steel vise. I assume you would want a cast steel vise as opposed to a cheap cast iron one. Wilton still makes high dollar but good vises.

 

[3930dave]

Both Yost and Wilton are very good vises. I would lean toward Wilton in some applications due to the enclosed clamp screw. For other applications I would lean toward the Yost. I have both in a Wilton C2 and a Yost 33C. Great American Iron. The Yost is made from 65,000 psi ductile iron.

Even the new products are very good.

Thanks for the input, also new vs. old comments appreciated.

Rgds, D.

 

[Brad_Blazer]

Google Brockhaus Heuer Vise. You can order direct from Germany on ebay.
HEUER Vice - Brockhaus Heuer - schraubstock.de

 

[3930dave]

I don't think I have ever seen a machined steel vise. I assume you would want a cast steel vise as opposed to a cheap cast iron one. Wilton still makes high dollar but good vises.

That is a good way to summarize it Gary.

In the areas of material science that I know, I usually get the terminology right, so the perceived confusion was real.

Stumbling around this end of metal alchemy on my own didn't seem like a good idea, so I decided to check-in with the TBN braintrust.

Thanks again all. :thumbsup:

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Google Brockhaus Heuer Vise. You can order direct from Germany on ebay.
HEUER Vice - Brockhaus Heuer - schraubstock.de

Thanks. The forged offerings listed in this thread will give my friend some options in terms of jaw profile.

It's great to see that high quality products are still being produced domestically, and elsewhere. In other product areas I have been personally frustrated by the prevalence of cheap junk - in the case I'm thinking of I eventually found what I was after, but it was a bit of a battle getting there.

Rgds, D.

 

[jones6780]

Just remember a Vise is not an Anvil!!!

 

[mikim]

Just remember a Vise is not an Anvil!!!

Unless it's made as one. I just bought one out of an antique store --patent 1895...that is steel vs. cast iron...and has an anvil tip on the back end of it. Also the non-movable jaw ...is movable...It has a spring under it that when you push down on the jaw it can slip back along the flat anvil top catching teeth along the way to where you want it. It will open to 14". I spent a lot on it. I was thinking Wilton but although they are made somewhat here....the base / movable jaw is cast iron from overseas (china?). They were featured on the tv show "how it's made".

 

[3930dave]

Unless it's made as one. I just bought one out of an antique store --patent 1895...that is steel vs. cast iron...and has an anvil tip on the back end of it. Also the non-movable jaw ...is movable...It has a spring under it that when you push down on the jaw it can slip back along the flat anvil top catching teeth along the way to where you want it. It will open to 14". I spent a lot on it. I was thinking Wilton but although they are made somewhat here....the base / movable jaw is cast iron from overseas (china?). They were featured on the tv show "how it's made".

Just curious (it would take me a crazy amount of time to track one of those down, even with big money to play with), if you have any pics, pls post - that sounds like a neat design.

Rgds, D.

 

[mikim]

Just curious (it would take me a crazy amount of time to track one of those down, even with big money to play with), if you have any pics, pls post - that sounds like a neat design.

Rgds, D.

here it is ...I plan on eventually mounting it to 1/2" plate on a 2" receiver thence onto my welding table that I hope to build when I get a new welder. I lost my old one to flood and it just hasn't been a priority. We moved and needed to build a new house and all. They wanted too much $$ for this and I let it sit in that shop for nearly a year before I finally broke down and paid them nearly what they were asking. They weren't in a hurry to sell it. They knew they'd eventually find some fool to buy it.....and did.

 

[3930dave]

View attachment 343286

here it is ...I plan on eventually mounting it to 1/2" plate on a 2" receiver thence onto my welding table that I hope to build when I get a new welder. I lost my old one to flood and it just hasn't been a priority. We moved and needed to build a new house and all. They wanted too much $$ for this and I let it sit in that shop for nearly a year before I finally broke down and paid them nearly what they were asking. They weren't in a hurry to sell it. They knew they'd eventually find some fool to buy it.....and did.

That is a cool design.

Supply and Demand - until somebody like Jay Leno decides to put these back into production, hen's teeth are more common. You can always get more money :2cents:

That depth alone is worth a premium, at least to me.

Rgds, D.

 

[Scooby074]

Older and made in the UK was likely a Record (there are others, but they were by far the most common). Cant speak to the quality of the Irwin ones, but generally Irwin and quality arent in the same sentence. Im not a real fan of Irwin, most of their stuff is overseas origin. They basically destroyed ViseGrips when they offshored them.

For a premium "mil-spec" vise, its hard to beat a Wilton Machinist bullet. They are the best vise you can readily get today IMHO. Very far from cheap though, $1000+ for one of any size.