Good Bench Vise Recommendations

bigtiller · Apr 3, 2016

A Northern Tool sale bill in todays paper has Wilton vices 30% off in store only.

dickfoster · Apr 3, 2016

powerscol said:
Was not sure where to put this. I did do a search, but not much came up.

My 30 year old 4" vice is showing its age. I keep finding I wish I had a bigger one sometimes. I do use the anvil and pipe holding jaws under the main vice, but was hoping to find something more versatile. Harbor freight is out, at least for this size as one I got my son lasted 3 years before striping out. I dont want to spend a lot of $$$, just wanting something that is good and has worked for folks. I'm guessing I need and 8" model. I have access to Lowe's, Home Depot, TSC. and Harbor Freight as well as ACE and TRU Value. Online is OK if shipping is reasonable.

Can folks recommend what has worked for them? Pictures would help too.

Can't find the exact vise I have but it's a 5" swivel with pipe jaws, regular jaws, anvil etc. The swivel and rotate comes in handy for welding, grinding etc. Mine was made by Larin in China but it has held up very well even though I've beat the heck out of it and put some very heavy loads on it. It also came with plastic soft jaws you can use so you don't mar fine finishes or soft stuff. Not that it matters but mine is blue and I've forgotten where I got it. It looks like this one more or less.

Bessey 5" Multi Purpose Vise | eBay

California · Apr 3, 2016

dickfoster said:
Can't find the exact vise I have but it's a 5" swivel with pipe jaws, regular jaws, anvil etc. The swivel and rotate comes in handy for welding, grinding etc. .... It looks like this one more or less.

Bessey 5" Multi Purpose Vise | eBay

Oh man stuff I didn't know that I need! That looks extremely handy.

Reading threads here on TBN has cost me money on new toys I never thought of before.

ultrarunner · Apr 3, 2016

Bessy makes some good stuff... they had the best German Made clamps when I worked in the machine shop back in the 1980's... the price seems really low for Bessy... maybe things have changed?

A vise like this is very useful for all kinds of fab work...

Here is an ebay listing for the exact vise I mounted in my service truck 25 years ago... it has done everything including pipe threading work... I built my own slide and have often been asked where I bought it... benefits of having access to a tool and machine shop at the time.

Wilton 1755 Bullet Tradesman Vise Never Mounted | eBay

dickfoster · Apr 3, 2016

California said:
Oh man stuff I didn't know that I need! That looks extremely handy.

Reading threads here on TBN has cost me money on new toys I never thought of before.

Well this one has been handy and even though it was made in China it has held up well over the years. I forgot what I paid for it but it wasn't much. I've even put big long cheaters on it to press stuff together and it has never sprung like lesser vices usually will when abused like that.
I finally broke down and got a cheap Harbor freight bottle jack press when I started setting up my own gears and such but I still use the vise almost daily, it's good for almost anything you'd want a vise to do.

I've got one of these odd balls in the wood shop, a Zyliss Profi-King Plus.

I paid 20 bucks for it in a local surplus place. Even though it's aluminum die cast, it's a lot stronger than it looks and it was Swiss made, However it seems they are no longer around. They come up on ebay from time to time but if you absolutely have to have one right now you can buy one out of New Zealand for something like 400 bucks. After the video you know you want one of these too. LOL Reminds me of Ron Popeil.

ultrarunner · Apr 3, 2016

$20... a great find.

GManBart · Jun 18, 2016

powerscol said:
No luck with Search Tempest either....well nothing of interest.

There are a couple of farm auctions coming up, one advertised with a shop and tools. What is a fair auction price on a good Wilton vice, say 6" jaws?

Just picked up a Wilton 600 (6" jaw, about 150lbs) off CL today for $350. The guy had four people contact him within an hour of the ad going up. I was only 25min away, and the only one that gave him a phone number, so he called me back. Honestly, I'm not really the biggest Wilton fan (have three of them), but this is a pretty impressively stout vise that will last nearly forever if taken care of.

A more useful/reliable alternative to SearchTempest is the CraigsAlert application....not sure if it's only for Apple products, or no but it's much better than SearchTempest.

ultrarunner · Jun 18, 2016

Doesn't even look that old as far as vices go...

Many years of service left in that beauty.

GManBart · Jun 18, 2016

ultrarunner said:
Doesn't even look that old as far as vices go...

Many years of service left in that beauty.

Yeah, I pulled the dynamic jaw out and the date stamp was March 1990, so it's barely broken in!

the old grind · Jun 18, 2016

Uh, ~$1,200 for a new #600 'Bullet' most anywhere so, yeah ... you just about stole it. :dance1:

btw, I don't see copious hammer dings on handle, jaws, or the 'anvil' portion. You could nearly double your $$ o'nite (with or w/o a paint job) but uh, ... I wouldn't part with it either.