Good Bench Vise Recommendations

[davrow]

A 6" Wilton showed up locally on craigslist recently.



Price seems a bit high, but it is dropping...

I like GManBart's better

 

[GManBart]

A 6" Wilton showed up locally on craigslist recently?

Price seems a bit high, but it is dropping...

I like GManBart's better

That price is too high, but it's not a bad vise.

I just finished the restoration of a few vises....4" and 5" Wilton bullets and a 5" Parker. The 5" bullet is already gone....sold it for $350 after adding the swivel base and completely restoring it. The 4" was perfect mechanically, but so filthy it had to be stripped and repainted. ....turned out great and is on CL now. The 104lb Parker....well, the pics say it all!

















Just for fun....Meet the Wilton family!

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Gman, how did you do the jaws on that Parker. I can't see any lines on the rusty picture that would equate to the finished product.

 

[GManBart]

Gman, how did you do the jaws on that Parker. I can't see any lines on the rusty picture that would equate to the finished product.

I stole the technique from a guy that does amazing vise restorations! The jaws are held in with pins, so you pound them out from below, and tap/pry the jaws off the towers. I then soaked them over night in Evapo-Rust to get them clean. Then it was just a matter of using a flap disc on an angle grinder to get them smooth. I stopped at a worn 120 grit which is probably really like a 200 grit now. If I wanted them to be a true mirror, I would have gone with a sander and 400 grit paper, then 800 and 1200. Some guys even go to 2000 followed by a buffing wheel and compound. I installed the jaws, drove the pins in place, but left them just above the jaw surface, and then hit them with the worn flap wheel to get the whole thing pretty smooth. I did just a bit of polish with a buffing wheel and polishing compound, but probably only 20 minutes.

This was my first attempt at Parker jaws, and it was definitely a learning experience. Next time I'll have a few more levels of sandpaper to try, but I'm really happy with how it all turned out.

This is what the jaws looked like originally:



How they turned out (note the sun glare made the paint look different). The front pins were better than the rear pins (you can see the slightly darker spots) so I did a bit more on the rear pins after I took this pic:

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Very nice work...I would stop at 80grit.

 

[Woodeye]

Very nice, I have a Parker, I seem to think it says 230 on the other side. It's not nearly as sweet as yours but I now think it could be. I have all winter to find something to do in the shop. Very nice collection.

 

[dpb800]

Got my father's old monarch recently and mounted it on a bench.

 

[GManBart]

Got my father's old monarch recently and mounted it on a bench.

Cool! The Monarch line was one of several that Prentiss had. For the folks new to this, yours is marked PVCO, which stands for Prentiss Vise Company, and they were made in Watertown, NY.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Thanks for advising us with your advice about vices (or is the plural of vice, vice?)

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Thanks for advising us with your advice about vices (or is the plural of vice, vice?)

Does the evapo rust actually get the raw metal that shiny?

 

[GManBart]

Thanks for advising us with your advice about vices (or is the plural of vice, vice?)

Does the evapo rust actually get the raw metal that shiny?

The picture of the jaws by themselves is just how they looked coming out of the Evapo-Rust....not shiny, but clean.

 

[Dave2610D]

Gosh that is one beautiful job !!! I would hate to use such it now, lol. One would grab a chair and beer in hand and admire the detail and appreciated a restoration such as this.

 

[CADplans]

I finally,,, after five years of using clamps,,, decided to drill holes in my welding table,, and,
bolt down the vise. :confused2:

Actually, I needed the two Wilton 10 inch clamps for another project!! :thumbsup:

:laughing:

 

[GManBart]

Picked up a 1955 production Wilton 4" bullet the other day...needs one of the swivel lock handles, and I'll replace the main screw handle because the one on it is ugly, but really is just needs a detail strip, prime and paint job to be beautiful again. They're out there....just keep looking!

 

[crazyal]

Cool! The Monarch line was one of several that Prentiss had. For the folks new to this, yours is marked PVCO, which stands for Prentiss Vise Company, and they were made in Watertown, NY.

I have an old Prentiss Bulldog sitting out in the garage waiting for a new stand. My father was from Newburg and i think he brought it up when he moved up here. Good vices.

 

[GManBart]

I've been on a good run of picking up used Wilton bullets (along with a few others) and restoring them. I actually started a blog about it because people seem to be really interested in the topic, and I've had no problem selling vises after I restore them. I'm starting to document the process of restoring a vise, and will be posting about it so people can follow along and do their own if they find a good used one.

This was the lineup of either finished, or almost finished vises, just last weekend. It starts with 3.5" vises on the left and winds up with 6" versions on the right.



If anybody wants to read about them, the site is MIVise • Restoration of US Made Vises.

 

[DFB]

I've been on a good run of picking up used Wilton bullets (along with a few others) and restoring them. I actually started a blog about it because people seem to be really interested in the topic, and I've had no problem selling vises after I restore them. I'm starting to document the process of restoring a vise, and will be posting about it so people can follow along and do their own if they find a good used one.

This was the lineup of either finished, or almost finished vises, just last weekend. It starts with 3.5" vises on the left and winds up with 6" versions on the right.



If anybody wants to read about them, the site is MIVise • Restoration of US Made Vises.

Nice job on all the resto's GManBart. And thanks for originally connecting me to the GJ and the vise collector thread and related others. You can pretty much say I am addicted now!

 

[GManBart]

Nice job on all the resto's GManBart. And thanks for originally connecting me to the GJ and the vise collector thread and related others. You can pretty much say I am addicted now!

You're welcome <evil laugh> the rest of us addicts don't want to be alone :laughing:

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I've been on a good run of picking up used Wilton bullets (along with a few others) and restoring them. I actually started a blog about it because people seem to be really interested in the topic, and I've had no problem selling vises after I restore them. I'm starting to document the process of restoring a vise, and will be posting about it so people can follow along and do their own if they find a good used one.

This was the lineup of either finished, or almost finished vises, just last weekend. It starts with 3.5" vises on the left and winds up with 6" versions on the right.



If anybody wants to read about them, the site is MIVise • Restoration of US Made Vises.

Nice write ups and photos. Thanks for sharing.

 

[GManBart]

Nice write ups and photos. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks! It's still developing, but I think it'll be a useful resource for folks before too long.