OT: Bench Vise

[cmbicycles]

I'm looking to replace my little bench vise with something better quality. I'm considering the tradesman series by Wilton as I definitely want the pipe jaws and anvil surface. Any other decent vises that have a positive locking swivel to consider besides the Wilton?
I'm checking Craigslist locally every so often to avoid the high cost for new, but it may be inevitable... of course right after I buy one new there will likely be a flood of decent used ones.

[oldpotatoe]

I'm looking to replace my little bench vise with something better quality. I'm considering the tradesman series by Wilton as I definitely want the pipe jaws and anvil surface. Any other decent vises that have a positive locking swivel to consider besides the Wilton?
I'm checking Craigslist locally every so often to avoid the high cost for new, but it may be inevitable... of course right after I buy one new there will likely be a flood of decent used ones.

Me too, good locking swivel important.

[echelon_john]

Words to live by! :beer:
Me too, good licking swivel important.

[Tandem Rider]

Wilton Tradesman is the schnizel. No, mine is not for sale. It's way overkill for working on bicycles though, you must have a need for an anchor. I think mine weighs about 100#.

Wow, I just looked, it's almost $800 now. I would say it's worth it though, I broke a bunch of the imports before I sucked it up and got a good one. I had to anchor the bench to the wall though.

[rePhil]

Keep checking Craigslist and garage sales. I used to use this one on the job and took it with me when I retired. I cleaned and repainted it at and I believe it has to be to be at least 30 years old. It will outlive me and probably the kids and grandkids behind me.

[regularguy412]

I have one of these, Polish-made vices. It's quite old. Definitely older than I am. My dad owned it but it was never mounted on a bench and used until I cleaned it up, lubed the slides and got it back in working order.

The neat feature about this vice is that the back jaw moves over the bench when you open it,, the jaw next to the handle stays put,, so the weight of the jaw and whatever you're working on doesn't cause the bench to tip. It has a swivel base. I have it mounted on the corner of my bench so any long-ish work has room toward the floor.

You can really put some weight in it/on it and the bench is still quite stable.

No idea how much one might cost or if you can even get one. They were apparently sold, at one time, by Hi-Test. Mine doesn't look quite as good as the one in the pic but works great.

Mike in AR:beer:

https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images3/1/0513/06/vintage-fpu-poland-sliding-tail_1_0c803ac4163d3806afd0c53f43a639ca.jpg

[gdw]

Start regularly checking the garage and moving sales section of Craigslist for estate sales where tools are listed. Home shops were more common in the 1940-60's than they are today and you can often find quality American made tools being sold off at very reasonable prices. Over the years I've purchased a number of items from the original owners for next to nothing because they wanted their tools to go to someone who actually plans to use them.

[pbarry]

Here's one in Denver that's fairly priced.
https://denver.craigslist.org/tls/6107693765.html

[11.4]

When people buy a decent bench vise they tend to keep it. You can refinish one easily as long as it isn't buggered up, which does happen from time to time. And you don't want one that's been bolted to a utility truck bumper for ten years.

Junk imports drove out most of the brands and Wilton is almost the only decent one remaining, but they are ridiculously overpriced and shipping is worse. The rotating feature ups the ante in terms of price and things breaking, and for most purposes it's a minor convenience but not really necessary, so consider it.

For cycling purposes what you can get that's a lot less expensive is a smaller tool vise, made to bolt to a Bridgeport or something similar. It doesn't take much and they are also low profile and easy to mount on a workbench. It's worth considering. A decent one can run under $100. It does the same, and you can get them with V-shaped jaws so they'll hold something like a piece of pipe (though you can also get inserts that let you do that too You don't really need the whole Wilton shebang unless you're a professional plumber or the like. I like my Wilton, but I am crowded for bench space now and use a tool vise mounted to the corner of the bench.

[Ken Robb]

This made me curious so I looked at local C.L. and found quite a few decent vises including a couple of Wiltons for $95-125 but I have to think a vise would cost too much to ship.

It looks like there may be some vise collectors around. Like they do here for quality audio gear it seems that there are a couple of people who buy vises and other tools at garage sales or thrift shops and list them on C.L. to make a profit.

[rePhil]

You might say that there are plenty of vise's.....
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44782


This made me curious so I looked at local C.L. and found quite a few decent vises including a couple of Wiltons for $95-125 but I have to think a vise would cost too much to ship.

It looks like there may be some vise collectors around. Like they do here for quality audio gear it seems that there are a couple of people who buy vises and other tools at garage sales or thrift shops and list them on C.L. to make a profit.

[Don49]

When you search CL for "bench vise", also try "bench vice".

[cmbicycles]

When you search CL for "bench vise", also try "bench vice".
Been trying that as well. Likewise for "Merks", "Merx", etc ;)

[Peter P.]

Definitely exercise some patience and go the used route as they're ALWAYS coming up for sale on craigslist. There are some other on-line want ad sites to check although the popular names escape me.

There's a real hobbiest following devoted to the restoration of old vises (yes; search vice as well) and I see refurb'ed models as well as shop worn vises all the time.

Also check eBay. Obviously, shipping could be an issue but some people put a vise up for auction just for visibility's sake.

[cmbicycles]

Yeah, ebay sometimes has options too. I almost scored a used tradesman vise on ebay for reasonable price, but missed it by an hour. Oh well their utility vises aren't obscenely priced new ($135) so that's an option as well. It won't see just bicycle use so not over-buying in that sense... well at least in the same sense that an off the shelf bike will get me from point a-b "just like" a nice custom bike. Patience is a virtue I usually posess, until I'm deeply invested into another stuck fastener requiring a more robust vise than what I have.

[jvp]

Flea markets are a good place to look also.

[cmbicycles]

I have one of these, Polish-made vices. It's quite old. Definitely older than I am. My dad owned it but it was never mounted on a bench and used until I cleaned it up, lubed the slides and got it back in working order.

The neat feature about this vice is that the back jaw moves over the bench when you open it,, the jaw next to the handle stays put,, so the weight of the jaw and whatever you're working on doesn't cause the bench to tip. It has a swivel base. I have it mounted on the corner of my bench so any long-ish work has room toward the floor.

You can really put some weight in it/on it and the bench is still quite stable.

No idea how much one might cost or if you can even get one. They were apparently sold, at one time, by Hi-Test. Mine doesn't look quite as good as the one in the pic but works great.

Mike in AR[emoji481]

https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images3/1/0513/06/vintage-fpu-poland-sliding-tail_1_0c803ac4163d3806afd0c53f43a639ca.jpg
Funny I just saw one of these up on ebay, though it was $300 so not really in the running. Still a pretty cool looking vise design.

[ColonelJLloyd]

I was looking for a vintage bench vise recently. Seems like the days of $.80-1.00/lb vices are more or less behind us.

[dgauthier]

.

[classtimesailer]

I was looking for a vintage bench vise recently. Seems like the days of $.80-1.00/lb vices are more or less behind us.

I've found the same here in L.A. I may just wait a little, forgo new rims, and get a new Wilton for my birthday. It will be vintage for my grandkids.

[smontanaro]

Happy to see this thread. I had never heard of Wilton before, but quickly found a dozen or so on Chicago CL. I have your typical crappy Asian vise, which can't hold still when (for instance) breaking a freewheel loose from a hub. I understand "cheap", but would it really be so hard to make an inexpensive vise with better resistance to turning?

[AngryScientist]

the only "problem" is that if you wind up getting a good bench vise, you may quickly realize that you need to upgrade your bench, or at least how it's anchored down.

[smontanaro]

the only "problem" is that if you wind up getting a good bench vise, you may quickly realize that you need to upgrade your bench, or at least how it's anchored down.

That, I believe, might fall into the category of "a good problem." ;)

I'm not really sure there is space to permanently mount a good vise on the bench in my bike space. I might have to build another one and stick it out in the garage. Yay! Another flat space to cover completely!

[simplemind]

Yay! Another flat space to cover completely!

:D lol, yep I know the "problem" all too well! I'm such a slob!

[mtb_frk]

I found a Wilton at an estate sale today. Now I’ve been on the lookout for one for a while now.

[cmbicycles]

I found a Wilton at an estate sale today. Now I’ve been on the lookout for one for a while now.
I found a 1750 recently as well, needed to repaint it and clean it up some... slightly bigger (and subsequently more useful) than the one it replaced. The dual lock downs are awesome, as the old vise would always turn no matter how tight I tried to make it.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171112/347a419c2b530b167abb038d3111ad58.jpg

[GParkes]

I stumbled across this today. He did a real nice job, but I kinda wish he kept the original face plates on the jaw. Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2jNeObHnZY

[Ozz]

Keep checking Craigslist and garage sales. I used to use this one on the job and took it with me when I retired. I cleaned and repainted it at and I believe it has to be to be at least 30 years old. It will outlive me and probably the kids and grandkids behind me.

I've got that same one!

[unterhausen]

two year old thread, I'm a bit surprised that I didn't post anything anti-Wilton. My first good vise was a Wilton bullet vise, which I later gave away. A guy at work bought a really nice looking wilton for the students to use. Two weeks after I told him that was a mistake, it was broken. I am pretty sure he held that against me, even though I didn't gloat. The students are still abusing the same old Craftsman they were abusing when he bought the Wilton.

But everyone can go out and buy wiltons and leave the good vises to me. I also don't like swivels. Mostly because of the days of removing freewheels in a bike shop, but I never really saw the need anyway. Which is funny, because my only bench vise now is on a pedestal that swivels easily.

I have bought vises on ebay, shipping isn't really that bad for a 4" vise, which is all you need for most bicycle related uses.

[Black Dog]

If people are still looking then this is a great vise.

http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=75855&cat=1,41637,41659

http://www.leevalley.com/us/images/item/Woodworking/Clamps/70G0110s1.jpg

[Bradford]

What is all this talk about new vises and painting vises...I'm so confused.

This is my vice. It was my Dad's vice before it was mine (and it is mounted on my bench, which was my Dad's bench before it was mine). This will be my son's vice also, although I plan to live long enough that he may have to get his own and this will go to my grandson.

My Dad brought it home from the office in the early 60's when he was a Tool and Die Maker. They bought new equipment for the shop and he thought this had plenty of life left in it. Since it is going strong in 2019, I think he was right.

I like stuff with history and I don't like new until old can't be fixed anymore. This is to vises as Oldpotatoe is to wheel builders...old, crusty, and a nice patina...but still does the job better than anything else.

[pbarry]

Lovely, Bradford! That it has family history makes it even better.

Found the same model or very similar recently at a yard sale for cheap. Sold for same to a co-worker looking for one. Unless abused, these will last for a very long time. And, the stories they could tell! ;)

[EricEstlund]

Depends on how hard you are using it and what you are grabbing, but most of the US, British and European models are at least decent. Many of the Asia made ones are great, but the cheaper cast ones can have inclusions or crack when abused.

In addition to Wilton, some to look for are Chas Parker, Yost, Prentis, Reed, Rigid, Athol, (older) Colombian, Morgan, (older) Record, etc.

If buying used, make sure the jaws are either in good shape or you can source/ make replacements, and make sure there are no significant cracks or tweaks in the screw.

There are loads of options in configuration, but if you just need a general hold down, don't worry to much. If you are going to use it regularly, consider new, but know that heirloom tools are spendy. I generally keep my eyes peeled for the right used unit and have several, but I use them all day every day.

https://instagram.fagc1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/vp/6f257990709e7236c8a9da4bc7a66740/5DC3C633/t51.2885-15/e35/24274774_1580645168692038_2549874881944616960_n.jp g?_nc_ht=instagram.fagc1-1.fna.fbcdn.net