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]

Originally Posted by 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.

Me too, good locking swivel important.

[echelon_john]

Words to live by!

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

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

[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/s...ad.php?t=44782

Originally Posted by 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.

[Don49]

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

[cmbicycles]

Originally Posted by Don49

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.