Show us your bench vice(s)

[dieselsamurai]

This thing is a beast jaws are 8" wide , made by York ive not seen another like it. Ebay £10 i couldnt believe when no one else bid on it ! might restore it one day but like the patina on it

 

[arther dailey]

looks good as is, so diesel samurai..how come the name? if you dont mind me asking that is

 

[dieselsamurai]

No problem at all, just always mucked around with cars boats bikes and even tanks dont get on very well with petrols so if I can I always try to stuff a diesel in it ( not bikes though! )

Years ago I bought an old digger and restored it just so happened to be called a samurai so it kind of all added up, im a sucker for seeing something old and unloved and fixing it up again

 

[Turbo]

im a sucker for seeing something old and unloved and fixing it up again

You'll fit right in here, there are a lot of us with that affliction!

Welcome to the forum!

 

[MattF]

That's not patina, that's grime. Judging from the styling, that's a 200A?

 

[Dieselman 63]

might restore it one day but like the patina on it

I'm a sucker for seeing something old and unloved and fixing it up again

So which is it to be?

 

[dieselsamurai]

Ive been lurking here for a while but since losing my brother at the end of the year who I used to bounce ideas off and seek advice i thought i would try the same here

Thanks Turbo most of my friends think im mad so hopefully i wont seem that way on here

MattF I will have to clean it one day to find out ! all I know is it wieghs a ton and looks pretty sturdy

Dieselkid It just depends some things there is no point making them look new if your going to be using it for what it was meant for it just needs to be repaired . I guess i like taking things apart to see how they work the one day find the time to put them back together again.

Im gonna start a thread on the restoration of my 60s Coot atv its a real mess and will never look like new but i just want it working again as it was gonna be cut up if i didnt save it.

Back on topic im not sure a vice should ever look like 'new' they are meant to be used , I restored the big record as it had been rusting away in a garden for years but i need to start using it more to give it patina.

 

[Dieselman 63]

Can't say I agree with the idea of not making them look like new.

This was mine when I picked it up, it seemed to have lived some time outside and someone had spattered it with weld. The jaws were blunt and sawn through in places - a bit of a dog but worth bringing back and it didn't take too much effort, a really nice first project.

I like taking my stuff back to as close to 'as new' condition as I can, then working with them and treating them with the care and attention they deserve, ie cleaning and oiling at the end of the day.

 

[dieselsamurai]

I agree it is about treating them with respect and after years of neglect / abuse its very rewarding to have something that you have given new life too and can use for many years more. I used to restore everything i did to as close to new as I could but I just have too many project going on that some will stay with the Patina they have.

The yellow no6 vice came off a scrapped naval ship im portsmouth everything has a story and to paint it would detract from that i feel

 

[MattF]

As new, and just restoration, are two different things. One looks like it just stepped out of the factory, (an approach I'm not fond of), and the latter just means making sure it's in good, usable, working condition. Tarting it up a bit is optional with the latter.

 

[Dieselman 63]

As new, and just restoration, are two different things. One looks like it just stepped out of the factory, (an approach I'm not fond of), and the latter just means making sure it's in good, usable, working condition. Tarting it up a bit is optional with the latter.

Wouldn't making sure something is in good, usable and working condition be considered preservation and making something look as though it's just stepped out of the factory be restoration?

 

[dieselsamurai]

have I opened up a can of worms on my first posts ?

 

[Dieselman 63]

have I opened up a can of worms on my first posts ?

Yes, but not as big a can as my Colchester Bantam rebuild

There's even a special smiley just for posts like these!

 

[dieselsamurai]

Everyone has a different definition of 'restored' i help my friend with his movie hire business sometimes all his stuff is ww2 stuff his definition of restored is sandblasted, painted,starts and drives. it just needs to look good from 10ft away. We put tracks on a sherman that had been lying in a hedge for 40years i would have at least oiled them !

 

[johnny7]

I've a few vises, Mostly small ones, Also have a huuuuge woodworking vise that weighs a ton but can't get to that one, It's in a corner of the garage that I can't get to yet!!

Can't remember what number this is, It has around 4" jaws.

A little number 1 Record on another bench in the garage..

Cheap Chinese 3" and 4" X-Y vises, Came from the booitsales..

Woden number 0, Again from the booitsales..

Itsy bitsy li'l tabletop vise..

A little machine vise that was made by a lad whilst at her majesties pleasure!

English D-Vise (Aluminium) with another cheap aluminium machine vice in the jaws..

Another cheapy Chinese machine vise!!

And finally another small tabletop vise..

Hmm, I also have a MYford machine vise, Don't have a pic and haven't seen it in yonks as the garage is bursting at the seams!!


John

 

[MattF]

Wouldn't making sure something is in good, usable and working condition be considered preservation and making something look as though it's just stepped out of the factory be restoration?

Nope. Preservation doesn't imply any condition, merely that's in a state where it won't decay or degrade further. This is just my personal interpretation though. I class getting something back to as-new condition as refurbishment.

 

[Asphalt70]

"British made" is not usually seen, or is it?

 

[Robotstar5]

Out with the old, in with the new...

We recently had a new manager who wants to see the maintenance workshops so clean and tidy that it is almost impossible to do any work in them

Our perfectly serviceable vice has been consigned to the scrapheap because it had been painted in the past

To be replaced at great cost (£600+) with a shiny new one

What a waste of money from an engineering point of view.

 

[Wallace]

Manager is an idiot.

 

[zzr1200]

Our perfectly serviceable vice has been consigned to the scrapheap because it had been painted in the past

View attachment 132244

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So who was the unfortunate maintained engineer who relocated the old vice,,,,, please don't tell us it actually made it to the scrap man...