Show us your bench vice(s)

[Arc Tourist]

It's knowing where, when and how to hit something withe the correct hammer that separates the tradesman from the amateur.

Not always.


Purple thumb award.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

£5 got me this lump of broken Woden vice.

Watch this space.

 

[Danez]

sorted out the retaining pin and spring on my no2 vise on friday
i can now wind it back and the vise opens. strangely enough the pin was in there but it looks like it had snapped or something as it was flush with the handle screw? anyway drilled that out and fitted the new bits from ebay

 

[dannysheff]

'Just idling'.

Anyone thought of starting a list of the bench-vice makers in UK?

 

[Viceman]

I made this fork a few years ago to compress the spring to enable the pin to be inserted, it was only a codge job to see if it would work, I thought I'd replace it with a heavy duty model when it broke, it has'nt broken ...yet

 

[Danez]

I made this fork a few years ago to compress the spring to enable the pin to be inserted, it was only a codge job to see if it would work, I thought I'd replace it with a heavy duty model when it broke, it has'nt broken ...yet

View attachment 294427 View attachment 294441 View attachment 294442 View attachment 294443

oo nice…that looks proper handy that, was getting tempted to make my own at one point

although it wouldn’t have been as nice as that, mine was more along the lines of welding a strip of metal to my g clamps

 

[Arc Tourist]

I made this fork a few years ago to compress the spring to enable the pin to be inserted, it was only a codge job to see if it would work, I thought I'd replace it with a heavy duty model when it broke, it has'nt broken ...yet

View attachment 294427 View attachment 294441 View attachment 294442 View attachment 294443

That's slick !

 

[Lewis_RX8]

I have just been cleaning up my record No.6 , quite pleased with the bare metal look and plan on keeping it this way rather than paint a few questions to fellow vice restorers.

How do you protect this finish , I was thinking maybe some sort of beeswax or oil mix

Is there any easy way to get rid of paint in hard to get spots like inside the letters as I have tried and tried to wire brush this out but cannot.

Before :

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Bee's wax and linseed oil, warm up until it dissolves.

Add white spirit until you have a creamy paste.

Warm the body and apply first coat. Repeat for 3 more coats. You want the casting pours to be open so the wax is pulled is as it cools.

Then buff up with more coats until you get the finish you like.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Well.
Beer time.



Did it repay me, did it help me and make taking it to bits easy?

No.

I asked it nicely with a 3/4 ratchet, even 1" one with oil.

So.

I asked again.




This after the pin for the spring on the screw fought back.
Then a 10 ton jack to open it.





Oh bother.

 

[dannysheff]

time for another beer, then.

[how can an aardvark be a dinosaur?, even in the age of mammals? even with a couple of beers?]



oh yes -- the UK vice makers -- any in Ulster ? in Wales ?

Scotland yes -- Rollo of Oban.



England - first the leg/staple vices like Wright, Onions, Mousehole, moving on then ---

Bradford, being the home of the modern iron/steel vice in ~1850? Woodhead, Syers, Parkinson, Entwistle and Kenyon, also anonymous - some of these woodwork only but massive vices

Birmingham --- Woden, Vono, Alldays, Swinden? (now E Anglia)

London --- Wilson/DOHM, Herbert, 20th Century (woodwork only)

Coventry -- Ajax, Fortis, 'Coventry' (all from the same maker?)

Leicester --- Fabrex

Newcastle --- Blair (later Yorks)

Liverpool --- Oliver (woodwork only?)

Maldon, Yorks --- Harrison

Barnsley -- Q & S

oh yes this city, Sheffield - Record, (later inc Woden), Paramo, Wards, Marples, Rededa, Stanley, Sorby, Rabone,

Then there is a huge list of makers of pre/post WWII small hobbyist vices such a P & B, Dronfield, Fuluse,Cintride ------- and a few in late C19th early C20th catalogues 'Made in England' but no maker's name

-- any more rarities or significant players I've missed?

 

[CwazyWabbit]

Wadkin made both a patternmakers vice and the ball/universal vice.

 

[CwazyWabbit]

Also Abwood, Premier (old wood working), and Wilson Riley (Massey in the US produced a licensed copy, I think)

 

[dannysheff]

Also Abwood, Premier (old wood working), and Wilson Riley (Massey in the US produced a licensed copy, I think)

Thanks Wabbit -- Wadkin, of course, Wilson Riley is the inventor/maker of the vice sold as J Syers in UK, -- I meant to put in Premier, but was wondering where made - B'ham? - I know many machine tool makers made tool/drilling vices, and Abwood was the big player - did they make a bench vice?

by Herbert, London, I'm referring to 'The Herbert' All-Steel Vice - a '40s weld fab version of the Swinden, not Geo Herbert machine tools of Coventry - I have one and the name is damaged and I have forgotten - anyone help - it's "Herbert ----ins" of London quick websearch getting nothing



[oh yes aardvark -- I see it now, it's that steaming Jekyll and Hyde juice of many pages ago that turns an aardvark into a dinosaur]

 

[CwazyWabbit]

If I'm honest you know far more about the location of the makers than I do, I've no idea where Premier were actually based, but I do have a broken one of their woodworking vices. With Abwood I've only seen the different styles of machine vices they make, I've a basic one and a multi angle one.

 

[SteveB58]

Well.
Beer time.

View attachment 294583

Did it repay me, did it help me and make taking it to bits easy?

No.

I asked it nicely with a 3/4 ratchet, even 1" one with oil.

So.

I asked again.

View attachment 294584


This after the pin for the spring on the screw fought back.
Then a 10 ton jack to open it.



View attachment 294586

If only you'd given it a squirt with the magic WD40 ala YouTube that nut would have undone itself.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

If only you'd given it a squirt with the magic WD40 ala YouTube that nut would have undone itself.

WD 40 is good for one thing.

Removing money from you.

Yes it has it uses, but then it would of been laughed out of the play pen.

 

[CwazyWabbit]

It makes a great flame thrower.....

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

It makes a great flame thrower.....

So does this.

 

[MattF]

It makes a great flame thrower.....

Not nowadays, it doesn't.