Show us your bench vice(s)

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Cheers, I guess that makes me a full-wit.

No, but you can be used as a good example.

 

[Arc Tourist]

........................................ Wilton 'bullet' which, in the smallest and largest sizes, fetch crazy prices in USA. ...........

The prices are mind boggling to say the least. I have two, a 2" baby bullet which I bought at my local hardware store in the mid 1970's, and my Dads 4" machinist vise which dates 1946, both in unabused condition.

 

[Arc Tourist]

No, but you can be used as a good example.

Thank you for the rare compliment.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Thank you for the rare compliment.

See. I do give them out, for good examples.
Like you.

 

[MattF]

We need an @rse licking smiley.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

We need an @rse licking smiley.

Or I don't get it one.

 

[ranger08]

cleaned up a really mucky no 80 I’ve had lying around, nice to see it was an early one with the patent stamped on the slide.

 

[Arc Tourist]

.......................
View attachment 365354

I have one of the older Record Imp vices, and noticed that the retaining plate holding the screw in place showed a lot of wear at the rotation point. The metal should have been hardened, but obviously it wasn't. Is there a lot of wear on these part's in your Imp vices ?

I see you have a hand operated grinder in the background of your photo. Can you post a photo of it please ?

 

[ranger08]

I have one of the older Record Imp vices, and noticed that the retaining plate holding the screw in place showed a lot of wear at the rotation point. The metal should have been hardened, but obviously it wasn't. Is there a lot of wear on these part's in your Imp vices ?

I see you have a hand operated grinder in the background of your photo. Can you post a photo of it please ?

checked my imps one has more wear than the other but not bad at all, one is stamped a lot better than the other,
the grinder was a 1960s unbranded one, i don’t know anything about them, I just sold it to a guy who collects them

 

[Arc Tourist]

Thanks for the photo. I've got one a lot like it but haven't a clue who made it, thought you could shed some light on it.

 

[ranger08]

It came on a bench owned by a school woodworking teacher, everything he owned was made by Woden all from the mid 60s

 

[CaptainPugwash]

No . 00 and No.22 . Little and large. For a fairly big vice the no 22 has narrow jaws

 

[StevieO]

No . 00 and No.22 . Little and large. For a fairly big vice the no 22 has narrow jaws

View attachment 365598

View attachment 365595 View attachment 365596

ps - welcome to the forum (I'm still a newbie too!)

 

[dannysheff]

Feeling better today, the plague hasn't got me yet so I finished cleaning the Fortis vice and put it back together. It was kind of awkward to reassemble as gravity had to be taken into account. Meaning, to have any chance of putting "all" of the pieces back together, it had to be done upside down, and a magnet used to hold the Nut in position while feeding the main body of the vice on to the threaded tommy bar. Here are some photos.
.View attachment 364711View attachment 364712View attachment 364714View attachment 364715View attachment 364716View attachment 364717

Fortis rools okay.

Well I don't have any myself, but two current eb listings may be of interest -- there's a swivel-jaw in the far SW, and what I presume is an early Fortis with cast in words "Fortis Eng Co Ltd, Coventry" (knew it was Coventry but I had assumed Fortis was a vice brand name, rather than the company name), "Steel 10" and "Patent 100665, 1918 (or1916?) - what were they patenting - the form and QR had been made for years by Parkinson and others and doesn't look like the later type with angled wear strips?

Neither of these up to yours, arct but add to the Fortis story - and what was their relationship to very similar Herbert Coventry Ajax and those just marked Coventry (not Ajax or Fortis)?

 

[StevieO]

Fortis rools okay.

Well I don't have any myself, but two current eb listings may be of interest -- there's a swivel-jaw in the far SW, and what I presume is an early Fortis with cast in words "Fortis Eng Co Ltd, Coventry" (knew it was Coventry but I had assumed Fortis was a vice brand name, rather than the company name), "Steel 10" and "Patent 100665, 1918 (or1916?) - what were they patenting - the form and QR had been made for years by Parkinson and others and doesn't look like the later type with angled wear strips?

Neither of these up to yours, arct but add to the Fortis story - and what was their relationship to very similar Herbert Coventry Ajax and those just marked Coventry (not Ajax or Fortis)?

Hi Danny
Some info on Fortis. There's more I have not added yet eg the angled moving jaw and the stand (arcT) as well as the swivel jaw design..
Keith Crawshaw from The Hawley Collection made a search for me on Fortis but found nothing in their collection.

Personally my favourite design is the later steel model with the sweeping curved housing and the flat hub with an egg shaped anvil "Unbreakable".
The Green photos of an Unbreakable 11 in the pdf are one I renovated and sold earlier. It was a beaut!

I think the earlier designs with upright housing shape (a la Parky), ones with pinned side plate, and various changes to the cast name(s) and round hub are not so sexy!

 

[StevieO]

Hi Danny
Some info on Fortis. There's more I have not added yet eg the angled moving jaw and the stand (arcT) as well as the swivel jaw design..

Personally my favourite design is the later steel model with the sweeping curved housing and the flat hub with an egg shaped anvil "Unbreakable".
The Green photos of an Unbreakable 11 in the pdf are one I renovated and sold earlier. It was a beaut!

I think the earlier designs with upright housing shape (a la Parky), ones with pinned side plate, and various changes to the cast name(s) and round hub are not so sexy!

PS.
Anyone interested in Parkinsons vices and history should check here.
https://smallworkshop.co.uk/2018/03/25/parkinsons-patent-perfect-vise/

 

[StevieO]

Danny

PS. there's one on EB at the moment which appears to be an earlier hybrid.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/29523523...YhD7fQINKSp6/y3b9EKf0FtoUv|tkp:Bk9SR4LP_rPwYA

1. Later stylised sweeping shaped fixed housing like the Unbreakable series.
2. Later Egg shaped anvil design as unbreakable.
3. Old style Round hub !!!!!!
4. Unusual shaped QR plate to match the V shaped front of this design.
5. plus HM Ministry of Supply plated.....

 

[dannysheff]

Hi Danny
Some info on Fortis. There's more I have not added yet eg the angled moving jaw and the stand (arcT) as well as the swivel jaw design..
Keith Crawshaw from The Hawley Collection made a search for me on Fortis but found nothing in their collection.

Personally my favourite design is the later steel model with the sweeping curved housing and the flat hub with an egg shaped anvil "Unbreakable".
The Green photos of an Unbreakable 11 in the pdf are one I renovated and sold earlier. It was a beaut!

I think the earlier designs with upright housing shape (a la Parky), ones with pinned side plate, and various changes to the cast name(s) and round hub are not so sexy!

Great that you did this - may I suggest that if you'd be happy to share ownership of this, then when you're happy with it, permitting The Hawley Collection to have a copy/link.
I have given some vices to the Hawley (Woden, Rededa) but some years ago I went through all their vices as collected by Ken, with another volunteer who was a real Woden/Record expert, -- Ken's collection derived from all the Sheffield tool makers who were closing down and although there are a few cast iron (Parkinson, Woden, Entwistle&Kenyon, 20th Century) by far the majority of the Sheffield toolmakers right up to 1980s used old fashioned blacksmith wrought iron leg vices - so the collection has tons of these (literally).
Unless someone would like to set up a vice-central website (anyone?), I suggest some link to the Hawley would be a good route.
Also they do take physical donations, but not just 'any old' - I guess they'd be interested if the item was rare or filled a gap or had a well-documented life history (as it is, the quite large team of volunteer curators works hard to catalogue etc what they have already (a lot, even if lacking somewhat vice-wise)).
Keith is a good contact - I don't know whether their resident vice-expert is very active at pres.

 

[StevieO]

Great that you did this - may I suggest that if you'd be happy to share ownership of this, then when you're happy with it, permitting The Hawley Collection to have a copy/link.
I have given some vices to the Hawley (Woden, Rededa) but some years ago I went through all their vices as collected by Ken, with another volunteer who was a real Woden/Record expert, -- Ken's collection derived from all the Sheffield tool makers who were closing down and although there are a few cast iron (Parkinson, Woden, Entwistle&Kenyon, 20th Century) by far the majority of the Sheffield toolmakers right up to 1980s used old fashioned blacksmith wrought iron leg vices - so the collection has tons of these (literally).
Unless someone would like to set up a vice-central website (anyone?), I suggest some link to the Hawley would be a good route.
Also they do take physical donations, but not just 'any old' - I guess they'd be interested if the item was rare or filled a gap or had a well-documented life history (as it is, the quite large team of volunteer curators works hard to catalogue etc what they have already (a lot, even if lacking somewhat vice-wise)).
Keith is a good contact - I don't know whether their resident vice-expert is very active at pres.

Hi Danny,
It's been accumulating over the last year as part of research into UK engineers vice manufacturers.
I think you recall my first contact on this forum was a question for help on the research.
All notes so far and snips/photos. It is far from complete but I thought you (ArcT, anyone) might be interested in what I had on Fortis as they are somewhat of an enigma (in terms of data). As I said, personally, their Unbreakable is my fave vice design.
The Hawley is a place I need to visit - maybe for some days as Keith has offered to photocopy whatever I find of interest to add to each section of my research document. I have sections on Record, Parkinson, Woden, Paramo, Rededa as well as Fortis.
It is a lot of work to develop it and will take me some time. I haven't even had time in my workshop since last winter! I have over 35 vices that need working on and I've got to repaint the rest of the floor as I only managed half last autumn.
Probably too many holidays! So far 10 weeks in France, 2 weeks in Greece and we go away on 14 Oct for another 2 weeks for my bosses big birthday!

 

[Slowcoach]

Danny

PS. there's one on EB at the moment which appears to be an earlier hybrid.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/295235232259?hash=item44bd642203:g:~D0AAOSwpDtjLhXQ&amdata=enc:AQAHAAAA4O7sMALkuhv7UOe/WIIXW2Hb7L/OzfV+TMJrzB6XmwoBdBJInHrD2H3LSNVQeiI+IHCaRxx3d+KJWOKUMvMsr69/SswEMX5R5dpKFyJwx9igyz4vhZ5reBVZgMLDXDZQwP1GxCI7DBZI2vmaoPG9sHNh6FIS9aHsh/zqO/7GAKjohPXkkhdbdy9tW2SwiSUqEYBK3atiI3moWiXgtoTBP/b9irpytWyhfdZ9Xj8jFVwKMSHeQT4LDFzux7I5TxB+vwwPjrM/hmxeUx6zxyYhD7fQINKSp6/y3b9EKf0FtoUv|tkp:Bk9SR4LP_rPwYA

1. Later stylised sweeping shaped fixed housing like the Unbreakable series.
2. Later Egg shaped anvil design as unbreakable.
3. Old style Round hub !!!!!!
4. Unusual shaped QR plate to match the V shaped front of this design.
5. plus HM Ministry of Supply plated.....

Had a quick look at that, purely for interest and there is also one with a swivel(?) jaw. No connection to this item.

ebay item no. 275477559717