Show us your bench vice(s)

[Craig-SM]

How about a few arty pictures of it before you restore it? nothing ridiculous, just some well lit pictures, plain background, loosely assembled.

Just for me...


(PS. I'd give you £100 if you can ship it to me as-is)

I kind of agree with you, the paint shows it's history and stripping it away merely makes it 'another vice.' Years ago when we were buying cheap Victorian furniture for the house, mainly because it was cheap, I would strip, stain and polish the heck out of it. Now, clean and make good is all I'd do. Likewise my guitars, I'd sand, polish etc, now again its clean, possibly an oil coat and make good. I like to do the same with my tools, make good, clean and use them. If when I've sold them the next own wants to sand blast and paint with No 343 gloss from B&Q that's fine, but it's only original once, looks like that once and while its mine it stays that way.

Steve

I’m not sure it shows a history of use but just badly applied paint over many decades. If it had been the original paint I would have cleaned it up and then oiled it to preserve it but I feel this just needs stripping back and restoring with the original colour.
If Screwfix wants to give me a £100 for it, I wouldn’t refuse as I don’t see the beauty in it in its present condition

 

[GraemeVW]

I’m not sure it shows a history of use but just badly applied paint over many decades. If it had been the original paint I would have cleaned it up and then oiled it to preserve it but I feel this just needs stripping back and restoring with the original colour.
If Screwfix wants to give me a £100 for it, I wouldn’t refuse as I don’t see the beauty in it in its present condition

I agree with your sentiment, but at the same time, I can see how you have accidently stumbled onto something that is quite pleasing to the eye.
Not everyone will agree, but if @Screwdriver thinks so, and your willing to sell, then that's a great outcome.

 

[GraemeVW]

I've posted these in my thread about this vice, but I'll add them here too so it's in the main vice thread

 

[MattF]

Nicely done.

 

[Craig-SM]

Nice work.

There is one , an E6, on my Facebook market place at £100 that had been tempting

 

[GraemeVW]

Nice work.

There is one , an E6, on my Facebook market place at £100 that had been tempting

That's this one. I bought it a couple of weeks ago!
Would be great if any more turned up, but no one has ever seen one and no one can find any info on it at all.

 

[Craig-SM]

So it is. Looking closer I can see the chip in the painted jaw. At least that’s one less temptation out of my life.

 

[GraemeVW]

So it is. Looking closer I can see the chip in the painted jaw. At least that’s one less temptation out of my life.

It took me about a week from first seeing the advert to giving in and going to see it. Was just too interesting and unusual not to buy.

It looks better in that pic that in was really. The front jaws were seized solid so unfortunately the patina was lost in the process of getting it working.
It was more rust than patina anyway.

 

[RWD3M]

I've posted these in my thread about this vice, but I'll add them here too so it's in the main vice thread
View attachment 390852View attachment 390853View attachment 390854

Were these style vices for any particular purpose?

 

[GraemeVW]

Were these style vices for any particular purpose?

For holding awkward shapes, mostly round stuff.

 

[dannysheff]

someone's selling individual sheets of a 1917 Willcox, London catalogue on th'bay for £17, I won't be buying but there's an interesting (to me) vice looking very like a Parkinson Handy but quick release - looks like the "lift-off" type (no lever) like the 1930s Rededa 6in woodworking vice and like some US machine vises -- can't tell what type of thread or nut.

name of vice - Storey (sizes 3 1/4in -7in jaw) - never seen one --- anyone?

 

[Arc Tourist]

At a weak moment, the itchy finger just couldn't resist making an offer.
Something different should be arriving soon.

A cam lock vice arrived today, has 4" wide jaws. Not something I really need, but an interesting rainy day project to freshen it up. I've got to resist buying things just because they are green.

 

[CwazyWabbit]

someone's selling individual sheets of a 1917 Willcox, London catalogue on th'bay for £17, I won't be buying but there's an interesting (to me) vice looking very like a Parkinson Handy but quick release - looks like the "lift-off" type (no lever) like the 1930s Rededa 6in woodworking vice and like some US machine vises -- can't tell what type of thread or nut.

name of vice - Storey (sizes 3 1/4in -7in jaw) - never seen one --- anyone?

This one.... I'm more intrigued by the through bench swivel on the Parky

 

[Arc Tourist]

This one.... I'm more intrigued by the through bench swivel on the Parky

View attachment 390920

I wonder if the swivel mechanism has a rippled base similar to that on a #74 Record Auto Vice ? The base looks to be adaptable to other model vices.

 

[dannysheff]

This one.... I'm more intrigued by the through bench swivel on the Parky

View attachment 390920View attachment 390927

yeah ---- Parkinson seems to have tried several different swivel base types - these, a very large circle offset-centre type, a cone-in-cone type, the ball vice - none seem to have lasted very long

but back to the Storey - any info? if I understand the mech, the largest model with 11in opening , would have had to be very tall to accommodate the long vertical slot necessary to open that far.

 

[GraemeVW]

A cam lock vice arrived today, has 4" wide jaws. Not something I really need, but an interesting rainy day project to freshen it up. I've got to resist buying things just because they are green.

View attachment 390917

I was looking at something similar earlier, but decided I really don't need one.
When I eventually buy a milling machine my vice fetish is going to go bananas!!

 

[GraemeVW]

Finally, after over a year, I made a handle for the little kyowa multi position vice.
Don't know much about it, think it may be Japanese? But it's a handy little thing.

 

[CwazyWabbit]

yeah ---- Parkinson seems to have tried several different swivel base types - these, a very large circle offset-centre type, a cone-in-cone type, the ball vice - none seem to have lasted very long

but back to the Storey - any info? if I understand the mech, the largest model with 11in opening , would have had to be very tall to accommodate the long vertical slot necessary to open that far.

Sadly I have no story on Storey I thought I'd seen one in one of my older catalogues but I appear to be imagining it.

 

[CwazyWabbit]

OK seems I do now know a little more.
They look to have first appeared in 1908.

 

[Arc Tourist]

I was looking at something similar earlier, but decided I really don't need one.
When I eventually buy a milling machine my vice fetish is going to go bananas!!

If you know for sure your going to acquire a milling machine, and have a rough idea of the type & size, it would be prudent to keep a lookout for quality vice's and other accessories you would like and acquire them ahead of time. Good undamaged tooling rarely comes with machines nowadays, and the good stuff is getting harder and harder to find as time goes by.

A great item to have is a pair of Carver edge clamps. They can be located anywhere along a milling table to support long or larger items beyond the capacity of a regular milling vice. Carver Hold down clamps can be very useful also. Here are some photos.