Show us your bench vice(s)

[JOEPRO]

loving the original finish on the smaller one

Its just fresh out of the citric acid bath. It's one of the very first production no 74s with the patent numbers on it so 1920s(?) Would it upset you to hear I intend to strip, buff and repaint it original colour?

 

[arther dailey]

Its just fresh out of the citric acid bath. It's one of the very first production no 74s with the patent numbers on it so 1920s(?) Would it upset you to hear I intend to strip, buff and repaint it original colour?

yup ! but its yours , I like to see the history on kit although conversly its great to see absolute wrecks brought back to former glory with full resto....just look at my old tractor original and earning its keep

 

[Turbo]

Today's arrival in the post finally, a Steel circa 1940s production Record no 75 Vice. It is noticeably larger than a 74 not sure what I was expecting but not for it to be this size which is a bonus!

View attachment 438704

It's seized but overall great condition with some nice patina but not abused. I will need a larger tub and will get this into citric acid for a week or two which will free it off and remove the rust in one go.

Very jealous right now, a 75 is on my list of vices I want.

Very versatile, if I had one it would be mounted on a portable stand for use outside the workshop.

Did you get the pipe jaws with it?

 

[JOEPRO]

Very jealous right now, a 75 is on my list of vices I want.

Very versatile, if I had one it would be mounted on a portable stand for use outside the workshop.

Did you get the pipe jaws with it?

They are dear here, people seem to ask £300 for 75s and don't understand that later ones are not steel either!

I got this one for £100 from a private seller in England and had parcel force collect with label so it worked out well.

No pipe jaws with it. I can get the sizes and have some cnc cut by my brother, shouldn't be an issue.

 

[500e]

Parkinsons Vises : List No. VV.4 : J. Parkinson & Son Ltd. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

62 p., illus., 23.7 cm, trade catalog

archive.org

 

[SteveB58]

They are dear here, people seem to ask £300 for 75s and don't understand that later ones are not steel either!

I got this one for £100 from a private seller in England and had parcel force collect with label so it worked out well.

No pipe jaws with it. I can get the sizes and have some cnc cut by my brother, shouldn't be an issue.

Hate to tell you but I paid £25 for my 75 about 4 years ago. It's nicely gnarly but a really good and usable vice. I imagine you'll strip, clean and lube the voce, in which case getting the spring back in can be a real pig. On line I've seen it done with a spanner, didn't work,. The only way I could manage it was to lash up the spring with string, assemble then burn the string off. Not a method my apprentice instructors ever taught but it worked.

Don't know if anyone has noticed, but on the Repair Shop the vice used in the outside workshop is a No 75, guessing it's a newer on as its blue.

 

[Dieselman 63]

Hate to tell you but I paid £25 for my 75 about 4 years ago. It's nicely gnarly but a really good and usable vice. I imagine you'll strip, clean and lube the voce, in which case getting the spring back in can be a real pig. On line I've seen it done with a spanner, didn't work,. The only way I could manage it was to lash up the spring with string, assemble then burn the string off. Not a method my apprentice instructors ever taught but it worked.

Don't know if anyone has noticed, but on the Repair Shop the vice used in the outside workshop is a No 75, guessing it's a newer on as its blue.

I pushed the spring down with the washer using a pair of circlip pliers. Took a few goes.

 

[premmington]

I have a small one of those bolted to a piece of 2" box section. It gets clamped in the record no 6 when I'm working with round stuff.

I got the next size up record pipe vice - I use it allot - normally for vehicle drive shafts.

 

[ranger08]

Note with both those vices 74 & 75 the handle bar ends unscrew, to make clean up very easy

 

[E T]

I got this small vice today from my ex SIL with the question if I could have some use for it and if it was salvageable.
It's a York 80L with some surface rust. Every moving bit is stuck, but the jaws and anvil look like it's never been used.
I did a quick google on York vices and apparently they are made in the Czech Republic and the old one's are pretty good quality vices.
This looks like a younger version, the old one's had the patent number in the casting apparently.
Are the modern York vices any good? It looks well built and feels quite heavy for such a small vice.View attachment 435549View attachment 435550

So, I left it soaking in a small bucket with WD40 for three weeks. All the moving bits freed up nicely and some of the surface rust had disappeared.
Dismantled it this afternoon. Cleaned all the bits in the parts washer and removed the remainig surface rust with wire wheel, emery cloth and scotch bright.

 

[SteveB58]

View attachment 436516

This pipe vice was mine for a few pounds.
Last year it was £98, being sold as a "Steam punk Door Stop".


View attachment 436522

Now it is a blue space user.

Thought I had something similar, but had no idea where it was. Then on Sunday while looking for my soldering station there it was! in all it's gnaly glory.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Thought I had something similar, but had no idea where it was. Then on Sunday while looking for my soldering station there it was! in all it's gnaly glory.

View attachment 439887

A nice tidy one.

 

[jimi_titch]

I recently got this vice and would like to see if anyone knows anything about it. I got it through an auction along with a cast iron table assuming it was a normal 36" record vice. However after receiving it , have found it's aluminium.
My current thought is it was cast using original patterns or someone made it from an original vice. Any knowledge on this would be great.

 

[Farside]

Might be an air-fitters' vice.

 

[dannysheff]

I recently got this vice and would like to see if anyone knows anything about it. I got it through an auction along with a cast iron table assuming it was a normal 36" record vice. However after receiving it , have found it's aluminium.
My current thought is it was cast using original patterns or someone made it from an original vice. Any knowledge on this would be great.View attachment 439909View attachment 439910

I'd guess cast using parts of the steel vice as patterns, maybe by someone on alu foundry night shift (hope they got the steel one back together ready for the morning crew)

seen this before with small vices, also in brass, but not as cleanly done as yours

sometimes they just cast a broken part for repair, but this is difficult with different metal shrinkage

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

I recently got this vice and would like to see if anyone knows anything about it. I got it through an auction along with a cast iron table assuming it was a normal 36" record vice. However after receiving it , have found it's aluminium.
My current thought is it was cast using original patterns or someone made it from an original vice. Any knowledge on this would be great.View attachment 439909View attachment 439910

The WD and MOD sometimes had vices cast in no ferrous metal for work in munition places, along with non ferrous tools.
No chance of sparks.

They are hard to find, but I have seen a few.
In the submarine museum in Gosport they have brass one on display.

 

[jimi_titch]

That's very interesting.
I didnt think of this yesterday to check with a magnet. As turns out it is magnetic so cant be plain aluminium. It files and has the brightness of aluminium, and weights less than a steel one would be. Very strange.

 

[couuub]

I recently got this vice and would like to see if anyone knows anything about it. I got it through an auction along with a cast iron table assuming it was a normal 36" record vice. However after receiving it , have found it's aluminium.
My current thought is it was cast using original patterns or someone made it from an original vice. Any knowledge on this would be great.View attachment 439909View attachment 439910play here for fun

It is quite possible that these vices were cast according to the patterns of an antique cast iron vice

 

[dannysheff]

That's very interesting.
I didnt think of this yesterday to check with a magnet. As turns out it is magnetic so cant be plain aluminium. It files and has the brightness of aluminium, and weights less than a steel one would be. Very strange.

the screw and nut inside will almost certainly be steel (light alloys too soft) -- I never heard of a magnetic Al alloy although some have a little Fe or Co (nor Zn or Mg, the other two common cast 'light alloys', anyone know for sure?)

 

[Dieselman 63]

New vice day. Decent lump for $50. They’re still out there!