Bench Vise

[tigweldit]

I am very happy with Wiltons. I have four of them in various sizes. All made in U.S.A. NEVER use a hammer or "cheater bar" to tighten up the jaws on any vise. That is the best way to do permanent damage to a vise.

[Drm50]

I have a couple big Wilton's and a brass gunsmith vice. I also have a precision small vice with micrometer feed and Pyrex runners to do perfect filing. The Wilton's jaw insets are held to vice with
counter sunk screws. You can take these out and use for pattern to make inserts of wood, nylon or
other softer metals. Wrapping a barrel in cloth will not protect from damage in steel vise jaws. I use
oak for holding barrels.

[labradigger1]

If you want a good vise buy an old Wilton or Columbian steel vise. You get what you pay for and imho I don’t think much of any tools made after ww2. Also, not really gunsmith related but do not hammer hard on a bench vise, they will not take it. If you need to hammer use an anvil or a old blacksmith post vise, the post transfers the energy to the ground and they were made to be beat on every day. Bad thing about a post vise is the jaws are not parallel but you can really torque on them with a cheater and they take it due to being hammer forged. Ymmv.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

I'm happy with my Wilton

[JimB..]

I have a 3” Wilton on my reloading bench, a 4” Wilton on my workbench, and a 4.5” swivel-jaw Reed that I’m restoring. Someday I’d like to have a large vise.

My advice, if you have a place for it, would be to watch Craigslist for old, heavy vises made in the USA. Skip any that have been repaired. If you’re really tight on space and only need it for slugging pistol barrels then get a few wood clamps and clamp them to a handle table.

[lmcollins]

I do not think that there is anything better than a Wilton Tradesman. The secret is that the jaws are made to operate on round bored arbors. The jaws stay parallel.

[Blanket]

buy once cry once, get a Wilton

[stephen_q]

I recently picked up an old no. 92 prentiss made in NY that a local blacksmith refinished and was selling on craigslist. It's about 45lbs and will last a lifetime, add in some soft jaws and you're set. I paid $80.

[alamogunr]

I like this type of vice, it has so many uses, have 2 of them mounted on the corners of the benches, can be used to hold a rifle for glass bedding,
or being worked on, plus this type of vice lays down on the side and pivots around the stem, to hold bbls vertical etc.

https://www.amazon.com/Shop-Fox-D312...978331&sr=8-2-
spell&keywords=shopfox+vice

Can't afford the original type, but these work just as well.

YMMV

Tia,
Don

I've got one of that type but different brand on my bench. I also have a big Wilton that I finally broke down and bought about 10 years ago. I don't know how I ever got along without it. Since I'm space challenged, I mounted both on large plywood bases and C-clamp them to the bench.

[Fishoot]

Any vise will do, as long as it says "Wilton" on the side and is made in USA. I have had several vises and would not give up my Wilton.

[JSnover]

Know Your Limitations.
Wilton, Palmgren, Kurt, etc are all great but I've seen each of them broken by idiots with cheater pipes. I have a 5" Shop Fox bench vise w/swivel base for small jobs and it hasn't failed me in 15 years, mostly because I know what it can't do.
If all I had was a small vise I'd wish for it to be top-of-the-line, but if all I needed was a small vise I wouldn't spend much on it. Keep stuffing the piggy bank, when you decide you need a bigger vise, buy a good one.

[Markopolo]

I don’t know if I could ever live with one bench vice... I have 4 of various sizes, most are over 50 years old, some nearing 100

[bob208]

a pipe vise with the jaws replaced with al. or brass with the taper to match the barrel would be the best. a bench vise would still need special jaws or blocks to hold the barrel.

[Lance Boyle]

I don’t know if I could ever live with one bench vice... I have 4 of various sizes, most are over 50 years old, some nearing 100

My big vise in a non swivel from the Lowville foundry in NY. Made in the pre WW1industrial age.

They haven’t been in business for about a 100 years

[Blanket]

I have 6 big vises around the place all older USA made, some over 100 years old

[Clark]

This forum has 3334 pages on a thread about bench vises.
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/...ad.php?t=44782

One possible result of that thread is that big old bench vises on Ebay get a lot of bidders.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...+vise&_sacat=0

I got started with Columbian vises from Boeing Surplus.


The prices on Ebay are much higher than the now gone Boeing Surplus.

Boeing's seafoam green color from the 70's is ugly

[Geezer in NH]

remember the bench is as important as the vise. A weak bench and the bestist, strongest vice will fail.

[country gent]

In one corner of the tool room we had a 10" Columbian vise mounted on a piece of heavy pipe thru the floor and poured in concrete, open all around it. This vise was used for those jobs that required real persuasion.

On the old style mill vises I have seen the back jaw pushed out of square by guys "setting" them with a hammer. Even on a old grinder or drill press vise with a fine thread it dosnt take much force on the thread to push them out of square and or bow the bottom. A good vise should be used accordingly. Some of the solidest vises were the ones on the old shapers built like a tank on steroids. Those when good were extremely solid you spun them closed on a piece they went thunk and very little handle turn past that.

[Lance Boyle]

In one corner of the tool room we had a 10" Columbian vise mounted on a piece of heavy pipe thru the floor and poured in concrete, open all around it. This vise was used for those jobs that required real persuasion.

On the old style mill vises I have seen the back jaw pushed out of square by guys "setting" them with a hammer. Even on a old grinder or drill press vise with a fine thread it dosnt take much force on the thread to push them out of square and or bow the bottom. A good vise should be used accordingly. Some of the solidest vises were the ones on the old shapers built like a tank on steroids. Those when good were extremely solid you spun them closed on a piece they went thunk and very little handle turn past that.

My buddy has a barrel vise set in the floor like that. I have turned around and walked into it. It didn’t move.

[mazo kid]

Does the Shop Fox vise rotate on the base?