Bench vices

[Brad]

Shopping around for a BIG vice. Can only find small wimpy ones online, nothing on ebay. So whatcha got and where did ya get it and how much?

[Bad Coco]

Home Depot. You can get a fairly large one for I think around $40. I hate going to home dump, but stuff like that, they are tough to beat

[glfredrick]

I'd love to find and old Wilton myself... I want something that actually opens up wide enough to stick stuff in there...

I currently have one of the import dual purpose vises (pipe vise on the bottom - regular jaws on top) and it is OK - but not a real tool compared to the good stuff...

[D60]

Home Depot. You can get a fairly large one for I think around $40. I hate going to home dump, but stuff like that, they are tough to beat

More like $80 last time I looked. But I dunno if those "Columbian" vises are any good.

[rusted]

I got my Record off of ebay, while ago they were selling a bunch of them.

It's only a mechanic's vice, but it is approximately 146x as well-built as those 'Wiltons' they sell at the box stores. I paid $50 for it, I think close to $90 by the time it was at my door.

But now if you're talking BIG then you're talking hundreds of dollars and two hundred pounds or more.

http://home.comcast.net/~trailrig/vice.jpg

[D60]

I got my Record off of ebay, while ago they were selling a bunch of them.

It's only a mechanic's vice, but it is approximately 146x as well-built as those 'Wiltons' they sell at the box stores. I paid $50 for it, I think close to $90 by the time it was at my door.

But now if you're talking BIG then you're talking hundreds of dollars and two hundred pounds or more.

Installing it on your kitchen counter, eh? Hmm, well it'll make carving the turkey easier............maybe. :D

Did you install the nut for rotation adjustment? That's a good idea, I can never cinch my vises down tight enough if leveraging something long.

EDIT: the last vise I got was a 5" Craftsman when they had the coupon for $20 off any purchase of $40 or more. They also had a 6" but I deemed it TOO big for my needs. So far it seems ok but I don't use it for stuff like trying to press out u-joints (that's what the ball joint press is for). I think Craftsman only does a 1 year warranty on their vises and I doubt they're made in the US.

[wheelsup]

Shopping around for a BIG vice. Can only find small wimpy ones online, nothing on ebay. So whatcha got and where did ya get it and how much?

Wilton's here. Old ones at that.
One 10702B machinst style, three 350 machinist style, and one square type mechanic style

A couple old craftsmans and a home depot special on the welding bench.

[Scout Dork]

Wiltons made in china, and cost twice the price of the Harbor Frieght crap. My 5" HB has been great for $25.
Maybe, rusted put a kitchen in his work shop.
Scout Dork

[Sc0]

I once saw a pretty BIG Wilton at a steel salvage yard that just needed a handle, $100.
I didn't have the money at the time but You better have a hell of a bench! (Vise was bolted to a custom fabbed 1" plate stand about 4ft high wih a forged iron base, I would imagine that the thing weighed bout 275lbs easily.)

[wheelsup]

Wiltons made in china, and cost twice the price of the Harbor Frieght crap. My 5" HB has been great for $25.
Maybe, rusted put a kitchen in his work shop.
Scout Dork

I can assure you my Wilton's are NOT made in China.
edit.
They cost more like ten times that HF ones.
They are all over 10 yrs old, and work good as new ones. Cost for the smaller one seems was in the $300 or so range. Others can't recall that far back.
EDIT
Can send a pic tommorrow, don't have camera with me today. Has made in USA right on it, along with the
Schiller pk, ILL USA on the bottom.
Maybe new ones are made there, if so i wouldn't waste money on them.
Get a big HF one.

[300sniper]

from what i understand, wilton has two grades of vices: professional and home owner. the home owner stuff is import. you can still get usa made stuff but it will cost you. i have a 5" wilton import i got from lowes a few years back and am very happy with it. i think it was around $60. i don't think that lowes caries them any more. i hate when they change product lines like that. i had started a collection of porter cable pnumatic tools and have been very happy with them. then lowes quit carying them. me, being ocd, want all my pnumatic tools to match. :p

[kblazer87]

More like $80 last time I looked. But I dunno if those "Columbian" vises are any good.

I believe that the Columbian vises are now owned by the same company that makes the Wilton's. We have one of the 6" Columbian ones at work and they are not a bad choice for a home shop. Wilton's are at or near the top choice if you can afford them. I picked up a Wilton machinists vice with swivel base at an auction 3 years ago for 26.00 and sold it on Ebay for 200.00 + shipping. It was one of the smoothest operating vises I have ever seen and would have kept it except it was so large I had no room for it on my small work bench.

[Scout Dork]

I was shopping for a "big" vice a couple months ago. Going to buy american. I would pay a little more, but to get one bigger than 6", you are going to pay $$$. Then, I needed one, saw the HB freight one, and said "no" not china. So, I went to Lowes, the wiltons, "made in china for wilton" for twice the price.
Did rusted use the vice to make the sandwich :shaking:
Scout Dork

[Brad]

I am looking for a BIG/HEAVY vice and I plan on making a beefy stand for it. We have some at work that have to be moved around with cranes(doesnt mean much considering that EVERYTHING is moved with the cranes.) but none of them have names on them.
The one thats pictured is what I considered(no offence) Small

[JeepAddict]

I've got an old Columbian that my dad had in his shop when I was just a kid. It's seen duty for at least 40 years and now I've inherited it. It took a hell of a beating and it's holding up fine - definitely made in the USA. I just got the Record at Cummins Tool because it was the only one that didn't look like it would fall apart! Nicely crafted and the Sheffield England cast into the side definitely inspired my confidence. 99 bucks, but I think it was worth it.

[rusted]

Installing it on your kitchen counter, eh? Hmm, well it'll make carving the turkey easier............maybe. :D

Did you install the nut for rotation adjustment? That's a good idea, I can never cinch my vises down tight enough if leveraging something long.


If you ever got a chance to sample my wife's macaroni casserole, you'd know why I need the vice in the kitchen. A bunch of Orthodox Jews flew in from New York, needed samples of her special hardened noodles to cut finer grades of diamond.

Good thing she doesn't frequent this forum.

The nut is what came with it, and I thought it would be a PIA. I love it. I keep a 3/4 combo wrench hanging right by it. Compared to other vices I've used, that Record is like a fine machine tool.

[jeeplord]

Check you local construction tool supply, that's where I found my Wilton, best vise I could have ever bought

[Daveyclimber]

I bought 2 5" record vises on ebay about a year ago for $15 each , they work great but i wish they had pipe jaws on them

[TRed]

I have a 50 year old Columbian #44 anvil vice, solid as a rock and nothing like the new stuff. BTW, the reason they are called Columbian is because they are made in Columbus Ohio, USA! Look again on ebay, get a good old unit, you can't go wrong.

[Paul Gagnon]

I have a 5" Record with swivel and anvil that I bought ten years ago. It is a great vise.Record vises are becoming very hard to find since Rubbermaid bought the company. They are now part of the Irwin line. I believe they are no longer being imported (made in England) so most of what is out there will be old stock or used. Definitely worth grabbing one if you see it.

[beartj]

I picked up the beefiest/biggest vise menards has after my hand-me-down 4" pansy craftsman vise crumbled. It's 5 or 6" Larin with pipe jaws and I'm really pleased with it. It was on sale for 30 bucks a couple weeks ago. I think having one big regular vise is nice but having a seperate pipe vise like this is surprisingly useful for clamping all sorts of things.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/photos/08800-08899/08890.gif

[AprilzWarrior]

Costco sells some very nice Vise's. Got mine for $80 and I beat the crap out of it...


But I also have an Anvil for the tuff stuff.


AW

[64Trvlr]

Another vote for Wilton vices, I've got 2 of them. I picked up a 6" with a svivel base for about $150 used there are good deals on used ones if you look for them.

[green8052]

I have 200lb 50 year old muther here that i got from a recycling yard when they shut down. By the way its big enough to hold a full size dana 60 in it with no probs, except the bench wanting to tip over.......LOL. i want to get rid of it if anyone wants come and get it. im me or email me at green8052@bellsouth.net for pics of it.

[ChiScouter]

I have the biggest chinese one that Northern sells. I think its about 75 pounds. Before even using it I beefed it up. If you look at the castle nut on the threaded shaft, the steel piece behind that nut is what transfers all the torque to the jaws. When you look at the size of the vice and than that small piece of steel it takes away your confidence. I added as many washers as I could behind the castelated nut which more than doubled the amount of metal transfering the torque to the jaws. Good cheap piece of mind. You can do the same with any of the chinese swivel head vices I have seen.

[buffalogap4wd]

Wiltons made in china, and cost twice the price of the Harbor Frieght crap. My 5" HB has been great for $25.
Maybe, rusted put a kitchen in his work shop.
Scout DorkWTF are you smoking :smokin:

[Brandon]

Costco sells some very nice Vise's. Got mine for $80 and I beat the crap out of it...


But I also have an Anvil for the tuff stuff.


AW


I just busted my costco one, they don't have em now so I got the Home Depot one (I dunno, I use the swivel too much so I had to go with that style).

I now have press which is what you should use for most of the stuff so I don't think I'll break the colombus one :)

It was $50

[Black_Panther]

if you just looking for a good vice to beat stuff on - you won't find anything better than a dog-leg vice. I've got a pic of one of mine, but no star :( here's a link to what they look like (http://www.anvilfire.com/FAQs/vises.htm) my largest one is an english 6" that probably weighs about 125# and my smallest is a 4.5" that weighs in around 65# picked them both up for $50 at a junkyard along with my chevy springs a few years back. you can beat the hell outta these things, just make sure your concrete it thick enough where the dog-leg rests on the ground or put a steel plate under the leg.

[glfredrick]

Here are a couple I found while looking around the Interweb.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002DOUH4/qid=1105761526/br=1-13/ref=br_lf_hi_13//104-5415499-4374317?v=glance&s=hi&n=553592 (THIS ONE WOULD BE MY CHOICE - Made in Germany - availible in a 6" size that opens past 9" Click on the PDF file for more info on this product line)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004XPVH/qid=1105761019/br=1-1/ref=br_lf_hi_1//104-5415499-4374317?v=glance&s=hi&n=553592 (Made in USA)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004XPVE/qid=1105761019/br=1-6/ref=br_lf_hi_6//104-5415499-4374317?v=glance&s=hi&n=553592 (Made in USA)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004XPVO/qid=1105761019/br=1-8/ref=br_lf_hi_8//104-5415499-4374317?v=glance&s=hi&n=553592 (Import)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004XPVG/qid=1105761353/br=1-2/ref=br_lf_hi_2//104-5415499-4374317?v=glance&s=hi&n=553592 (Made in USA)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000AXCR0/qid=1105761353/br=1-14/ref=br_lf_hi_14//104-5415499-4374317?v=glance&s=hi&n=553592 (Import)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000AXCR6/qid=1105761526/br=1-3/ref=br_lf_hi_3//104-5415499-4374317?v=glance&s=hi&n=553592 (Import)