Good Bench Vise Recommendations

IslandTractor · Jun 18, 2016

Thanks GManBart for the Craigsalert recommendation. Gonna give it a try. SearchTempest is better than nothing but there's certainly room for improvement.

Edit: cannot find "Craigsalert or Craigalert" in App Store for iOS. Is that the correct name??

newbury · Jun 18, 2016

http://www.seajei.com/

Turbys_1700 · Jun 18, 2016

GManBart said:
Just picked up a Wilton 600 (6" jaw, about 150lbs) off CL today for $350. The guy had four people contact him within an hour of the ad going up. I was only 25min away, and the only one that gave him a phone number, so he called me back. Honestly, I'm not really the biggest Wilton fan (have three of them), but this is a pretty impressively stout vise that will last nearly forever if taken care of.

A more useful/reliable alternative to SearchTempest is the CraigsAlert application....not sure if it's only for Apple products, or no but it's much better than SearchTempest.

You got that vise at a great price. You need to start another thread on Buys of the Week. That would be in the running for Buy of the Year.

IslandTractor · Jun 18, 2016

newbury said:
http://www.seajei.com/

Thanks. Giving it a try now

murphy1244 · Jun 18, 2016

Here's a wilton in Ohio Giant chas parker no. 976 vise and a Wilton bullet

GManBart · Jun 18, 2016

the old grind said:
Uh, ~$1,200 for a new #600 'Bullet' most anywhere so, yeah ... you just about stole it. :dance1:

btw, I don't see copious hammer dings on handle, jaws, or the 'anvil' portion. You could nearly double your $$ o'nite (with or w/o a paint job) but uh, ... I wouldn't part with it either.

Yeah, I was shocked at how clean it was when I saw it in person. The jaws are perfect, and the anvil just has a couple of light marks. It looks like it got bolted to a bench and sat for 30 years!

GManBart · Jun 18, 2016

murphy1244 said:
Here's a wilton in Ohio Giant chas parker no. 976 vise and a Wilton bullet

That Parker breaks my heart. It's a great vise, but the jaws are missing and only a couple of guys in the country will make jaws for a Parker. The big problem is you have to ship them the vise which gets really expensive. I'd expect all told you can't get a set of jaws made for that for less than $3-400 total if you aren't local to one of the few folks that will make them.

murphy1244 · Jun 18, 2016

GManBart said:
That Parker breaks my heart. It's a great vise, but the jaws are missing and only a couple of guys in the country will make jaws for a Parker. The big problem is you have to ship them the vise which gets really expensive. I'd expect all told you can't get a set of jaws made for that for less than $3-400 total if you aren't local to one of the few folks that will make them.

I was more looking at the Wilton.

GManBart · Jun 18, 2016

murphy1244 said:
I was more looking at the Wilton.

That Wilton has been on there a long time....it's priced too high for the size and condition.

GManBart · Aug 1, 2016

Proof that watching CL can pay off, this was my weekend score! I saw an ad for the estate sale of a lifelong machinist and woodworker, and it was only 20min from my house. I left no less than 8 quality vises there, and only bought these two. The first is a very clean Wilton 350 (3.5" jaw) bullet on an awesome cast iron stand with the brass plaque from an old Detroit machinery company. The second is a large, early Reed 105 (5" jaw and about 70lbs) that is in very solid condition. I'm going to do a proper restoration on both and sell them (Wilton needs just a strip/paint job) and keep the base because it's just too cool to sell!