New Wilton vice

[HWooldridge]

I could offer the bad play on words that vises are one of my vices.

I am attracted to big, heavy vises. I have several. I also have several medium sized Wilton, enclosed screw vises. They are beautiful things.

My great dream is to one day have a huge Wilton, enclosed screw vise. New, the biggest ones are $1,200-$1,400. Where I last worked they had several that I coveted.

I was fortunate enough to get a top of the line 5 inch Wilton some years ago. The best part was that it was on a 4x8 welding table and the auctioneer didn't care enough about the vise to remove it so I bought the whole shooting match for $25. I think this model goes for $800-900 these days. The screw feels like it's on ball bearings...

[MoparNorm]

Oh yeah! You NEED one of those!!!!

[Gordon Maney]

I have just discovered a new thing to want....

http://www.myerstiresupply.com/pls/m...=2601&cart_id=

A Wilton offset vise. I have never seen such a thing, nor have I ever heard of them. Neat.

[Gordon Maney]

I could offer the bad play on words that vises are one of my vices.

I am attracted to big, heavy vises. I have several. I also have several medium sized Wilton, enclosed screw vises. They are beautiful things.

My great dream is to one day have a huge Wilton, enclosed screw vise. New, the biggest ones are $1,200-$1,400. Where I last worked they had several that I coveted.

I have a welding table that is 4' x 10', made of 7/8" plate, with I-beam legs. I have my two big vices mounted on that. Both of them happen to be Rock Island vises. I don't know how common those are in other parts of the country, but they were once very common here. My guess is that they were made at a foundry in Rock Island, Illinois. Clint Dixon may have a thought on that.

There is a center to any good workshop. It is a bench. That bench must have at least one vise, and it must be substantial. My bench weighs about 1,600 lb., without the vises. I can pull on the handle of one of those vises and the bench will not move.

When I was a kid I spent a lot of time at the farm of my friend Larry. His father had a small, cramped workshop. Along one wall was a small bench that was piled high with every possible thing. On the edge of it was mounted a big harness vise.

All jobs seemed to start and end in that vise. He would often begin a project by clamping it in the vise and we would stand there and look at it. Somehow those were formative experiences for me.

I have been known, on occasion, to go out and just clean and admire my bench. From the current appearance of it, that has been quite a while, as it is difficult to see the top of it just now

[JimmieD]

Doesn't that just frost ya!? Fortunately, at least at this writing, only a portion of Wilton's manufacture is from overseas. I needed parts for a vintage Wilton Columbia that had been on the back bumper of my truck for 20+ years. It got busted up when the truck was rear ended. Came to find out that most of their Columbia line is now Chinola, so no replacement parts.

[Russ Erickson]

I bought a new Wilton 4 1/2-inch vice at a ranch store about a week ago. The price was good, so I just grabbed it. When I got home with it, I saw the dreaded 'Made in China' label on it. That really put me in a poor mood when I consider such a proud name outsourcing their manufacturing to China. It is pretty well made, so I decided to keep it. The picture shows the 2-inch receiver hitch mount I made for it, just needs some paint now. Cleaned up the threads on the seat mount hold down bracket for my '51 IHC Cub tractor.