Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Wilton vise info?
john jesseph
>Hi everyone! Went to an auction yesterday and bought several big Powermatic tailed apprentices, and this followed me home. It came off a battle-weary high school workbench which I paid fifty dollars for. I parted out the cabinet and the top with two other small vises on the spot and got my fifty dollars back. Any information and discussion would be helpful, welcome, and appreciated.
oops! wrong link...
john jesseph
>Linked the thumbnail accidentally...
Re: Wilton vise info?
john jesseph
>another view...lots of surface rust that should clean off completely...
Re: Wilton vise info?
Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA
>John,
I'm not getting your pics -I get the little box with the red X in it. I don't know if it's my computer or what. ??
no pics here either
Jack Guzman from Maine
>
nuts!
john jesseph
>another yahoo gotcha...
let me try this again.......
thanks guys....
john jesseph
>
Re: Wilton vise info?
john jesseph
>One last try, this time to the Woodcentral server instead of linked from Yahoo....
Re: Wilton vise info?
Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA
>John,
I've got pretty nearly the same vise. It's been helpful, though I've used the "metalworking" jaws very little (since I own a Wilton metal vise as well). I have considered removing the metal working jaws and putting on wood inserts, because these jaws wind up about 4" above the benchtop when you spin them "up." Seemed like it might be helpful to have something high for fine, small work.
My round tuit inventory deficit has prevented me from acting on this idea.
I find I can fairly quickly spin the wood vise part from horizontal to vertical for those times when I need to put something tall upright in the vise.
Incidentally
Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA
>The big disadvantage I've found to this vise is that it needs room for the different jaws to spin around. I mounted it on the bench with the rotor assembly underneath and the jaws out front of the bench. What results is that the face edge of the back jaw, with the 1/2" maple inserts I installed, is about an inch out from the front edge of the bench. Fine for short work, but I have been reminded by experience that long boards plane much more easily when they're touching the front edge of the bench. That lateral support reduces the wiggling and harmonic (disharmonic to my planing efforts) resonance that will occur with a board floating in space except for the clamped end. Even a bench jack would not help much here, since it wouldn't provide lateral support.
If I were keeping it on the bench rather than trying another vise, I'd notch out the front of the bench so that the face edge of the rear jaw (with insert) was flush with the majority of the front of the bench, but I'd then have to notch out enough length to allow the vise to rotate, and would have an open space for stuff to fall into, a finger-pincher, etc.
All in all, I think it's a clever design that doesn't quite work as a primary vise. In my fantasy shop, it's mounted on the end of the bench opposite the tail vise, set to swing into action (pun intended) when I need to clamp something above the benchtop (like a handle I'm shaping with a drawknife or shave). But, then, my fantasy shop is triple or even fourple the size of my current shoplet (going from 120 square feet to 400 would be SUCH a luxury!).
Re: Incidentally
john jesseph
>Thanks for the information, Bill. I muddled this great opportunity for alternative vise discussion by bungling the pics. Menawhile people get tired of looking for the non-existant pics. Oh well.
I thought I could use this on a yet to be built luthery bench, to hold necks of mandolins and violins via inserts on the narrow side. The Wilton is much bigger than my Versa-vise. I already have a bunch of unused vises waiting for benches- pattern-maker clone, Record, Lee Valley twin screw, the VV and the Wilton now. For free, I guess I could even bolt it to the sharpening bench...