Huge Unidentified Vise

I've been lurking on this forum for quite a while and I know there are quite a few other vise crazy people here like me. I picked this up off of craigslist the other day and I have to say that I am very proud of my purchase. It's got 8" jaws and weighs 255 lbs! It is by far the biggest vise I've ever seen in person, and possibly the biggest I've seen on the internet even. Anyway, the only thing that it has cast into it is Pat. No. 108 1/2. Is there anyone here that could identify it for me? I would really appreciate it.

that is a big mother! I think that style of vise is called a chipping vise?

I believe you will find more markings are you clean it up. My wild-ass guess it that it's a REED.

That is one rugged-looking bench it's mounted upon - did the bench come with the deal ?

I'm going to speculate that the reason this non-swivelling vise is mounted on the short end of the bench, rather than the long side, is that a previous owner mounted it that way so he could use it for chipping castings or forgings. If you find any cold chisel scars on the "tail", that would support this theory.

Now, you need to call in a sand blaster for the bench and maybe take the vise parts to a bead blaster.

John Ruth

Sure might be a Reed. As far as large vises on the Internet go...I'm sure there are larger ones out there. Here's a 465 lbs. one I salvaged off a shaper now residing happily on a friend's Carlton radial drill.

Wow that would be fantastic if it were a chipping vise. It certainly is built like one would expect a chipping vise to be built. The bench did come with the vise, and it is built just the same way. I picked it up with three other guys and we couldn't pick up the table without the vise! Paid $100 for the whole thing. The guy I bought it from used to own a barge repair shop on the Ohio River and used it to work on barge parts. Would he have chipped castings or forgings related to that?

I have to say that I don't really think its a Reed though. I'm thinking it looks like a Prentiss, specifically a No. 58 like the one in the vise squad thread. What do you all think?

Wyoming, that is a huge vise! That's cheating though because its a machinist vise. jk, thats a very nice find.

Cheating??? Yeah, probably, but I paid dearly loading that in the back of the pickup alone with a come-along and the vise strapped to a hand cart. Gotta give a break for that...

I'd say a Prentiss would be a good guess as well.

"The bench did come with the vise, and it is built just the same way. I picked it up with three other guys and we couldn't pick up the table without the vise! Paid $100 for the whole thing."

On the OLDTOOLS mailing list, this would be called a "drive-by gloat"; the writer is clearly proud of the great deal he got !

You are one lucky fellow to get this much useful iron & steel for a mere $100 !!!
Lucky also to have three helpful friends.

The barge repair shop history explains why it looks like it has been in a flood.

Sandblast - it's the only way to clean up the WHOLE bench, legs, top, bottom, the whole kit & kaboodle, in a timely way.

The only thing bigger than the vise are the photos!

Is is worth waiting a few minutes for the photos to download? I'll never know....

Banjo, for future posts, please make your photos smaller, there are still a few of us left using dial-up, sorry to complain, good luck with the monster.

Dunkit in lye

Get a plastic trash can, some lye and a battery charger.

With a come-along or hoist/pully system dunk the vise as is in a trash can, fill it with water and add lye.

Place the positive lead of the battery charger to a rebar placed in the water and the negetive to the vise.

Let it soak, will draw about 5 amps, then go up as the surface comes clean, then drops as the electrode gets dirty, pull the electrode and clean every couple hours.

Let it soak all day with the power, then pull it out to check, it will remove the rust and any organic material with zero work.

You could let it soak for a week or so, unpowered if not watched, if real bad.

I have been doing this with my projects, toss it in the tank and do something else, saves a lot of prep work, a light brushing and final rinse with solvent and it is ready to paint.

With the location being Huntington, my first guess would have been it is out of the C&O shops!

Very nice find. Will no doubt be put to good use when cleaned and painted.

I just made a jaw insert for a customer's large Prentice, and at first I too could find no markings, but upon cleaning the name was cast across the back top edge of the main casting, the area that some folks habitually use as an anvil. This particular Prentice has the swivel rear jaw, but several brands had this handy feature and may be no indication of the maker.

My take on the end mounting is that the long bench will better cantilever the weight of this honker, and whatever was being worked upon, than if it were front mounted, which might have been a bit tippy. Nothing like 1500 pounds of vise, table and casting landing on one's leg.

Be sure to post a shot of it when cleaned up all purty.

Does it have no handle?

John, you made me chuckle with the drive-by gloat. I'm sure it does look that way. Honestly though, I just wanted to know if anybody knew anything about it and I also thought it was worth sharing.

Tony, I have used electrolysis on a few different vises now and it does work very well. First, I will take it to a local radiator shop and dip it in the hot tank then I'll electrocute it. I am going to sandblast the table though.

locoguy, I would looove to find a vise out of one of the C&O shops! I've never had an opportunity to buy anything from them, but I'm always on the lookout.

I actually have one other question, too. Is it considered to be in bad taste if I post these pictures on two different forums? I'm a more active member at another one, but there seems to be more of a cult vise following here. Just wondering and don't want to inadvertently do something that is frowned upon.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program. Here are a few more pictures now that its back in my garage.

I tried to take a picture to demonstrate just how thick the side walls are, but it didn't turn out as well as I wanted. Usually the inside is pretty hollow because the sides are narrower than the surfaces that contact the slide. Not so on this one, though. The inside walls are only about 1/4" thinner.



This one shows some repair that was done at some point to the jaws. I guess they broke the jaws off and then welded them back on our something.



Here's the back



And I just had to post this one since it was taking up almost that whole piece of plywood I had sitting there.

Oh and no JoeE, it does not have a handle. I'm going to have to make one.

Wild Guess:

The front jaw will be found to have a removeable jaw face held on with screws which defy every effort to extract them.

The read jaw has a shop-made replacement jaw face welded or brazed to the rear casting, because the maker could not be bothered to precisely locate and drill the holes needed to bolt the replacment jaw face in place -OR- the original screws are broken off short in the jaw casting and would not come out.

This is one awesome vise, and I have a feeling it is in good hands.

John Ruth

Looks somewhat like an Athol vise I have, although mine is quite a bit smaller. Be real surprised if good old iron like that isn't marked once you get it cleanrd up, they were actually proud of what they made back then. Jim

I think SB34 is right, it looks like a Prentiss, they had the prominent eyebrow over the handle, and the handle knob seemed to be proportionally smaller than, for example, the similar sized Reeds. I think this may not be as old as it as first appears, perhaps the late thirties or later, because it has the square and not round knob on the handle. By about that time most of the vise makers were going to a less rounded one because it was faster to turn when manufacturing. Anybody with a Prentiss catalog which shows the change? Bill S

BanjoSavesTheDay said:

Anyway, the only thing that it has cast into it is Pat. No. 108 1/2.

Click to expand...

That thing is awesome! My guess: a Columbian No. 108 1/2. I look forward to seeing it all cleaned up and back in service!

Personally, I've been searching for a Reed No. 109 for years (9" jaw width).

Ryan

X2 on looking Athol. It mounts just like my smaller version.

thnx, jack vines

She's a beaut, Clark! (Uncle Eddie)

The spray can really puts it into perspective.
I once saw a set up with a vise like that.
The base was a stack of I-beams, stacked up
in criss-cross fashion, and all welded together.
(Log cabin style).
The big vise was bolted to this as a base.
It was the best stable base for a vise I have seen.
Perhaps if you have some scrap I-beams, this idea
might appeal to you. I wish I had a picture, but I
think you get the idea.

Nice vise. Lucky dog!

--Doozer

Ryan, a Reed 109 is EXACTLY what I want, too. I've never even seen a picture of one though. Have you?

Doozer, that sounds like a heck of a way to make a table. As long as I can get that bench it was mounted on, though, I plan on mounting it back there. The only problem is that it weighs so much. There's not a crane or anything available to help...it's just going to take a lot of grunting I guess.