Monarch/Prentiss vise

I thought I would share a few pictures of the vise that followed me home yesterday.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y145/dravizza/monarchvise.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y145/dravizza/sidevise.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y145/dravizza/monarchjaws.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y145/dravizza/pvcco.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y145/dravizza/lion.jpg

Its a large one. 6.5 inch wide jaws, 125 lbs. The neat thing about it is the logo. It has Monarch and a lion's head embossed on it. While cleaning it I discovered P V Co. cast into the movable jaw. I think this likely stands for the Prentiss Vise Co.

I would be very interested in any information or history anyone can provide.

Except for the obvious chunk missing from the slide, the vise is in remarkable condition. The jaws are very crisp and there is almost no wear on the nut,screw and slide.

I don't think the broken slide will greatly effect the use of the vise. But is sure looks bad. I would love to repair it. I thought of welding in a piece of steel. But I certainly don't want to make it worse. Any thoughts on possible repairs?

Thanks

Dan

Man, that's nice. Very little use it looks like...

bb

Aside from that 'Monarch' logo, that one does have all the classic Prentiss casting shapes, alright, so that would lead one to suspect that the 'Monarch' vise line was made by Prentiss, presumably as the 'store brand' for some wholesale hardware or industrial supply firm.

It would be entirely feasible to make up a suitably shaped plate of steel, and braze it in to repair the break in the beam. By using a nickel-brazing rod, brazing in the steel repair well over size, then neatly milling the repair flush.with the beam, it should be only barely noticeable when done. If a scrap of cast iron of suitable size/thickness can be found, so much the better.

Going over the beam with a Biax flaker, or hand-flaking the beam with the usual 'half-moon' pattern, will tend to 'blend in' the repair work a bit better, as well as doing a bit of 'a real machinist/toolmaker owns/uses this vise' aesthetic detail. (assuming the vise is otherwise nicely refinished)

Understand, tho, that this would be a 'labour of love' to have a nicely restored tool for one's personal use.....the time/work invested would not be economically feasible otherwise.

cheers

Carla

Carla

Thank you for the advise. Neat idea repairing the vise and then hand flaking it. It sure would look sharp.



Dan