Vise Identification help

I'm seeking information about the vise pictured below.

My father acquired it while driving a backhoe from a job to our house many years ago. On the way he saw the vise and a heavy duty metal workbench sitting at a house. He stopped and bargained with the owner and ended up putting the whole thing in the bucket of the backhoe and driving home with it for $75. It sat outside in the weather for ages before moving into the farm shop where it has sat for 25+ years. He thinks it came out of the railroad shop in Jackson, TN.

There is some barely visible lettering but nothing that I can read or identify as a manufacturer or model. The rear jaw appears to be able to swivel although we've never moved it.

The jaws themselves are 7.5" wide. Any info or leads would be appreciated. Not looking to sale or assess value, just curious about the history.

Hi-res link: Vise - Google Photos

Agree with the post above, the casting letters look like it says Prentiss. I just picked up a Prentiss #10 (Coachmaker pattern) a couple of weeks ago that I'm reconditioning to return to service. The lack of cast lettering on the side suggest it may be of a similar vintage as yours. Good solid vise if lead screw and nut aren't abuse. It can be fully disassembled (can offer info if you need it) for cleaning, reconditioning. The swiveling back jaw can be a nice feature if it moves easily (it should). Seems to be a well made vise from a maker that's long gone. Your's is a substantial model if the jaws are 7-1/2 inches wide.

That is indeed a Prentiss vise with swivel static jaw. I have one with a 4 1/2" jaw width. Yours would qualify in the extremely large category and may have some substantial collector value. By far the most informative place for vise info is here, the Garage Journal "Vises of Garage Journal" thread, a massive thread of old vise information: The VISES of Garage Journal - The Garage Journal Board. Show yours along with your interesting story and you should get quite a few comments.

If the swivel jaw or pin is rusted in place, remove the dynamic jaw and flip the vise body over. You should see the bottom of the pin and can access it with a punch and hammer after giving it a shot of PB Blaster of equivalent. If the jaw remains stuck, more PB and gentle tapping with a soft hammer.

Tom B.

Riderusty said:

That is indeed a Prentiss vise with swivel static jaw. I have one with a 4 1/2" jaw width. Yours would qualify in the extremely large category and may have some substantial collector value. By far the most informative place for vise info is here, the Garage Journal "Vises of Garage Journal" thread, a massive thread of old vise information: The VISES of Garage Journal - The Garage Journal Board. Show yours along with your interesting story and you should get quite a few comments.

If the swivel jaw or pin is rusted in place, remove the dynamic jaw and flip the vise body over. You should see the bottom of the pin and can access it with a punch and hammer after giving it a shot of PB Blaster of equivalent. If the jaw remains stuck, more PB and gentle tapping with a soft hammer.

Tom B.

Click to expand...

Tom- Don't know about his model but for mine I had to remove the "nut" to gain access to the through hole for the swivel pin. Both components were rather solidly oxidized in place so I allowed the PB to soak for a day or two while checking every day. I didn't want to deform anything through brute force. They both came out in good condition by allowing the penetrant to "creep".

I've checked the thread you included a link to, it's got so many entries/replies that I stopped reading after an hour.