Kennametal Machine Vise Questions

nicholasnbailey · Oct 8, 2018

I recently bought this Kennametal vise at an online auction under the assumption that it would probably be a chinese knock off but was surprised when I saw USA on the castings. I believe this is actually just a rebranded Kurt D60 since it appears identical to my other D60's. Has anyone saw another one of these vises?

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TeachMePlease · Oct 8, 2018

I mean... It's got D60 in the model number, so that's probably a safe bet?

nicholasnbailey · Oct 8, 2018

That's what I thought as well, I was just wondering if anyone had saw one of these before, were they a type of promotional thing or what?

TeachMePlease said:
I mean... It's got D60 in the model number, so that's probably a safe bet?

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Mr-Mike · Oct 9, 2018

If it looks like a duck...

gbent · Oct 9, 2018

There was a time in the early/mid '90's that Kennametal really wanted to get into retail tooling. They bought J&L Industrial Supply, which was a fair sized supplier in the Detroit area, and took J&L nationwide. I suspect the vise dates from that era.

eKretz · Oct 9, 2018

Yeah that's a rebranded Kurt fo' sho'. Never seen one before, but not really anything special. Just a different riveted tag by the looks of it.

Bobw · Oct 9, 2018

gbent said:
There was a time in the early/mid '90's that Kennametal really wanted to get into retail tooling. They bought J&L Industrial Supply, which was a fair sized supplier in the Detroit area, and took J&L nationwide. I suspect the vise dates from that era.

I miss J&L, unlike MSC, J&L didn't suck.

gbent · Oct 9, 2018

Bobw said:
I miss J&L, unlike MSC, J&L didn't suck.

Yeah, I know, I miss them too. I worked for many years in the Detroit area when J & L was off Grand River, just around the corner from Production Tool. If we took a long lunch we could hit both stores and be back at work in a little over an hour.

But both J and L (Joe and Larry, perhaps) had started their business after WW2 when there was thousands of tons of obsolete tooling available. They were both getting up in their years, had no family with an interest to take over the business, and wanted to retire.

Dan from Oakland · Oct 10, 2018

Yep- kinda like Orchard Supply Hardware out here. Sears bought the chain, f_cked it up, then it got bought by Lowes and now they are liquidating Orchard to get them out of the way of their big box stores.

John Garner · Oct 10, 2018

Dan --

Orchard Supply's downfall started when the founders sold out. Sears was the third "corporate owner", following behind W R Grace and Wickes Lumber.

Although I'm saddened by Lowes' closing of Orchard Supply, I do think that Lowes put a lot of time and effort into resurrecting the company before throwing the towel.

As an aside, the long-gone Simon Hardware in Oakland set my standard for "real hardware store".

John

IHMark · Dec 17, 2018

I`ve Got One Too

I bought mine a few years ago and also wondered about who really made it. When I took it apart to clean it up, there were D60 part numbers on every piece with a big `ole USA too. I wrote to Kurt asking if they made vices for Kennametal and this was the response I received:

Hi Mark,

We did not make a vise for Kennametal, I am told they had their own at one time. Not sure if our parts will work or not as it is not ours.

Best Regards,Steve Kane, Sales & Marketing Manager, Kurt Industrial Products Division

That being said, could Kennametal or a vendor hired by them, have purchased raw castings from Kurt and machined them and put the Kennametal tag on them ? They sure look like Kurt castings to me !

eKretz · Dec 17, 2018

I'd say Steve has been misinformed then. Hard to refute the fact if there are D60 markings all over the place.

skanekurt · Jan 24, 2019

Let me clarify myself. We made a black vise for both J&L and Bridgeport in the past. My mistake not connecting Kennametal and J&L.

EPAIII · Jan 24, 2019

Is this serious? It looks like a Kurt so it must be a Kurt knockoff? Or it was made with real Kurt castings?

How does it operate????? Does it have the same "pull down" action as a Kurt? Is it as accurate as a Kurt? I mean, any Chinese factory can make one that looks like a Kurt. Many do.

I fear that if you want a Kurt, you will have to buy a Kurt.

CharlesMilam · Jan 14, 2020

It is a Kurt D60 vise. There were a few produced and private labeled Kennametal about 20 years ago.

RHS · Jan 14, 2020

Wire EDM Tooling - Wire cut EDM machine Vises and Extension clamps
explore this for wide variety of vises and wire edm tooling.

DDoug · Jan 14, 2020

RHS said:
explore this for wide variety of vises and wire edm tooling.

that's not a Kurt vice now is it spammer ?

4GSR · Jan 15, 2020

CharlesMilam said:
It is a Kurt D60 vise. There were a few produced and private labeled Kennametal about 20 years ago.

Post #13 clarified that Kurt did this. From the horse's mouth!!! Kurt themselves

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