Is a Thousand dollar Wilton worth it?

Whats the point of a 1000 dollar wilton vice, how would it compare to a harbor freight. What is the benefit of it?

What model # Wilton?

HF vises are junk.

With normal use the Wilton most likely will outlive you. The HF one a year or 2 if you are lucky.

looked up wilton vice , $1000 vice..... if you're lucky...


https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/501013946619670529/REgrgo3C.jpeg

harbor whore vice , $???

http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/legacy/i/partypictures/07_07_15/IMG_2848.jpg

your vise choice may vary from mine.....

The Magic Man said:

Whats the point of a 1000 dollar wilton vice, how would it compare to a harbor freight. What is the benefit of it?

Click to expand...

To be honest, if you have trouble discerning the comparative value of the vises you mentioned, maybe the Harbor Freight unit is the one for you.

Just sayin'.


Rex

The Wilton will have 2-3x the tensile strength. Far less likely to crack and fail when you actually need to hold something very tight or press something together.

Better fit and finish with a more useful geometry. Jaws remain in plane. More throat distance. May open wider and still have jaws in-plane. Jaws already (large sizes) or capable (smaller sizes) of being extended so you can hold something long vertically and still grab it securely. Bottom line -- hold a wider variety of things securely.

Easier, faster, and more sure open and closing. Saves time.

Less wobble in jaws -- easier to get smaller parts snugged up just where you want them.

Designed for long life. The enclosed screw also good for occasionally wet or dusty environments.

Carefully machined place (and availability) for replacement jaws. Easier to fit custom jaws. Parts availability 30 years later.

No need to throw away the crappy swivel base that never holds. You can buy a Wilton with one that actually works or, better yet, save a few bucks, buy one without, and locate it sensibly on a solid bench.

Would add that Wilton is not the only quality brand of vises -- others share many of these virtues. Just not in a $70 Chinese vise roughly cast from industrial debris.

Would also add that you don't need a $1000 Wilton to outwork something like a 6" Chinese vise. A 4" Wilton or equivalent will do that with ease; especially if you machine up a set of 6" jaws.

I have a 5" Wilton Mechanic's bench vise that I paid around $300 with the shipping - probably less as it was on sale, with free shipping. It is a brute and I love it. Swivels 360 degrees with dual lock downs: I like that feature. My previous Craftsman 4" had a single lock down and only swiveled around 100 to 120 degrees or so. I replaced it when the lock down broke. But I fixed the lock down and it sits, awaiting another location to mount it. The Wilton 5" probably has triple the CI that that Craftsman 4" had. BTW, the Craftsman lasted around 40+ years before that break and it is still quite serviceable.



Oh, and it does have all the virtues that Pete mentioned above except for the tensile strength. It is a very nice bench vise.

The primary difference between that line and their Machinist line of bench vises seems to be the tensile strength of the castings: 60,000 PSI vs 30,000 PSI. Is that worth another $700? I don't know about you, but not in my shop and budget. If you do a lot of heavy work you may want to consider it.

Somehow I don't think I will ever break it.

We don't see that brand of vice over here in the UK so I can't say how good they are. I personally wouldn't have a bench vice that didn't have a quick release. I've also never had a swivel vice in 50 years of bench work so maybe that facility isn't that critical and could possibly be a weakness.

" Fortis " and " Record " made pretty good vices over here but when you're working with welders nothing is un-breakable !

Regards Tyrone.

I have a Wilton 4" bullet vise with swivel base and an import with a square slide but a bigger flat on top. The Wilton is made to a higher quality standard and is more precise. I use the swivel on both, and wouldn't do without it. Mostly having the swivel allows more ways to hold work. A good example is working on the end of a long workpiece, I clamp the business end at about a 10 degree angle allowing the free end to rest on the bench. My shop is small so rotating the vise 90 degrees, getting it out of the way is a plus.

No way I'd pay $1000 for a vise. My Wilton came from an auction for $11.

Since you ask why spend the money on the expensive one. Ill guess you havent used a good condition Wilton, Columbian, Morgan, Yost, Parker or Athol. That is a small list of the old vises that were made and used here. When they were new they were a life time investment. Buy a good one and it will out last you.

Here we are 2 or 3 generations later and those old hunks of iron hold their value.


As a confirmed Wilton Bullet snob I own 4 of them and 1 Wilton quick release wood vise.

The 3" is my favorite. It is in a convenient spot and gets used the most. I reclaimed a bunch of Zinc sheet metal I use for soft jaws. I use this for almost everything. There is something about knowing it will do the job.... If the work slips then I made a mistake and the vise is not the reason.

On a shelf above the 3" is a brand new 2" I swear some day Ill remember to use.

On the end of the work bench is the place I removed the Wilton quick release wood vise. Several shirts went to the rag pile cause of it. The darn thing was in the way. As a kid this style of Wilton is one of the vises dad had in the garage. I have fond memories of abuse it withstood. When I need to hold wood it gets mounted, till then it waits on a shelf. Im watching for a new place to mount it.

Then there is the 4" on a stand. I use that to abuse metal. If I wanna bend it, smack it, weld it, silver solder.... all that happens there. This was my first Wilton. Its warranty date is in the 50's. The jaws are still sharp and will seriously mess up a hunk of aluminium if you let it.

Hidden on a shelf under the surface plate is a like new 4" with factory copper jaws. It is in reserve til after the move.

I own Wiltons because when I was young I had other stuff... And after 40 years I have upgraded a couple times. D)

All said and done with I can honestly say I would not pay $1000 for any work holding vise. I would watch craigslist and buy another Wilton in a second if I needed one.

Meh.... They're nice but I don't really care about bench vises. It depends what kind of shit you work on. I like making stuff that doesn't need to go in a bench vise.

Wilton "bullet" vises are all clones.

I've got an original 6" York and use it attached to a Koike-Aronson welding positioner as a scraping platform.

The York cost $25 at auction, attached to a 3' x 8' steel welding table, so actually it was free. Or maybe it cost more due to the effort to move the table. (neither one is in great shape, but the vise is rugged and functional)

The "bullet" style was a Czek invention, sold by a Czek foundry before WW2. (patented in 1934) The vise company seems to still exist, though not clear if they still make the "bullet" style. Anyway, their primary agent in Prague, a Mr. Vogl, decided to move to the US when things started getting nasty in Europe, and he founded the Wilton company in the late 30's.

York vise - Google Search

smt

Good used vises can be had for reasonable money. I have a good sized Morgan that I got on Craigslist for 30 bucks. 10 minutes research when I bought it a while back tells me its a pre-1947 model when they were still in Chicago. Its definitely been used, but its far from used up. Its still got teeth on the jaws and its not welded back together. Half the price of an HF vise, and I bet it weighs twice as much.

Actually, for precision work, I'd much rather have a Leinen/Boley vise. No idea where you'd actually buy one but lots of images on Google. Fixed front jaw, movable rear. Also, the big Wilton is nice, but no point having a vise far stronger than my bench- I'd be dragging and twisting the bench across the garage.

A little OT perhaps, but there is no doubt that using a good vise is like the difference between using an import mill drill machine and a nice Bridgeport. Having work slide around in a vise is annoying to say the least- when I put something in a vise, I want it to stay where I put it and that's where a quality vise will shine. All my vises are oldsters- Athol, Reed etc. and I love them. I have a like new old Columbian hydraulic vise that is an absolute work of art- the serrations on both jaws actually align and mesh into one another. The cylinder is there but I was going to convert it into a manual vise its on the project list though. My point is, if you don't want to fork out big $$ for a new vise, there are old quality ones available at auctions and e-bay.

I think the Wiltons are nice and all, but not a thousand dollars nice.

There was a time when basic Rolex watches were affordable by a working class guy that wasn't making stupid money for wages, too, but those are priced into the stratosphere now. I'm all for paying a workman a living wage and all that, but somehow I doubt that the wages at Wilton have gone up as much as the price of the product has.

Shop for good quality used. Use the Harbor Fright catalog as a good reference. When you can buy a used, name brand, for the same or less than a new crappy import, then you are about in the right price range.

Cheers
Trev

The Magic Man said:

Whats the point of a 1000 dollar wilton vice, how would it compare to a harbor freight. What is the benefit of it?

Click to expand...

You are new here, so I'll go easy. Those two companies shouldn't even be used in the same sentence. Like bjorn said, if you have to ask, you aren't worthy of the Wilton. The Wilton just flat works. The jaws stay parallel and the moveable jaw doesn't rock. Unless you are a unusually strong person, there is very little you can do with the original length handle that will harm the vise. If you limit your hammer size for working over pieces held in the vise to about 1/2# per inch of jaw width the hammer won't hurt it either.

I have several Wiltons, as well as other good vises. But the problem with large vises is they are no longer bench vises. The top of the jaws is way to far above proper working height when mounted on a proper height work bench. Large vises need to be mounted freestanding to put the jaws at a good working height. Keep in mind that large vises are for large workpieces, and the working level may be several inches above the top of the jaws.

If you need a holding vise for shaping workpieces with a hammer, you need a blacksmith's post vise. A 4" post vise will take a beating that will destroy a 8" Wilton. Why? The post vise is forged steel, while the Wilton is ductile iron. If you happen to bend the post vise, just heat it up and bend it back. Also, keep in mind the post vise was originally designed to be a hot working tool, not a cold working tool.

Well, I am six feet tall and my 5" Wilton is just right when I work standing up. Nothing special about my bench, just a kit from a local lumber yard.

A good tool brings a feeling of pleasure and pride in what you do to the work.
A piece of crap HF slop that is nothing more than a crude imitation of a vise will cause you to bring a similar attitude to the work.
It is always your choice, and nothing we say here will cause you to change. Only you and your internal drive to do a better job will understand.

Lee (the saw guy)

I will probably opt for a nice USA made vice on Craigslist that has around 8 inch jaws. I have a 4 inch Colombian USA made vice and its just too small for the stuff I do, I use my vice for much more than its intended and you're probably right I need a good quality one because I use it for everything from a table to an anvil. I've even put a four foot bar on the handle of my vice so I'll probably go for a quality one that I can wail on for years to come