Ode to an old vise

[joosttx]

My neighbor who is a recent widow knocked on my door that afternoon. I have been helping her out, moving stuff and visiting with her. Anyway, she asked me to move a table which my son and I did. Then she asked me if I would like to have her late husbands vise which was mounted to his workbench in their garage. Her husband died this year at 93. He escaped Germany at the end of WW2 as the iron curtian was falling. Made it to the US where he became a nuclear engineer. Obvisously, the man was a tinkerer. There is a nail in the base to prevent from swivelling around that he put in it. You can see it in the second picture. I pointed this out to her. And she just said, "thats my Herb."

I am really touched to have his vise and plan to keep it til I die. There is something really special about old tools passed along. You can tell which side faced the gararge door all those years.

[GeneK]

Nice story.
Speaking of things bolted to work benches-I have my great-grandfather’s hand-cranked grinding wheel/sharpener. He was born in 1876 so I guess he’d be 142 this year (he did live to 99 1/2).

[hampco]

I have a coffee table made from a church pew from about 1866, according to family lore. It still works.

Great vice tale, too.

[jclay]

There is something really special about old tools passed along.

Indeed there is.

[Doug Fattic]

IMG_1105.jpg
I am the caretaker of this vise that was previously owned by Johnny Berry from Manchester England. He was in my opinion the finest English builder. Of course there is no “best” as it is nearly impossible to define and then judge what that is. However when I see examples of his work I am always very impressed. It is an honor to have had it passed down to me.

I got it in 1975 and it must have been Johnny’s long before WWII so we have each had it for over 40 years. I wouldn’t be surprised it wasn’t new when he got it either. It is my primary shop vise where I do most of my work and has been involved with not only the hundreds of frames I’ve made but also hundreds that my framebuilding class students have built too. It will be still working strong years after I’m all worn out.

It isn’t the best vise in my shop. That was a new Record vise #25 my parents bought for me in 1976 in England. It’s awesome. We took it apart and each of us put some part of it in our suitcase in order to get it back to the States. It has emotion connected to it too since it was a gift that showed my parent’s support for my framebuilding ambitions and an example of their help in all my life’s efforts.

In the vise is a frame I made in 1977 for my father-in-law. I redid it so it could have a new life again. It too is a symbol of something that works outlasting its owner and being passed along to the next one.

[bironi]

IMG_1105.jpg
I am the caretaker of this vise that was previously owned by Johnny Berry from Manchester England. He was in my opinion the finest English builder. Of course there is no “best” as it is nearly impossible to define and then judge what that is. However when I see examples of his work I am always very impressed. It is an honor to have had it passed down to me.

I got it in 1975 and it must have been Johnny’s long before WWII so we have each had it for over 40 years. I wouldn’t be surprised it wasn’t new when he got it either. It is my primary shop vise where I do most of my work and has been involved with not only the hundreds of frames I’ve made but also hundreds that my framebuilding class students have built too. It will be still working strong years after I’m all worn out.

It isn’t the best vise in my shop. That was a new Record vise #25 my parents bought for me in 1976 in England. It’s awesome. We took it apart and each of us put some part of it in our suitcase in order to get it back to the States. It has emotion connected to it too since it was a gift that showed my parent’s support for my framebuilding ambitions and an example of their help in all my life’s efforts.

In the vise is a frame I made in 1977 for my father-in-law. I redid it so it could have a new life again. It too is a symbol of something that works outlasting its owner and being passed along to the next one.

Thank you for the great story.
Byron

[ABiCi]

IMG_1105.jpg
I am the caretaker of this vise that was previously owned by Johnny Berry from Manchester England. He was in my opinion the finest English builder. Of course there is no “best” as it is nearly impossible to define and then judge what that is. However when I see examples of his work I am always very impressed. It is an honor to have had it passed down to me.

I got it in 1975 and it must have been Johnny’s long before WWII so we have each had it for over 40 years. I wouldn’t be surprised it wasn’t new when he got it either. It is my primary shop vise where I do most of my work and has been involved with not only the hundreds of frames I’ve made but also hundreds that my framebuilding class students have built too. It will be still working strong years after I’m all worn out.

It isn’t the best vise in my shop. That was a new Record vise #25 my parents bought for me in 1976 in England. It’s awesome. We took it apart and each of us put some part of it in our suitcase in order to get it back to the States. It has emotion connected to it too since it was a gift that showed my parent’s support for my framebuilding ambitions and an example of their help in all my life’s efforts.

In the vise is a frame I made in 1977 for my father-in-law. I redid it so it could have a new life again. It too is a symbol of something that works outlasting its owner and being passed along to the next one.

Happy to have had the chance to work in this vise!

[Too Tall]

Digging this thread.
Good story Doug and I really like the fender rack.

[joosttx]

great stories Doug. Thank you for sharing. I would love to read some more "Odes to old vises".

[Paul Jacobs]

It isn’t the best vise in my shop. That was a new Record vise #25 my parents bought for me in 1976 in England. It’s awesome. We took it apart and each of us put some part of it in our suitcase in order to get it back to the States. It has emotion connected to it too since it was a gift that showed my parent’s support for my framebuilding ambitions and an example of their help in all my life’s efforts.

Great story! Mine is almost the opposite. I bought this Record No 23 brand new as a birthday present for my father in 1974. I was a student at the time so it was a major purchase for me. I remember carrying it home by train in my back pack with some difficulty. I imagine that it must have been in my mind that this investment could come back to me one day and 6 years ago my Dad told me to have it. He is still alive aged 98 but no longer is able to use his workshop and tools alas. I hope it will go on to my son in due course.

[SteveP]

I remember a vise that was in the basement of a bike shop in souhern VT.
It was made 100+ years ago in Turners Falls, Mass and was a thing of beauty.
I wish I had a picture. I told him to call me if he ever wanted to sell it even though I really have no use for a vise that big.
you wind it down and it was smooth as silk... How things were once made ( here ).
It was a machinists vise with 6" jaws... pretty much too big for bike shop use.

The history of the tool struck me.
Made when premium tools were made in USA and still beyond perfect condition.
A history lesson there.

[claritycycler]

Another old Columbian, Model 60(4.5"jaws, opens 8"). I've cleaned up and painted quite a few old vises, took a different path on this one, decided to save/display the patina acquired over 70yrs+-, instead of paint I put on two coats of Johnson paste wax, buffed each coat with an 8" cloth wheel. I got this at a garage sale, $40, its going to my son as a present this xmas.

before





cleaned, greased and waxed

[Doug Fattic]

Great story! Mine is almost the opposite. I bought this Record No 23 brand new as a birthday present for my father in 1974. I was a student at the time so it was a major purchase for me. I remember carrying it home by train in my back pack with some difficulty. I imagine that it must have been in my mind that this investment could come back to me one day and 6 years ago my Dad told me to have it. He is still alive aged 98 but no longer is able to use his workshop and tools alas. I hope it will go on to my son in due course.

Paul, I'm curious about a feature of your tube holding block. It looks like you put some kind of layer on the side of the blocks that might serve some kind of function or perhaps it is just decorative?

[Paul Jacobs]

Hi Doug, thanks for asking.

I had some scraps of sycamore and mahogany left over from a staircase I built in a house I no longer own. I used these to make my tubing blocks. I thought that the sycamore on its own was a bit thin for the blocks with larger holes so I glued on the mahogany strips, which were already pre-machined to the same width as the sycamore, on each side. It was simply a case of waste not want not. In retrospect a slightly denser wood against the jaws of the vice and a slightly less dense wood against the wall of the tube is not a bad idea.