Thread: Advice on a vice

Hi Matt.
No ones ever brought one back to life from that far gone that Ive ever seen . The half that fits to the bench is gone .
That part guides your part , and holds the nut that allows it to be tightened. The nut is fitted in a way that allows it to engage and be dis engaged with your lever on the front and that long flat piece running back. Its a quick release feature.
Rather than have to wind all the way out from closed to grab a 7 inch drawer front , you press the lever , the nut opens off the thread and you slide the face out 7 and a bit inches and wind it in a bit to tighten onto your work . They are great time savers .

Plenty of old cast stuff from around this time is dated like that and as far as I know its normally to do with when the Patent was either applied for or taken out ? Yours doesn't say its a Patent date though its just a date .From what Ive seen there is usually more to them than that.That date was part of the pattern for the casting. There's plenty of more experienced people here who can explain it better than me . Basically though , No its not when its made exactly but would be close.

With yours, there are to many, way to hard to make parts missing . You most likely wont find another with all the parts you need . There are vices where one part like a spring or nut are missing and just a missing nut is a big problem because they are a one off strange thing chances of it being your type and size are rare. Id be considering looking for a good second hand vice on ebay and keep yours just in case your lucky enough to find another broken one .

Or , when you find another, remake yours into something else . like a stand for a led light to be attached to . Use the cast face as the base and the thread welded to the face as the post to attach the light to . Being able to shift a light around to get the right angle at night is a pretty useful thing . Being able to sight scribed lines on woodwork once the sun goes down is impossible with out one . Two would be better.

Rob

Have another look under the house - the other half of the vice might still be attached to something like an old table or bench top.

Woden tools were bought out by Record. They were good quality. As BobL said have a good look for the back half. It would be unusual for someone to just keep the front bit. Good luck.
Regards
John

It's a beautiful old vise... it would be a shame if you can't find the missing bits..... I believe old square threads can be difficult to cut let alone half nuts.... it would be almost impossible to find a tap like that.... more modern ones use Acme threads, I believe, which allows cutting to be much easier. If you really wanted to get it up and going you may be able to replace the thread and half nut from a modern record of a similar size... Worth a look to see if it could be done.
Gary

Here are a few pics of a record vise... which looks to have a similar mechanism.
Record Bench Vise 001-1.jpgRecord Bench Vise 001-2.jpgRecord Bench Vise 001-3.jpg

Here is a pic from their 1952 catalogue
Woden Vises.gif

I think the date has no bearing on when it was made.... A quick google and it looks like they all have that date... the /3 is a number 3 in the range.
Just found some more info its not a date at all it's 189B/3

The thread looks strange because it is a quick release vice.

To answer part of your question that is what the lever is for. It releases the nut on the thread so you can slide it in or out without winding. Once engaged again it winds like an ordinary vice.

That form of thread is called "Buttress". It allows the outer plate of the vyce to be manually pushed in to initially hold material without the need to use the QR lever or the screw handle.

Chas.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone! An absolute wealth of knowledge in the forum.

I had a look under the house and checked absolutely everywhere, but I couldn't find the other half. I did find two world war two radios, what I think is an old rebate plane, a bass folding ruler and a two man saw that is about 1400mm long which is pretty cool!

I think I will lightly clean this vice up, by removing and flaking rust and then oil it and sit it on the shelf for the time being. If I can find a tap and die that suits this thread I will consider making one myself from plate steel. I really wish my old man was still around, he was a fitter and turner and he absolutely loved machining his own nuts, bolts and parts that he couldn't find anymore.

Cheers
Matt

As Gaza said, that is pretty much identical to the Record vise (uh, not vice...). To the point where I would not be surprised if the parts were interchangeable.

That said, that poor tool has finished its watch! I would not spend money on it.

As for vices: when choosing a new one, always choose something you haven't tried before, or sounds the most fun...