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  1. #1
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    Default Carter brand woodworking vice

    Does anyone know anything about this brand? I've seen a few around at flea markets recently. As far as I know Carter is an Australian manufacturer that closed thirty years back. Might this be a good purchase?
    Cheers,

    Eddie

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  3. #2
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    how much do they want?
    its a good brand,i have a carter no 6 woodplane prety good metal

  4. #3
    Old gunnie's Avatar
    Old gunnie is offline Old dog, learning new tricks (but slowly)
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    Default Carter woodworking tools

    I agree. I've got a number of Carter planes and they all do the job nicely. Haven't seen a vice by them yet, but I'd have few qualms about purchasing one myself (with the usual caveats of serviceability - useless if its broken!).

    Of note with the planes though is the castings. Tend to be of varying quality in finish from a little indifferent to excellent, and of different thicknesses. No idea if this would be the same for the vices.

    Cheers
    OG
    Some give pleasure where ever they go, others whenever they go!

  5. #4
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    I've got one and it's rubbish, but don't let that stop you!

    Its a small one and well worn. Wobbles about a bit and doesn't really hold anything. I probably didn't fit it very well either.

    Good bit of Australian toolmaking history though.

    Cheers,
    Virg.

  6. #5
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    Are the Carters quick release?

    I've picked up Record #52 (quick release) for as little as $30, you just have to look around.....and possibly be prepared to pick up an old bench with vise attached from a garage clean out.
    We don't know how lucky we are......

  7. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by snafuspyramid View Post
    Does anyone know anything about this brand? I've seen a few around at flea markets recently. As far as I know Carter is an Australian manufacturer that closed thirty years back. Might this be a good purchase?

    Here is a copy of the original brochure.
    click on the thumbnails for a larger image.
    Regards,
    Peter
    Attachment 172985

    Attachment 172986

  8. #7
    Boringgeoff is offline Try not to be late, but never be early.
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    Nice sales brochure Lightwood, from the 50s would you say? Interesting way of spelling vyce.
    Apart from planes and vices what other tools did Carter make?


    Did they make......bryces?

    Geoff.

  9. #8
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    I realise this is thread-urrection but I thought I'd add my small but honest experience with a Carter 7" vise since I just installed it on my 'other' bench now I'm building a proper bench.
    Lovely old thing. A tad sloppy, but simple and solid. Definitely a good working vise.
    And it weighs a good kilo more than my Dawn 175 with its quick release!

    IMG20170527191409-1382x1843.jpg
    IMG20170527191326-1843x1382.jpg

    V

  10. #9
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    I bought a house in Newcastle in 1972 which had a workbench with a large (10 inch) Carter quick release vice left in the garage by the previous owner. I bought the bench with me in 1984 when we returned to Melbourne and moved it again when we sold that house a few years ago. In all that time it never missed a beat although its' bench top has been through a few renewals. Its been superannuated to secondary usage now as I built a new bench which has two Record 52 1/2 vices (or is it vice like two mice?) . Anyway I have no real complaints about Carter stuff although as many people will attest, their castings can be rough on some of the planes. They made copies of just about all of Stanley's stuff and were successful for a while pre and post war but gradually went the way of most of the Australian tool manufacturers of this era. Once competition from the traditional overseas suppliers resumed over the Fifties the writing was on the wall and by the mid Seventies most of it was gone or sold to one of the big international players who by the turn of the Century had moved their manufacturing to where it was cheaper. Unfortunately this brief import substitution window(1945 to 1965) born of the depression, traditional suppliers offshore manufacturing converted to wartime production, the war years and severe shipping shortages immediately thereafter (heaps sunk) soon closed. Alas, things went back to the way they were but even that did not last long because apart from a few exceptions Asian manufacturing has gradually inherited the lot.

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