I had the same problem with the last swivel jaw I bought It would only travel so far and then bind up. I had to take a file and just clean up and edge of that radius works perfect now. I prefer to use paste wax to seal them up -great vise and great job!!! And also just remember these old quality vises are not cast iron they are cast steel
It's a joy seeing these old tools saved from being melted down. A good beginner fabrication project is creating a pivoting adapter to rest on an ordinary vise's static jaw: Cut in half along its axis a slug off solid round bar and weld it centered inside an angle iron cut the length of the vise jaw.
Awesome restoration! I really enjoyed that... You are so fortunate to have such a nice shop. (I haven't seen a needle-gun since I was in the service, hammering rust and old paint off the hull of the ship!)
I have an old Prentiss vise from a garage sale a few years back. On this one the pin is froze up in the movable jaw but until now I thought the pin was stationary and pull spring release. Long story short, it needs restoring and its just getting dusty in my garage.
Very nice restoration Chris. Can't wait to see more videos soon my friend. Can't wait to see more videos soon. Keep up the great craftsmanship and hard work my friend. Forge On. Fab On. Weld On. Keep Making. God Bless.
That's a nice Prentiss vise, I restored a smaller version myself. Some of the older ones had no markings other then the date stamped on the under side of the removable jaw. Nice work
Thank you for the video, terrific job restoring the vise. I actually have a very old Reed carriage makers swivel jaw vise that also has a seized swivel jaw. I'll definitely be using your video as a reference when I try and restore mine!
Fantastic I think I have the literal exact same vise (4.5” unmarked prentiss swivel jaw and base) that’s all seized up so I will be using this video as a great reference. Love the advise about the file in the swivel jaw
I've had good results using 308L stainless rod on Chinese cast iron. As always, they key is prep and cooling. I'll hear the part to 350-400f, weld in small sections, and post heat in my oven. Only issue I have, is you will get undercut when tying the weld in, and you need to grind all the way into the crack, because penetration is an issue.
I appreciate that you left a lot of the patina - no sense in turning a useful tool into a garage queen with a mirror polish. Are there cases where you prefer a parallel fixed jaw bench vise?
I agree! These vises are great with the swivel jaw but I would saw a large parallel fixed jaw is a little more heavy duty and would handle more abuse. I’ve seen these swivel jaw vises broken from too much clamping force before
today at an estate sale I asked permission to go look around the backyard cause I wanted to know if the birdbath they had was cast iron or concrete, turned out to be concrete but I saw a run down shack that had something very similar to your vise here, Its had either a 4" or 5" jaw and nothing on it was abused, jaws had crisp knurling. It did have surface rust on it, all over but that can be removed. They said it was not for sale as the owner was taking it. Then later as I was there, the person in charge said it is on sale as the owner thought no one could remove it from the table, she took my number. the guy helping the main person gave a price of $300 for it and since it was half off it would be $150. I said I would not pay so much. She will get back to me if no one takes it. So will see. I enjoy a vise with round parts to it like the lead screw end. On the one I saw, the release knobs were all around. Its a beautiful vise to have as something you use and display. If it was a wilton, I would have paid the $300 or $150 🙂
Nice! I just unstuck the Swivel jaws yesterday on a wilton 450sj I found recently...wish mine had the cool pin like the one you made and the Swivel plate doodads (not sure what they are called) very nice features!! awesome job! Good stuff!!
For cast to steel I've had good luck with 55% nickel stick electrodes. The flux seems to pull out the cast iron impurities better than just TIG welding.
I found a reed 304 1/2. It has a floating jaw. However it has a pin holding it in. Any recommendations on how I remove the pin. Preferably not destroying the pin. Thanks in advance
