I’m a retired guy that tag sales and auctions and my weakness is old heavy vices. Some of the name brand vices regardless of the age you can usually find replacement parts on line. Bringing one of these old beauties back into service is a great feeling. Enjoyed your video
I am a CPA, specializing in corporate structure and business advising. 20 years ago I did welding and construction. I could not agree more with you but would like to add plumbers and air-conditioning technicians to the list
I really enjoyed your restoration methods...no paint! The patina, character-welds preserves its history and no "sandblasting" I'm with you! I have my grandpops Wilton just like yours in all its aged glory...just as it was the last day he ever used it...He was a machinist for the Southern Railway...He was maintaining the iconic F-7 diesel locomotives when he retired in the early 50's...Gran'ma gave me all his tools when he passed and I use them to this day in his shop on the farm which we still own...Thanks Pop...you taught me well! 💗
That turned out beautiful!! Did not think I would care for all the scarring but my skepticism quickly faded with the acceptance of the effort and skills to bring the vise back from the dead! Appropriately as with Frankenstein and all his scars brought back from death, so too the vise also lives again with all its scars. Very nicely done!!!! One of a kind to be envied. I know I’m jelly!
Great restoration. I love watching Wilton bullet vices being restored. Cool design and implementation of your project (leaving some scars visible and not painting).
I must say that after restoring hundreds of items myself - that vise is ONE PIECE I wouldn't have attempted as it was pretty much "shot"! You did a fantastic job at giving the little Wilton another life! The ONLY thing I would have done is to work the bronze welds smooth and paint the body to hide them. I do understand that you wanted the "Frankenstein" look and that's your vise so your option. Again, GREAT job!.
People are too quick to critisize others for doing something differently than they would . I do what I want to my way and I'm ok with makeing mistakes my way. thanks for the really infornative video. Good job.
@@MakeEverything I attended a continuing education class for my work. The instructor had been flown in from across the country. He began with a memorable line: : There is more than one way to be right". That was refreshing.
I learn so much by hearing the in depth technical explanations with the footage. So good hearing educated + skillful along with cool vid. This channel is the best of this type of content
Great work Chris! And I thought my broken vise was a lot of work!! I don't know why I never thought of chasing bolts all the way down to the head!?! Great tip!! I do LOVE Wiltons, and this one has HISTORY!
People watch for a few reasons. The guy is fixing something that is almost useless into something vintage and utilitarian and it looks like something a motivated individual could fix if they had the tools and time to do it.
Thanks for saving that Wilton! I have four of these bullet vises in various sizes that I've cleaned up and put back into service. The rear caps seem to always be missing on these, so I made my own out of brass and another using aluminum. Those 3/8 cap heads have a large diameter - easy to turn them down on a lathe so you can use a smaller counterbore in the jaws. I also upgrade the three collar retaining screws to stainless socket heads.
As a guy that still hasn't figured out how a screwdriver works, this video with its background commentary was an absolute delight to watch. Very well done and thanks for giving an engineering ignoramus a fascinating insight into your craft. Ten out of ten.
I love watching vice restorations and this is one of the best I’ve seen you kept it interesting all the way through I like the style of your vids nice work
Only Ballers eye-ball it.. Love your restorations man. It's like listening to relaxing music watching these. Bringing dead items back to life. Keep it up.
I watched a fellow do a resto on 1948 wilton swivel base , looked like it should sit on a shelf and looked at , yours is ready to work, love it ! Great Job
I have been thinking about resto's myself. No boss pushing for time, no more a year of being sick of the same day in day out. Best of all, I get to write my own syllabus and learning new skills will be fun, not forced.
it's not hate mail, it's helpful advice. Take it or leave it as you wish. I see you have a reminder on the equipment. It says "Don't Die" it's good advice and a good pun.
So nice to see someone restore a tool and keep its patina. IMO often you do want a restoration to make a tool look (better than) new, but in some cases the tool looks better with a functional restoration and the patina preserved. Great job.
Awesome restoration. I like preserving the prior repairs, rather than masking them with a "perfect" OEM type restoration. Tools are meant to be used, and they get battle scars along the way. The prior repair is part of the history and uniqueness of the vice.
Beautiful restoration and i really like that you left the scars and welds. The gold paint on the letters really brings the whole thing together. Nice job brother.
Love this video! I restored my Wilton 1755 but it was in great shape with just bad paint. I wire wheeled off the paint and had a bare metal look (with paste wax to prevent rust) just like yours. In my opinion the best way to restore a tool is without paint (unless it's for outdoor use or plumbing where it may get wet).
That was quite the restoration, and really well documented. Sometimes the beauty of usage shines through, you hit a home run with this one, bravo! I was amazed at how well the mig did on the casting. Cheers and thanks!
Thanks for video I have a old vise that has been welded on one side and the jaw is messed up! I thought I was going have to toss but after seeing your video I now have some options to fix it!
Nice Job, I have a few old Wiltons that i have fixed/restored that I still use and I did not pay more than a few bucks for each of them, Thanks for keeping another one alive.
I very much enjoyed your way of presenting this restoration. Also I like your personal way of deciding on measuring or other procedures. Thumbs up for not painting and not rebuilding the surface with filler. Great work :-)
What a great video. My first job out of HS was at a foundry in Alton, IL, was able to transfer to the machine shop after six months. Loved working there although ownership sucked. Only left to join the Air Force which was a great decision as the Foundry/Machine shop closed down after a year.
When preheating objects to weld, put them in your gas/charcoal grill, iron likes to be heated all over, not just where you intend to weld. Allow it to come down in temperature slowly and evenly after welding otherwise you will have hot-short cracking adjacent to the weld bead. This also works on TIG repair on aluminum cylinder heads, keep the combustion chamber facing up in the grill or your valve seats will fall out when the head gets hot, with aluminum you want to reheat regularly while welding, it will crack if you don't maintain temp.
In my opinion, this vise was abused, not used. I can't imagine someone doing that to a nice Wilton. You did a great job restoring and I am sure it will serve you well for years. I love to see old tools nicely restored to functional quality. Most old tools are much higher quality than what a person can purchase today.
Hi Chris, another great video and a super job on the Wilton vise. I really like the black patina finish and the wax to protect it all. Thanks for sharing. Stay safe and keep up the good work. 👍🖖
Good job saving an old vice. Not gonna hate on you for eyeball machining, I do the same thing on stuff that it don't matter on, so? However, all work you put into it, clean the bottom, make it nice too. You did save it but, so kudos on that. I normally don't like a vice not primed and painted but I like the stuff you sed on this vice. I might give it a try as well.
Love this resto! I agree with Michael, this is how you restore! Keep the character of the vice, then highlight that character. Makes the vice right. Thank you for this video. Yes, I subbed haha.
Looks really good. You did a fantastic job on the jaws and keeping that really nice scarred almost battle worn finish on er. Keep up the great work man, you’re doing amazing things!
I know Im asking the wrong place but does anyone know a trick to log back into an Instagram account?? I somehow lost my password. I would appreciate any assistance you can offer me
@Dillon Ares Thanks for your reply. I got to the site thru google and I'm trying it out atm. Seems to take quite some time so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
