The Gunsmith's Friend - the bench vise

[4V50 Gary]

At Trinidad, we were told how important vises are to gunsmiths. It's a third hand that holds the workpiece steady so one may work on it (especially filing or sanding). We had Wilton bullet vises at almost all workstations and some of those newer Wiltons that had jaws with teeth. A swivel vise was best and sometimes we spun the vise and locked it down so our workpiece wouldn't get in the way of classmates. Every now and then we did light hammering on the anvil portion of the vise, but as there was a big anvils, anything heavy was done on them. One vise was designated for heat so if you had to heat something to critical, you used that dedicated vise.

Jaws with teeth hold things better, but they can mar the workpiece. In the course of our two year program, we made various jaws including lead jaws (poured in benchmetal), copper (which was a large copper pipe cut in half, hammered in shape of the vise and then heated to anneal), wood and wood with cork glued onto it and sometimes even aluminium. Some folks bought aluminium with rubber. Rubber salvaged from old farm boots or inner tubes could also be used (glued to a piece of wood). In a pinch, a piece of leather could be used to pad the jaws. The softer jaws were often secured with rubber bands (no one ever glued magnets onto the back of the wood).

In stockmaking we had pattern maker vises with swivel jaws (available from Woodcraft). The jaws were wood padded so we never worried about them marring our stocks.

Today I have numerous vises. One is an American made Wilton 4" bullet vise that is heftier than the 4" Wiltons at school. The Wilton was purchased used from a classmate at WKU. Another is a 4" Athol with rachet handle (took me a search on U-tube to learn it was a ratchet handle) that I picked up at Friendship, IN (Gunmakers' Row). Of the two vises only the Athol is mounted. First, I got it earlier (3 years) and second, I like its height. It's much taller than the Wilton so for an older guy like me there's less neck strain.

I've other vises, but the Athol is the main one.

So, get yourself a good vise. Flea Market, Garage sales, even farm auctions (never tried it but they tend to have a lot of equipment). Mount it on a sturdy workbench and it will give you many years of good service. Most vises were mounted in the corner of the workbench and this gave you plenty of bench space to put your tools on or to work around the workpiece.

[Clemson]

Amen and Amen!

[Oliver Sudden]

Shortly after leaving school I bought a Wilton Power Arm and mounted a cut down Wilton vice to it. It tilts turns and locks into any position. I’d give my lathe away before I’d sell this!
IMG_0464 by Oliver Sudden, on Flickr

[HiBC]

Its been at least 20 years... I can't say what is available now....

But back then I found an excellent vise at a good price. I think I may have bought it from DoAll. (Or MSC.or Enco or Travers,etc) It was made in England, Its a "Record" brand.

Later,I found a smaller one on E-bay,so I have two. IMO,its top quality.

An easy set of no-mar jaw covers can be cut from aluminum angle. Just set them in place.

I agree the vise is the foundation ff bench work.

[4V50 Gary]

I need to get a "power arm" and try to mount the pattern maker's vise on it. That way it can be used as a checkering cradle.

[Scorch]

I had a Brownells vise for a long time. Last time it broke, Brownells said they cannot replace it. So I got a Harbor Freight parrot jaw vise. About $40. Works good.

My advice is to get at least a 4" smooth-jawed vise. Anything smaller and you don't have the holding power, any bigger and it takes up a lot of room. And smooth jawed so you don't oopsie it. I can't tell you the number of guns I have seen over the years with vise jaw marks on pieces where you shouldn't have marks.

[Dfariswheel]

One of the best vise jaw inserts are modern synthetic polymer materials.
Brownell's did sell some.

Years ago a customer gave me a small sheet of blue synthetic material he said was used to line ICBM launch tubes.
When an object is locked in the vise the object is slightly embedded into the material and held very tightly and with absolutely no scarring.

Like files, you can't have too many vises.
Much of my work required smaller vises and one of the best was a Harbor Freight model, but it's no longer available from them.
The same vise is sold by Amazon. It was a lot cheaper from Harbor Freight, but it's still a very good value........

https://www.amazon.com/Wood-Metal-Wo..._t1_B07D7GCWPM

Same design............

https://www.amazon.com/Toolsmith-Cla...%2C107&sr=1-23

This was very good quality for a Chinese made tool, and was invaluable for small parts work.
As often is the case, it needed a couple of modifications but is a great small vise.

[HiBC]

A little more on Record vises.

Mine were made in Sheffield,England and they are a darn good vise.

From what I read,Irwin Tools became involved in ownership,and things may have begun to change.

At some point the tooling was sold offshore. I saw ads for "Record Nigeria"

All I know is I can't buy another one ;like I have new.

There are some used ones on E-bay. I believe its the #1 that is a 3 in.

Whether its a deal or not,I cant say but there is a 3 in with swivel base for $175. It looks "restored" There are some others that look more like they have been used 30 years. Those start around $70.

[4V50 Gary]

Here's the Wilton I brought home from Bowling Green, KY. It doesn't swivel but at $350 I thought it was a good price.

The bottom images are of the Athol catalog showing the price $19.50 for the Athol 724 4" swivel vise (and I paid a huge $90 three years ago at Friendship). I was taken like a sucker. (but I'm very happy). The height of the vise is nice too as there's less neck strain. The next image explains the ratchet handle. This is the vise I have mounted on my workbench.

[Clemson]

This is the Wilton 4" Bullet Vise on the corner of one of my work benches:

IMG_3857 by jakefromclemson, on Flickr

This shows the smooth jaws gripping a Mauser cocking piece for disassembly of the bolt:

Firing Pin 8 by jakefromclemson, on Flickr

Bill Jacobs

[WmMunny]

Originally Posted by Oliver Sudden

Shortly after leaving school I bought a Wilton Power Arm and mounted a cut down Wilton vice to it. It tilts turns and locks into any position. I’d give my lathe away before I’d sell this!
IMG_0464 by Oliver Sudden, on Flickr

If this was my shop, that very nice Turbo vibratory cleaner would have ended up on the floor months ago!