Who made the best vintage vises? Comparing Reed R, Wilton, Athol-Starrett, C. Parker. (part 2):
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- Опубліковано 16 гру 2023
- In this video we compare build quality on a Reed R, Wilton Bullet, Charles Parker and an Athol-Starrett to see which one is the best overall vintage vise! It was an interesting project and the results may surprise you.
Great video, thank you for taking the time
Glad you enjoyed it
So interesting, and so informative.
I look at so many things now in a whole new light thanks to you.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Fantastic Video Terry! Great comparisons and explanation. 😃👍
Hello Scout! 😀
Thanks John. Always appreciate your input.
Great to see your Son make a cameo! 😃👍
He is getting big quickly. Soon he will be helping out there in the shop.
Hollow! Who knew they wuz hollow?
My thoughts exactly...
Just started watching but I’m assuming the comment is about columbian or the late model reeds made by columbian
@GoldmansGarage The Athol Starrett is the hollow one as was the Columbian I featured in part #1...
First let me say your son is adorable! Second, I really enjoyed this review. I was fortunate to find a Reed R vise about five years ago all disassembled and needing a good cleaning for $20. I now have a beautiful high quality vise. Thanks and Merry Christmas.
Thank you...Jacob is getting big quickly and has already shown interest in the garage. I was pretty surprised at the Starrett-Athol being so sloppy, considering how nicely the housing was machined. Your Reed should serve you well. Merry Christmas!
a wealth of information on the various well made vises. Was surprised on the wilton, thought it to be bulletproof! thanks for breaking it down for us! I have a parker vise, 2 reed 4" with swivel base and a rock island. Wilton I have yet to find for a decent price and that is my fav of any vises out there. But I am glad the reeds are solid vises and will be keeping one for heavy duty work!
I use a Wilton on my own bench for 90% of my work. When I need a little more heft, I switch over. Thank you for commenting.
@@BencoVintageMachineWorks Cant have too many vises! my fav is wilton as I said, rolls royce of a vise, i know the no slop tolerances they have. Got to touch a 4" 1940s pristine condition wilton a guy had at his home, not for sale but glad he let me take a look at it while I was there buying a treadle Wilcox and gibbs sewing machine from him. the reeds I have are 104s I believe, 4" jaws, both have swivel bases. I am a sucker for swivel bases, i love the way they look. On the reeds, the swivel bases are quite substantial in size and heft. makes the big reed look like a baby vise! I like that look. ensures it will not break on you or slide once locked in. and if you prefer not to use the swivel, can remove it. love that the option is there to do that. Apart from these I love small mini vises, have a few and its a joy to use! I dont know if you have heard of morrison and marvin 1" vise, that was copied off a wilton, such a beauty! Its a casting that you have to machine to make the final vise. made from 4140 steel its a true working vise, in and out! discontinued now, retailed for $120 initially and then $150.
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Great video!
Thanks for this.
Glad you liked it!
There was a company called "Fortis" in the UK that were making a cast steel unbreakable type vice as far back as 1920...
That would be a strong vise. Of course, we have blacksmith leg vises available but they don't fall into the bench category.
Very informative & interesting video-Thank You!
Thank you. I was surprised a little by the differences...
It would not surprise me if there were 200 American vise makers and almost all of them would have had multiple models. What I'm saying is if the Starrett surprised you by how bad it was, any other vise could surprise you by being good -- maybe one you never heard of. That said, I really liked this comparison. Thank you.
Will stay on the lookout for any other vintage brands that may be better. I appreciate you checking out the video.
Thanks for a very interesting and informative video!
Glad that you enjoyed it!
Come to think about it, might be nice to review the various swivel mechanisms for swiveling models in some of these brands. Parker is pretty different, but be interesting to see how it stacks up to other brands.
I have a very old Prentiss vise with a swivel base but otherwise do not own any. Sold all vises I had with swivels. Kept the Prentiss because ithey are good antique vises but don't have it mounted.
Collector Vises are great but the 5 inch Irwin vise does 95 percent of the average home shop projects quite well. If and when they break then throw them away and get another one.
The Irwin is still a 150 bucks probably...might as well buy a used vintage vise that won't need to be thrown away...
Those are awesome vises! Thanks for telling us about them and comparing them.
Glad you enjoyed the video.
Thanks for the good review.
Glad you enjoyed it.
Great video.
Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it!
Comment on Wilton. Marketing! Wilton went to many trade schools and GAVE them vises for the shop classes. So they knew the brand! Similar to Bridgeport. Brilliant marketing!
Indeed good marketing but nonetheless an overall time tested design used by many well respected youtubers.
@@BencoVintageMachineWorks agreed. And I specifically agree with your “light to medium” use. Parker reed athol hollands and columbian id want over a Wilton everyday for heavy work. Also Yost prentiss Erie…
Great review, thanks. Your analysis is very convincing. I hope, someday, to find a Ch. Parker (hopefully from the 19th century) or a Reed R. Happy New Year!!
Happy New Year to you as well. You won't be dissappointed in either vise but if the Parker has that wedge design, its a hassle to mount.
Excellent video, Terry. Top.
Thank you. Glad you liked it!
I have on my drillpress a Starrett milling machine vice very heavy and very precise.I have been looking for a Reed vice for years as I feel that is made by one of my ancestors.
Can't go wrong. Reed was founded by Carl Reed who was only around 20 at the time. Who was the relation?
Hi Terry, new sub here, via @scoutcrafter. Loved the video. I agree with your observations. I use my 104R every day and love it. Hobbyist as well, so not super heavy use. I've restored all these other brands and just think they are all awesome. Glad I found your channel. David
Hello David, glad you enjoyed the video. The Reed will definitely last a long time. Probably pass mine down to my son one day....take care.
Great rundown of these vises. In my machine shop days, yes it was always a Wilton bullet. Occasionally would see a Parker or Prentiss for heavy work. When i was shopping for a home vise, my homework led me to the same conclusion, that Reed was the one to get. I ended up with a 404R with the pivoting static jaw (very useful feature). When I took it apart for restoration I didn't know the retainer nut was split, caused a bit of panic when it fell out in two pieces! Anyway, I think even for the casual DIY investing in one of these vises is very worthwhile.
Agree...pretty easy to find them too
Nice video! I love my Parker no 249. It’s in beautiful condition and I honestly never use it but would never get rid of it. Hope one of boys will see the quality of American craftsmanship from years gone by and mount it in their shop one day
It was an eye opener to see the Parker, at 125 years old,do so well against the newer and more expensive Starrett. Can definitely pass these vises down to the next generation where, hopefully, they will continue to be appreciated.
Fireball tool Hardtail for the win
If you have the budget, no doubt about it.
Be nice to see how Simplex vises fit into the mix. Nice work on the video, really good stuff here and learned a few things. Athol are well built, but not the end all of vises. They're heavier but if you're abusing the lead screw, they're not the best choice.
I have never owned a Simplex vise but have heard they are solidly made. Thanks for watching.
I’d like to challenge you if you have the opportunity to pick up some of the older athol vises. Specifically the 6xx series (the 61x is the stationary the 62x is the swivel base) I say this because on my list of top 3 it’s Athol, Reed, and Parker. Parker’s cam system for the swivel is fantastic! And some of the areas of concern you mentioned on the starrett vises (the 9xx series) were not there in the original designs
Perhaps you can make a video as I do not own the models you mention. Looking forward to learning about the other designs...
@@BencoVintageMachineWorks it’s on my list. Need to get a tripod for the phone and learn how to edit videos a bit. Don’t currently have an r series reed they sell quick and it helps fund my athol collection 😀 please feel free to check out the videos I do have posted showing some of the aspects. In the future I’ll hopefully have some longer videos up
@GoldmansGarage Check out Fireball tools videos on vise testing. The hole through the spindle for the spring was a poorly chosen production cost cutter.
Once you own a Reed R, you will never look back.
Great video. I saw a super clean York locally in the UK but it was gone before I messaged the seller! I do have a rare (here) Columbian 506 which I love. I have quite a few Record (kinda a default) and and a few Parkinsons (which are getting rare even here). Parkinsons don't have the same recognition as Record and there's actually a big quick-slide Parkinsons vise down the road from me for £50 unsold for weeks which I've been trying to talk myself out of buying. Now this video has temped me buy it, I should get off UA-cam!
Can't go wrong with any of the old vises really but its fun to compare them!
Fantastic video! Thank you! Do you have a part number and source for the thrust washer upgrade on the 925?
I bought them from Mcmaster-Carr but dont remember the part #. Its a straightforward measurement so you shouldnt have any problem. The dissassembly/reassembly of that vise is a hassle as I mentioned....
Another great video, thank you. Any thoughts on how America’s top vintage vises stack up to those from the top designs from Germany, the UK or Japan?
I don't own any to compare them. Some brands like Gressel and Record have good reputations though.
Great comparison video! I have a question unrelated to the video, but towards the electric motor side of things. I am restoring a very old Robbins & Myers 2406 12" brass blade fan, which runs, but the brass motor plate reads 100/120v, 25/30 cycles A/C. It is a 2-pole, brush type motor with 3 speeds accomplished by wound resistors piggybacked on the slider switch in the base. My question is have you ever heard of 25/30 cycle motor, and would it burn the windings up eventually running it on 60 cycles? I cannot find any information about the model of the fan or 30Hz operation. Theoretically, it would turn faster on 60Hz than 30Hz, but at what costs to the windings? I have let it run for an hour or so with no apparent problems, but it just bugs me about doing that with the weird information on the motor plate. Any opinions from your motor expertise would be interesting. I have a pretty good selection of vises from small to large of all different makes and I would have to agree that the R series of Reed is by far my favorite and best engineered design. I have a 103 1/2 R swivel jaw and base that I love to death. Very nice to just pull a pin and have the ability to hold an odd shaped/angled part without slipping. I also have what I believe to be a very early Athol Machine & Mfg. Co. vise with 6 1/2" solid jaws. This vise has a very large opening size of almost 16", which is a crazy amount. It is a very odd, large/heavy vise for the jaw size, meaning it weighs right at 150#, which means when I had to move it around, I do it in 2 pieces. It had that goofy base with the wedge that I hate, so I mounted the base to a big angle plate, put it up on my mill, and then milled that part square so I could mount it to my cast iron bench top with no ill effects to either item. The vise has the name cast into the side with a number, but I cannot make out the number nor can I find one like it anywhere I have researched. It does not have the spring preload on the screw either. I got it at auction from a very old railroad machine shop years ago. I have a flat face belt buckle Reed with 5" jaws that I really like to use, couple of the meatball Reeds, Wiltons, Rock Islands, Prentiss, Paramo, Parker, Iron City, Craftsman, Dunlap, etc.
There were a few antique fan manufacturers who offered fans with varying AC cycles. GE and Century are two for sure. First join the Antique Fan Collectors forum and post pictures there. I am not an expert on old fans. If it was mine, I would monitor the temperature closely because the old insulation is very vulnerable. Use an infrared thermometer. Although counterintuitive, you may need to increase the voltage to keep the proper ratio of Hz to volts. The fan might run cooler running on 220. Check with the fan forum but that is a hunch. Good luck with it.
I have Rigid vise and don't know much about it. It's about 50 to 75lbs and says "drop forged" and made in Germany. Are these any good and do they compare in quality to any of these? Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us. I'll definitely keep a lookout for a Reed R.
Don't have any to compare but I would check Garage Journal vise forum for more info. Its a great forum.
Nice video. ScoutCrafter sent me.
Glad you enjoyed it. I watch all his videos and appreciate him mentioning my channel.
The only thing that’s needs to be taken into account is ductile iron which is many many times stronger they grey cast iron and way more expensive when originally sold, the Colombian with hollow towers was ductile as were many English records, the Reed and Charles p being cast were more prone to breakage than than any of the ductile iron vices. Agree with the summary of the starret, the only one I have seen had awful slop in the cast nut
I have never owned one of the Record vises you mentioned but heard they are good. Thank you for checking out the video.
Are the huge Columbia’s hollow? We have some at work and they have been awesome! Ours look nothing like yours in the last video.
I believe most were hollow. Don't own all the other models to compare. They are well made though. I use my Columbian all the time. The Reed is a little more stout and a more thorough design for sure.
Thanks to Scoutcrafter for sending me over here. Great stuff.
Welcome. Glad you enjoyed it.
Dawn in Australia..🇳🇿🇳🇿
They have a good reputation. I only compared vintage US vises because that's what I own.
That Parker nut? I’ve taken apart and “restored” or cleaned up a lot of Parker’s. I have never seen one with a hole in it like that. Just did a number 4 which is similar vintage. Can you tell if that was a modification or original? Or maybe rusted out over time?
Its original. Google Parker Vise handle set screw and there are many images.
How about a Peck,Stowe & Wilcox(Pexto) vise?
I think I might have a small clamp on vise from them somewhere but do not have a big one to look at....
I have a Reed 106, there is a 1/4" stamp on the dynamic side that says 34. However all it says is patentpending. Having trouble dating this vise.
Probably a 1934. Reed starting up in the late 1800's. The date stamp moved around from time to time but mine is 1/4" stamp too.
It's the Patent Pending thing that's throwing me off
Post it in the vise forum on Garage Journal and you should get a conclusive answer promptly. Its a great forum for learning the minutiae of these good old vises.
I have a Parker dated from ± 1946. It does not have the web on the base.
They made several styles, not all had the spring for taking up backlash either.
Reed is the best!
Inded it was. Thank you for checking out the video.
Juth to let you know, not everyone from Mathachutheth is an athol..
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