Gloat : wilton baby bullet 2" vise with swivel base

Thoro

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I got this Lil sucker yesterday from a machinist who I met from Craigslist. He sold it to me. I already cleaned it up a bit. But I'm thinking of reselling it... It's just too rich for my blood and don't have a real need for it, b7t when I saw it I thought I had to buy it. And was wondering what you all thought about keeping it "as found" so to speak or tearing it apart and repainting it. I go both ways in my mind. . It is in excellent shape. The jaws are perfect, I think it just has shelf wear.

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That's a cute little vise. Never seen one of those before. Great find. I would be tempted to clean it up and paint it. I see it has some kind of label on it, it that is original, maybe you could get a new one from Wilton.
 
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That's pretty sweet! If you want to part with it, let me know... I may take it...


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Those little Wiltons are very cute. And they always cost too much!!!! I guess we never expect to see them that small,which helps the cute factor. Every year I see one at the Cabin Fever Expo. Can't recall the price,but it is high,and it hasn't sold yet.
 
That vise is in great shape. They are VERY collectable. If you want to restore it, Rustoleum Very Green hammertone is the closest color to original. What is the date stamped on the key under the slide?
 
I would clean it up and restore it to original color and put a reasonable price on it or better yet Keep it for cutting and working with small stuff. Once you use it a few times you will wonder why you ever used just a big vise. Just my humble opinion, but I wish I had found it and I would have it bolted down and already be using it while I was waiting for the correct color of the paint to arrive.

Bob
 
That is very cool. If you mount it on the workbench you'll end up putting a job in it within days.
 
Quality tools are always good to keep in my opinion. Cleaned up is good enough for me. I would not need it to be repainted.
 
I have too many vises,being a tool pig. One of mine is an old 4" Wilton Army vise,painted olive drab. It has a swivel base. It seems to never have been used. Another I have,I bought new,is a Chinese "Great Wall" vise. I must have bought it at least 30 years ago from Wholesale Tool. It is forged steel. The vise has adjustable gibs to slide in and out on. It is wonderfully well made and totally unbreakable,being forged steel.

I saw a similar Rigid forged vise at the junk yard I should have bought. It was clamped to a heavy steel work table,and they wanted to sell the whole thing. I forget how much,but those are very expensive vises.If I wasn't already surfeit with vises,I'd have paid for the whole thing,and just have taken the vise off. They didn't know the vise was valuable,I guess.

The vise I do use is one of those vises that was made in China,but German designed. It comes with all kinds of accessories for fitting where the jaws are. They form metal in various ways,and even shear it. The vise has a foot pedal. You can accurately place something in the vise,and push the pedal forward to close the jaws on it. Then,while the work is clamped,you can tighten the normal screw in it. The vise also has precision ground areas in the slide,and adjustable gib screws. Very accurate closing with no sideways shake at all. That is a good way to check the quality of a vise. Check for sideways shake in the movable jaw. BTW: The rear jaw moves in this vise.

It is very well made and was not cheap. I got it on sale for $275.00,I think. Now that they are not available,many guys are wanting them. If you pay a decent price,you can get a quality product from China. I bought it from Travers several years ago. They were selling them out.
 
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