|
Coach James -- Saying "buy a Wilton vise" is about like saying "buy a General Motors product". Wilton sells probably a dozen or more different types and grades of vise fitting the description "bench vise"; within the last year or so I've seen a low-end six-inch Wilton at Wal-Mart for maybe $25, while a top-of-the-Wilton-line six-inch machinist's vise is over $1,000 in my Shop Tools catalog. I've heard that good used vises can be had cheaply, but I think that always takes being at the right place at the right time. If you're willing to spend time looking for a good used vise, names to watch for include Columbian (which is now owned by Wilton), Starrett, Reed, Ridgid, Charles Parker, Milwaukee, and probably a couple others that I'm forgetting. Record makes some pretty good vises in England, and I am sure that there are other English and European makes that are excellent products. The Japanese-built Eron vise is another good one. A superior-quality vise will be both very heavy and either cast from heat-treated ductile iron rated at 60,000 PSI or forged from steel. As the restaurant reviews put it: $$$$. A decent-quality vise will be cast from heat-treated ductile iron rated 30,000 PSI and will weigh more than a cheap cast-iron vise. $$. A cheap vise will be cast gray iron and lightweight. $ and fairly delicate. Usually. I have three bench vises, a 20+ year old 4-inch Japanese-made Craftsman, a 5 year old 4-inch Record, and a 10-year old 5-inch Chinese vise (one of the cylindrical-body, double-swivel models with pipe jaws on one side and the bench-vise jaws on the other side) that I paid less than $50 brand new. It's not as "nice" as the C'man or Record, but it's bigger and heavier and has worked out very well for me. I use the Chinese vise mostly as a press, and never hammer on any of my vises. As new vises go, the dual-swivel Chinese vises are hard to beat on a bang-for-the-buck basis. John
| 
