Our neighbour was clearing out his garage prior to moving and in a desperate bid to earn more STW credentials I seem to have accidentally salvaged a couple of old vices.

Samsonia Perfect No 37 model J :

Record 52 1/2 :

I know there are a few vice enthusiasts on here, so are these any good?

No idea what I’m going to do with them as I don’t actually have room for them in my little shed. But I didn’t want to see them in the bin as they seem to work fine and I liked the old boy who originally owned them.

I think that record would go well on a kitchen worktop. Handy too.

For particularly stiff jam jar lids?

Gripping stuff…

😉

The Record looks good – it’s a fairly common carpenters vice, designed to mount to the side/underneath of a workbench, and doesn’t really take up much space when mounted.

The Samsonia is a really nice quality vintage bit of kit – I have one similar which I have bolted to a 2′ length of scaffold plank. It lives in the corner until I need to use it, then I just clamp the plank/vice to the workbench.

Thanks bodgy – mounting it to a bit of plank might be a good call. I can see it would be pretty useful at times, I just don’t have any real worktop space.

The Record probably isn’t much use to me. But I’ll probably hang onto it for the fine day that I persuade the missus we need a house with a garage I can turn into a workshop. 😀

What do you mean you don’t have room, make room goddamit man. You’re too big a hitter on here to not have a vice. Sort it!

Antiques roadshow?

I could do with a vice.

What can I say? I’m a fraud joat.

My coffee comes in pods. I don’t own an axe. Or an expensive watch. And I rarely use my woodburner. 🙁

Definitely make space. Don’t know how people get through life without a vice! It’s like having the strongest mate in the world – “just hold that for a second would you?”.

Antiques roadshow?

I don’t think they are that old, or interesting.

Mind you I did also find a box full of old photos and letters from 1940-50s, which will have been from the previous owner. Not sure what to do with them. Might see if the local historical society are interested.

Definitely make space.

I would if I could. I’ve only got a couple of small brick sheds (old outside loo and coal bunker) to store multiple bikes, tools and all the usual paraphernalia.

If you’ve got a Workmate, or an analog, get a piece of board that’s the same size as the top when fully open, then screw a strip of wood underneath that’s the same size as the gap, probably around 10cm, drill holes on one edge of the main board, countersunk underneath with a couple of big bolts sticking up, then you can clamp the board onto the Workmate, drop the vice onto the bolts, spin nuts on to hold in place, job’s a good’un, chief!
In the process of doing just that at the moment, I have zero shed bench space, so this’ll do just fine.
My Record No 4, after a going over with an anglegrinder with wire brush:

After a couple of coats of smooth Hammerite:

Looking forward to the whole thing coming together.

Nice work Count.

Sadly enough I just watched a couple of “vice restoration” videos on YouTube with the same thing in mind 🙂 Electrolysis seems a popular way of shifting the rust without marking it.

Bloody hell. Now I’ve got vice envy.

The Record is meh, the Samsonia is lovely! And, sorry to say it, but I much preferred that Record No.4 before it was restored, you’ve lost all the lovely patina.

I used to have one like that Samsonia. It went one day when my shed was broken into, someone cut through the scaffold pole pipe it was mounted into the concrete floor with 😯 Are they worth much?

Looking forward to the whole thing coming together.

That’s easy, just turn the handle.