Vintage Woodworking Vise Identification -- What is this??

When it rains, IT POURS! I picked up a very nice Emmert Turtleback a couple weeks ago. I'm about to repair a crack in the casting, repaint and mount that vise when this one comes of for sale locally. I was intrigued when I saw the listing and went and checked it out. As soon as I saw the underside I pulled my money out. It's an absolutely awesome quick release system that I was not anticipating based on what I saw in the listing photos.


Any idea who the maker is of this vise? It's got a massive 9" hand wheel, 12" wide jaws, 4.75" deep and 10" opening.


I'm really looking forward to refurbishing it and getting it mounted up to my bench. I'm going to run the Emmert as my front vise and this vise and my tail vise.




https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/tM...y=w798-h711-no


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/YJ...p=w969-h711-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/AH...=w1172-h658-no


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/6F...=w1172-h660-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/oV...=w1172-h660-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/n7...=w1172-h660-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/av...0=w888-h711-no

It looks like the piano vises that Don Williams likes. Check out his blog "the barn on white run".

Cool vise! Ryan, I'll encourage you to not only check out Don Williams website but to contact him with pics, etc of this vise. He would be particularly interested! He may be able to tell you all about your vise.

As a bonus, he's a really cool fellow!

Do you plan to restore it?

Thanks guys! I contacted Don and sent him some pics.

The vise is soaking in a sodium hydroxide tub right now to remove all the paint, grease, etc. I do plan on restoring it and have broken it down into pieces. Unfortunately someone tried to do the same at some point in it's history and sheered the heads off two of the bolts that hold the pawls in place. One of the pawl springs is also broken. Fortunately woodworking led me into machining/welding and I have the tool necessary to repair any damage I've encounter or may encounter going forwards.

The tough part for me on these kind of restorations is paint. I'm not sure what direction I want to go. Maybe a heavy semi-gloss enamel and then "weather" it? I'm guessing it was original a black japanned finish. For my vintage Richards Wilcox I stripped it to bare casting and then did a gloss clearcoat and was pleased with the results.

I'll post pics and updates and I move along. It's quite a unique vise.

Clear Coat on Richards Wilcox:
Attachment 411022

Attachment 411023

Ryan, that Richard Wilcox looks great! Keep us updated on your restoration of the piano vise. I hope Don (or someone) can help ID the piano vise.