I suspect it's a Columbian vise badged as Craftsman. Columbian (of Clevelane, Ohio) made Craftsman vises in the late 1950s.
I have a 5-inch, almost identical in shape, design, and features — although mine has a 501-#### product number. Mine also doesn't have the jaw size cast into the moving jaw.
There's an OEM list at: http://vintagemachinery.org/craftsman/manufacturers.aspx
When I got mine used at a tool meeting, the canonical Craftsman red was covered over with gray latex paint, chipped and scuffed in many places. An angle grinder and wire-wheel got all of that off, taking it down to bare metal as it was cast.
Originally, I was going to paint it dark blue with silver accents. But once I saw the clean look, I thought about it for a couple of days, then simply painted it over with shellac to prevent rust. And so it remains today.
Wow. I may have to rethink my bare metal approach.
I'm not showing this to my RAE 3", which has a nice ratrod esthetic going on at the moment. But I gotta admit, per Anon above, that bead blasting and clear coat sounds like a good idea.
3 comments:
Ok I'm saying it, that's insane. And a Craftsman no less.
I suspect it's a Columbian vise badged as Craftsman. Columbian (of Clevelane, Ohio) made Craftsman vises in the late 1950s.
I have a 5-inch, almost identical in shape, design, and features — although mine has a 501-#### product number. Mine also doesn't have the jaw size cast into the moving jaw.
There's an OEM list at: http://vintagemachinery.org/craftsman/manufacturers.aspx
When I got mine used at a tool meeting, the canonical Craftsman red was covered over with gray latex paint, chipped and scuffed in many places. An angle grinder and wire-wheel got all of that off, taking it down to bare metal as it was cast.
Originally, I was going to paint it dark blue with silver accents. But once I saw the clean look, I thought about it for a couple of days, then simply painted it over with shellac to prevent rust. And so it remains today.
Wow. I may have to rethink my bare metal approach.
I'm not showing this to my RAE 3", which has a nice ratrod esthetic going on at the moment. But I gotta admit, per Anon above, that bead blasting and clear coat sounds like a good idea.
rdguy
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