purchased this at the flea  market   friday for 15bucks how'd i do ?
littlestown No 450

USA made vise, steel jaw inserts...i'd say you scored.

The other thing to look at on those is the lock handle for the base (where it rotates)
When the handle is all bent, it has been abused, yours is straight, someone was nice to this vise...

However, that is a medium duty vise, be nice to it, no sledgehammering on it - P

4.5 inch jaws?

Quote from: rusty on June 27, 2011, 08:09:47 PM

USA made vise, steel jaw inserts...i'd say you scored.

The other thing to look at on those is the lock handle for the base (where it rotates)
When the handle is all bent, it has been abused, yours is straight, someone was nice to this vise...

However, that is a medium duty vise, be nice to it, no sledgehammering on it - P

4.5 inch jaws?

handle is a replacement i think, it has lock nuts on both ends..  yes 4.5 jaws  i think it weighs around 50lbs i believe..

Looks good, Dustin, but beware of "painted ladies" as we call anvils that are painted all over. Sometimes people paint them (vises also) to hide cracks in critical places.

For 15$ though, it's worth taking the chance. If abused, vises like that tend to crack behind the stationary jaw, or sometimes where the moving jaw connects to the slide bar. I see that there is a chip on the lower corner there already. I hope that is all the damage on it. People tend to bang on stuff in them a little too hard, and cast iron WILL crack....learned that first hand on a nice little vise I had, a wilton wide jaw to boot. I'm still asking myself why I did that.....

Quote from: Dustin21 on June 27, 2011, 06:56:04 PM
purchased this at the flea  market   friday for 15bucks how'd i do ?
littlestown No 450

i thought about  the  paint hiding any defects and did notice the  chips    there on both siides i assumed it was dropped   and caught the edge of something. but for 15 bucks    it was worth a chance..  should i remove the paint and look for cracks ?

That's up to you, bud. I always do, mostly to keep paint from gumming up the screw and the base where it slides. If it isn't too thick of a coating, you could probably see any defects anyway. I don't mind repainting these works of tool art, but too much can be a nuisance, like on the screw and slide bar. Lube may break it down and make it gummy.

Still a nice vise for the money!

Quote from: keykeeper on June 27, 2011, 10:44:38 PM
That's up to you, bud. I always do, mostly to keep paint from gumming up the screw and the base where it slides. If it isn't too thick of a coating, you could probably see any defects anyway. I don't mind repainting these works of tool art, but too much can be a nuisance, like on the screw and slide bar. Lube may break it down and make it gummy.

Still a nice vise for the money!

i guess it wouldnt take to long with a   die grinder and 3m roloc disk ..
as for thickness  i think probally the thickness of  5pieces of printer paper. looks like i have a project now might document it  and post on here

Chances are somebody just cleaned it up and gave it a Krylon rebuild.  You can generally find repairs by running a 1/4" diameter pickup magnet over the paint in suspect areas and looking for loss of pull.

For 15 bucks you stole it.  Mount it on a post and stick it in your hitch receiver when you need a vise on the job.  When it ain't being used keep it in an oiley canvas bag.

That's a deal for $15.00. I would think that it would fetch $ 45.00 or more at a tool store.Most likely more.

Quote from: Ken W. on July 27, 2011, 09:52:44 AM
That's a deal for $15.00. I would think that it would fetch $ 45.00 or more at a tool store.Most likely more.

thats what i thought if i didnt need a vise i could always make some  profit...