Joe Michaels
Diamond
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2004
- Location
- Shandaken, NY, USA
I believe a person can never have enough good tooling, and every so often, I have to confirm my belief. I'd been wanting a universal milling (or grinding) vise for some few years. I could not get myself into a mindset to buy one of the new imported vises that flood eBay. Every so often, a job comes along where a universal milling vise would have been handy. I'd machine some sort of angle block or angled fixture and get by with that. I had seen the Wesson Universal vises from time to time on eBay. Most were beat up and the pricing seemed quite high for vises that beat up (or chewed up by milling cutters or grinding wheels). Browsing eBay recently, I saw a Wesson Universal Milling Vise in what appeared to be very good condition. The seller represented it as being 'dirty' and having some scratches that they attributed more to storage and handling than use. I got the vise for about $ 215.00 by making that as an offer. Shipping was reasonable (Fedex). The seller did a very good job of packing the vise, and I was pleasantly surprised to find the seller, if anything, understated the good condition of the vise. Mostly, it was a case of varnished oil. If the vise was ever used, it was slight, and there is not a stray mark or ding on it. The vise base has one faint imprint from a flanged nut or washer which had bolted it to some previous owner/user's machine table.
I cleaned up the vise and am really impressed with the fit of the parts. Most of the vise parts appear to have been finished by precision grinding. The vise has a jaw width of 4 inches, and a relatively shallow jaw depth. No manufacturer's address nor model number appear on the vise, just the patent and serial numbers and Wesson's name.
To put the cherry on this sundae, the vise base has got keys on it that are a good fit in the tee slots on my Bridgeport. All that the vise lacks is a handle, but I plan to make one in the near future.
The vise appears to have been built by fitting the parts, as there is a small number (74) stamped inconspicuously on some of the mating parts. With a good cleaning and some oil, the vise moves smoothly, with no perceptible slop in any of the angular adjustments. The vise can be adjusted for incline to the horizontal, and has two swivels about the vertical axis, one being between the mounting (base) and the rest of the vise, and the second between the vise and the vertical angle swivel. Interesting that this vise has three possible angles it could be set to. I would imagine this vise, being small and having those three angular adjustments, was the kind of thing found in a toolroom or R & D shop. As such it would not see the kind of use or abuse many old milling vises show.
I am quite pleased with the Wesson vise, and feel I got a good deal on eBay. I am curious as to what the history of Wesson was. I know the Wesson name is still alive in the form of a manufacturer of indexable cutting tools. There is no address for Wesson on the vise, and I suspect the current incarnation of Wesson has relocated from their original plant.
I'd appreciate any information as to age and where Wesson was located when this vise was made.
I cleaned up the vise and am really impressed with the fit of the parts. Most of the vise parts appear to have been finished by precision grinding. The vise has a jaw width of 4 inches, and a relatively shallow jaw depth. No manufacturer's address nor model number appear on the vise, just the patent and serial numbers and Wesson's name.
To put the cherry on this sundae, the vise base has got keys on it that are a good fit in the tee slots on my Bridgeport. All that the vise lacks is a handle, but I plan to make one in the near future.
The vise appears to have been built by fitting the parts, as there is a small number (74) stamped inconspicuously on some of the mating parts. With a good cleaning and some oil, the vise moves smoothly, with no perceptible slop in any of the angular adjustments. The vise can be adjusted for incline to the horizontal, and has two swivels about the vertical axis, one being between the mounting (base) and the rest of the vise, and the second between the vise and the vertical angle swivel. Interesting that this vise has three possible angles it could be set to. I would imagine this vise, being small and having those three angular adjustments, was the kind of thing found in a toolroom or R & D shop. As such it would not see the kind of use or abuse many old milling vises show.
I am quite pleased with the Wesson vise, and feel I got a good deal on eBay. I am curious as to what the history of Wesson was. I know the Wesson name is still alive in the form of a manufacturer of indexable cutting tools. There is no address for Wesson on the vise, and I suspect the current incarnation of Wesson has relocated from their original plant.
I'd appreciate any information as to age and where Wesson was located when this vise was made.