Made alum. vise jaws... and now I see how wildly off my vise is...

Someone said it was cast iron- I think it's actually forged steel on the old Columbians
Cast iron isn't really tough enough for vises- although the Chinese seem to think so
 
I have a 5" Columbian that is very stout and doesn't look anything like this vise. Makes me wonder if Columbian made different lines.

Ted
 
They made several different lines, and Sears branded ones too
The Sears ones were decent, my Dad had one- Unfortunately Sears doesn't have parts for them anymore
 
Wilton ultimately bought Columbian and operated it for years before more or less shuttering it, so it's no surprise that there are similarities.

GsT
 
Most vise manufacturers make/made a whole range of vises, some of them really wimpy. My first vise was a 5" Wilton that failed in a number of ways. I had repaired it and I use it now for light duty jobs in the forge. Another Wilton also failed in use. It now lives in the barn where it it occasionally used for light duty.

My shop vise is a 4" Yost and I will admit to having abused it. It was abused when I got it with the lower corner of the fixed jaw missing and the serrations on the fixed jaw all but gone but it is still very serviceable. My vise for heavy work are the two 4" leg vises, one in the shop and another in the forge. They were intended for hard use and they have seen it, The 3 ft. legs are embedded in concrete so you can really put some grunt into twisting or shaping metal, hot or cold.
 
r-mm said:
Hi all

I know there is a lot of vise love around here. I bought this older US made Columbian vise a while back, it had hideous steel jaws in it which I mostly have covered with soft covers. These soft covers obscured an underlying mis-alignment that became veeerry evident when I put my magnetic alum jaws on.

I did square the alum jaws at the mill. They may not be aerospace grade square but they are close enough that I should not be seeing this.

I realize this is a pretty noobie post. If anyone can help me diagnose how to remedy the vise I would appreciate it.
Click to expand...

Edit after reading more....it's obviously sprung from some gorilla with a pry bar or cheater pipe.

The best bench vises are ductile iron, mid-level are often some kind of semi-steel and the cheapest are cast iron. There have been some cast steel as well that were typically mid-level. I suspect that's some kind of semi-steel or cast steel since it didn't crack.
 
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I suspect it was sprung by hammering on a workpiece - probably from the side. The jaws look well and truly beat on, so that's a clue, but the fact that the handle isn't noticeably bent makes me think it wasn't a cheater bar.

GsT
 
GeneT45 said:
I suspect it was sprung by hammering on a workpiece - probably from the side. The jaws look well and truly beat on, so that's a clue, but the fact that the handle isn't noticeably bent makes me think it wasn't a cheater bar.

GsT
Click to expand...
I was thinking of a cheater pipe/bar on something in the vise rather than on the handle. Either way, it was abuse!
 
Since the conversation has kind of veered toward the various model lines made by these vise companies, I got curious about mine. I stated earlier that my old Columbian vise is a 5". I was mistaken, it's actually only a 4 1/2". Couple of photos attached to compare to the OP's.
Ted
IMG_20240205_112924304.jpgIMG_20240205_113044298.jpg
 
The OP's vise was a dual range . The movable jaw is reversable to pick up an extra 3-4 inches .
 
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