# Gloat : wilton baby bullet 2" vise with swivel base



## Thoro (Oct 20, 2014)

I got this Lil sucker yesterday from a machinist who I met from Craigslist. He sold it to me. I already cleaned it up a bit. But I'm thinking of reselling it... It's just too rich for my blood and don't have a real need for it, b7t when I saw it I thought I had to buy it. And was wondering what you all thought about keeping it "as found"  so to speak or tearing it apart and repainting it.  I go both ways in my mind. . It is in excellent shape. The jaws are perfect, I think it just has shelf wear.


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## JimDawson (Oct 20, 2014)

That's a cute little vise.  Never seen one of those before.  Great find.  I would be tempted to clean it up and paint it.  I see it has some kind of label on it, it that is original, maybe you could get a new one from Wilton.


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## CoopVA (Oct 20, 2014)

That's pretty sweet!  If you want to part with it, let me know...  I may take it...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## kd4gij (Oct 20, 2014)

NEED, Has nouthing to do with tool purchases. I would never sell that.


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## george wilson (Oct 20, 2014)

Those little Wiltons are very cute. And they always cost too much!!!! I guess we never expect to see them that small,which helps the cute factor. Every year I see one at the Cabin Fever Expo. Can't recall the price,but it is high,and it hasn't sold yet.


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## Mark in Indiana (Oct 20, 2014)

That vise is in great shape. They are VERY collectable. If you want to restore it, Rustoleum Very Green hammertone is the closest color to original. What is the date stamped on the key under the slide?


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## Rbeckett (Oct 20, 2014)

I would clean it up and restore it to original color and put a reasonable price on it or better yet Keep it for cutting and working with small stuff.  Once you use it a few times you will wonder why you ever used just a big vise.  Just my humble opinion, but I wish I had found it and I would have it bolted down and already be using it while I was waiting for the correct color of the paint to arrive.

Bob


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## Artemetra (Oct 20, 2014)

That is very cool. If you mount it on the workbench you'll end up putting a job in it within days.


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## LJP (Oct 21, 2014)

Quality tools are always good to keep in my opinion. Cleaned up is good enough for me. I would not need it to be repainted.


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## george wilson (Oct 21, 2014)

I have too many vises,being a tool pig. One of mine is an old 4" Wilton Army vise,painted olive drab. It has a swivel base. It seems to never have been used.  Another I have,I bought new,is a Chinese "Great Wall" vise. I must have bought it at least 30 years ago from Wholesale Tool. It is forged steel. The vise has adjustable gibs to slide in and out on. It is wonderfully well made and totally unbreakable,being forged steel.

I saw a similar Rigid forged vise at the junk yard I should have bought. It was clamped to a heavy steel work table,and they wanted to sell the whole thing. I forget how much,but those are very expensive vises.If I wasn't already surfeit with vises,I'd have paid for the whole thing,and just have taken the vise off. They didn't know the vise was valuable,I guess.

The vise I do use is one of those vises that was made in China,but German designed. It comes with all kinds of accessories for fitting where the jaws are. They form metal in various ways,and even shear it. The vise has a foot pedal. You can accurately place something in the vise,and push the pedal forward to close the jaws on it. Then,while the work is clamped,you can tighten the normal screw in it. The vise also has precision ground areas in the slide,and adjustable gib screws. Very accurate closing with no sideways shake at all. That is a good way to check the quality of a vise. Check for sideways shake in the movable jaw. BTW: The rear jaw moves in this vise.

It is very well made and was not cheap. I got it on sale for $275.00,I think. Now that they are not available,many guys are wanting them. If you pay a decent price,you can get a quality product from China. I bought it from Travers several years ago. They were selling them out.


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## Thoro (Oct 21, 2014)

Gosh guys.  Now you got me thinking about keeping this vise when I was thinking I could sell it and tool up other stuff.... I'm going to have to think hard about it after all your responses... I love quality tools... They pay for themselves, unless you're a hobbiest mostly. I use my bench vise daily and would not have a shop without one, so I am sure I'd find a use for it.....


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## Thoro (Oct 21, 2014)

Oh. One odd thing is that there is no date code on the key. I'm wondering if it is an oddity or normal for the baby bullet vises to be missing this. Also another difference I noticed between it and ones in pictures online I will post a picture of later


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## Mark in Indiana (Oct 21, 2014)

Thoro said:


> Oh. One odd thing is that there is no date code on the key. I'm wondering if it is an oddity or normal for the baby bullet vises to be missing this. Also another difference I noticed between it and ones in pictures online I will post a picture of later



One of the best places to find out about your vise is "The Vises Of Garage Journal" on the Garage Journal forums. You will get plenty of good information there.
BTW: I'd vote to keep it unless you can make a ton of profit on flipping it.    1. Good old arn is hard to find, 2. The "cool factor" is high, 3. You will regret selling it, & 4. You can't have too many vises. 

Edit: A point that I want to make concerning flipping, there's a lot of vises that I regret selling because of the rarity of them. So...choose carefully.


Happy Trails!


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## pipehack (Oct 21, 2014)

Mark in Indiana said:


> That vise is in great shape. They are VERY collectable. If you want to restore it, Rustoleum Very Green hammertone is the closest color to original. What is the date stamped on the key under the slide?



You're close to the color Hammertone. It's called "Verde Green" I just Gave me wilton 835 a facelift. I used that color paint. I like the looks of it.


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## Mark in Indiana (Oct 22, 2014)

pipehack said:


> You're close to the color Hammertone. It's called "Verde Green" I just Gave me wilton 835 a facelift. I used that color paint. I like the looks of it.



OOPS! I didn't proof read. Thanks for the correction. That restoration looks great!


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## spongerich (Oct 27, 2014)

I've owned a bunch of those little 2" Wiltons... I really intend to keep one some day, but I always end up watching them sell for $300 on eBay and convince myself that I really don't need a $300 vise and would rather spend that money on other tools.   Yours has the extra block on the Anvil.  Those seem a bit rarer and tend to sell on the higher end.   Most of the Wiltons I've seen are date stamped on the keyway, but I've seen a few that aren't.


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## PatMiles (Nov 14, 2014)

george wilson said:


> being a tool pig.



George,
You remind me... of me!


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## KBeitz (Jul 6, 2018)

I got two of them little ones from the junkyard...


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## genec (Jul 6, 2018)

i found one at a garage sale cost me three dollars


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