Small watch makers vise

[Mel Fulks]

Vise made by Stubbs company 2 3/8 inches overall. The best one I've seen .Circa. 1820:
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[Winton Applegate]

Very nice !
I have a modern cheepy version that I have prized and used since I was a kid.
very useful
More for metal work kind of stuf, obviously, but now that I have seen yours I may keep an eye out for a fine old one.
Exspensive ?

[Jim Ritter]

Very nice Mel, I've got a couple similar, cute little buggers they are, if you are interested I'll see about getting some photos up.
Jim

[Mel Fulks]

I would like to see them ,thanks. George posted the other day that he had gotten a Stubbs and might post it.

[Mel Fulks]

I bought it some years back and it was not expensive. I have seen some with a little damage for five or ten dollars. Stubbs made high grade stuff. Their main thing was saw files . Much of the other things ,like the vises were made by Independant workers at their homes. True cottage industry. Not sure if all the pieces were ordered or if some of them were kinda made on speculation. They made lots of things,dividers, screw plates, pliers, etc. Good old small tools are within reach of anyone interested .

[Winton Applegate]

Mel,
Thanks for the info and advice.
Wow . . . I would enjoy having and using something like that.

[george wilson]

I have a beautiful little hand held vise with a longish stem,with a flattened ball shape on its end,that must be 18th. C.. (Could be 17th. C.,but I lean towards 18th. due to the general style. Not that archaic looking.) The bigger the ball,the earlier it is. It is in wonderful condition,except one wing of the unequal sized wings on the thumb screw is damaged. Somehow I got it for only $15.00 plus shipping,and from a tool dealer. He should have studied up on hand vises. I'll have to photo it,too.(That's just after I sharpen the Narex parers!!) Absolutely wonderfully accurate file work.

A feature to look for on older vises like Mel's is the extra file work around the swell where the screw goes through. That,alone,indicates an older vise. Note also the accurate octagonal filing just above the bow shaped spring. Those poor guys worked very,very hard to make these details as crisp and as accurate as possible. I hope their employers didn't make them buy their own files,which would have depleted their already subsistence level wages. They well might have,though.

Somewhere,I saw a similar vise with a much larger bowed spring. Must have been as large as a half dollar at least. You could get a couple of fingers through it,I think. And VERY early. 17th. C.,it looked to me. Someone else went to the trouble to reproduce it. I haven't seen another like it.Now I think of it,I believe a friend of mine got it. He digs up really cool stuff when he goes to Europe.

Those springs were made by forging flat and bending them around a mandrel. They'd have been quite rough and lumpy when given to the filers. Lots of file eating scale and oversize metal to get rid of.

[Chris Griggs]

That's neat Mel. Thanks for posting it.

[Mel Fulks]

I had first guessed mine to be earlier ,but the references I found said the company didn't get into making them until about 1820. Some of their work is undecorated but real precise. I've seen some of their pliers that look new except for the box joint and mark.

[Ralph Juarros]

Very nice. I'd like to see more pics. It seems just what I need for some of my miniature work. Ralph

[Jim Ritter]

Here are some I have, might be another in my dads toolbox. One has a replacement screw so there is no hole to slip wire through the handle. Don't know how much the jaws were user modified or original.











Jim