Columbian Vises
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I’ve been reading various forums over the last few months since I’ve started setting up a new workspace and I notice there is very little mention of Columbian vises (I have a 12″ quick release that my uncle gave me), Disston 23 saws and Stanley No. 60 Chisels. Just wondering why? Thanks. John
jd1
Frankly, any woodworking vise will suffice. Columbian, Eclipse, Yost, Twin Screw, … It’s probably all personal preference. It is nice to have the quick release though.
Your Disston 23 is probably a 7-point saw? Fairly large teeth. Good for rough cutting 3″ stock but I believe most woodworkers deal with thinner stock like 3/4″ or 5/4 stock for most wood projects so they probably would use a 10-pt saw or finer saw for to rough cut the stock to size.
Chisels are another personal preference. The Stanley No. 60, if I’m correct, had the molded yellow hard plastic handles? I’m sure they sharpen and chop just fine as long as the steel is still good. I would say most woodworkers just view them as an “ugly handled chisel”. I used to use the Irwin chisels with the blue rubber wrapped handles and metal cap. They did everything I wanted to do with them until I bought a new set to include more chisel widths.
The older USA made Columbian woodworking vises are excellent industrial grade tools. The only Columbian branded wood vise available new seems to be a cheap little clamp-on thing. Columbian also made identical Craftsman branded vises for Sears (painted gray). Later, an identical Craftsman vise was made in Japan. The latter (also excellent) were painted red.
Dave
My D23 collection has 5 1/2 TPI Rip and 8, 10, 11 and 12 point crosscut. I have a D7 8 point but it feels like a club compared to the D23’s. The “ugly” Stanley’s date back to the early 70’s, I bought them one at a time from the local hardware store before I graduated high school. It just seemed odd that with as many of these saws and chisels were made that I haven’t seen them mentioned.
John
jd1
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