N. Slater woodworking bench vise

[JimReed@Tallahassee]

The N. Slater company of Hamilton, Ontario, produced products from 1917-1979. Their robust woodworking vises were often used in school woodworking shops. These vises are designed and built to absorb punishment. I found one close enough to me and not abuse me with shipping charges. My guess is that it is 1930-1940 vintage. It is a big lump of iron that weighs about 20-30 pounds. In spite of the shop heat, I had to get my mitts on it and see how it worked. Initial inspection showed it to be in very good condition. There were a few paint splatters and some surface rust. Most of the original black paint was present. Maybe this one was on a back table.



Someone had outfitted it with some hideous jaws made from oak baseboard (!). The dog was also oak. The jaws were cut and mounted precisely but hastily attached with oddball bolts. I had to strip them immediately and also scrape off some white paint splatters. Some people call it OCD--I say it is just doing what is right.




The jaws are 7 inches and should extend about 10 inches (not including faces). I opened the vise and noticed that the screw did not glide. It worked OK, but did not feel right. Then I noticed that the screw fell out at 9 inches, well before the guide bar cotter pin stopped movement.


For those of you following along at home, did you notice anything odd about the screw nut housing? Here is a hint: Why is the "T" at the rear? The "T" rides on the support bars and holds the nut steady. It is pretty hard to accomplish that at the end of the screw. I found the answer when I pulled the pin and removed the "T" bar.



And here is the bottom end.



Yes, my friends, someone assembled the "T" backwards. I fixed that problem and got my full 10 inches of extension. I noticed that the screw adjustment went from OK to Cadillac.





Now that this vise is properly adjusted and working fine, it is ready for cleaning. The paint is in pretty good shape and I might get by with a good cleaning and lube job. I need to fashion a new dog, but I have plenty of bar stock on hand for that.

Then it needs a fine set of jaws which are attached properly. I think wider jaws might look good--not huge but maybe 10 inches. Opinions? There is plenty of time to decide.

But for now, it is in the projects list and waiting for scheduling.

[KlausK.]

That's a nice one, Jim. 

Good eye with the T-bar issue, very well investigated and solved! I'm with you to make some slightly larger faces to attach. Knowing that the original dog was an iron one, I don't find a wooden dog that bad if the vice will be used to clamp wood. A wooden dog protects the workpiece better than a steel one does. A few years ago  I replaced the steel dogs of my bench and am very happy with the wooden ones. Some have even leather coated faces.

Klaus

[JimReed@Tallahassee]

Thanks for your comments, Klaus. I am a big fan of metal dogs on my bench where I attack boards with various planes and was prepared to make a replacement metal dog for this vise. But your comment made me think. Many of these vises are missing dogs and many have dog replacements made out of wood just like this vise. Perhaps there are some clues there. These vises are front mounted and used to hold wood for a variety of tasks. When the dog is called into action, it can be used to hold a finished cabinet door or something. That clamping requires less force from end vise work, such as surfacing with a scrub plane.

I can keep the oak dog with the vise. It was well made and fits the mortise like a glove. I will replace the little cheesy screw. But I can also make a slightly undersized metal dog and face it with leather. That gives the user options. It is easy enough to switch out dogs. Looks to me like that would be the best of both worlds.

[Window Guy]

Jim nice find, that will make a great vise.



Steve

[blackhat]

If that vise is installed so that a skirt board becomes the rear jaw face, any time and effort spent making faces now may be wasted.

[JimReed@Tallahassee]

If that vise is installed so that a skirt board becomes the rear jaw face, any time and effort spent making faces now may be wasted.

??? Why??? I think the proper way to mount this vise is to match the wooden jaws to the top of the work table so that the dog can be used. I intended to make the jaws about 1/4" proud of the metal top. That would leave enough meat so they could be planed flush with the bench top. Am I missing something here?

[blackhat]

On my bench, and many others I have seen, the rear jaw is mounted below and flush with the outside edge of the work surface. A full length skirt board is notched for the screw and bars and fastened to the edge of the top. The skirt board is the rear jaw face.

[JimReed@Tallahassee]

On my bench, and many others I have seen, the rear jaw is mounted below and flush with the outside edge of the work surface. A full length skirt board is notched for the screw and bars and fastened to the edge of the top. The skirt board is the rear jaw face.

So if the skirt of the bench is the rear jaw, then the user can clamp a long board in the vise and then use the skirt for additional clamping. That seems like a good advantage. I have always mounted mine proud and was considering that for this one. BUT you have a good point. I will have to ponder. Thanks for clarifying.

[Stwood_]

Good lookin vise. I'm pretty sure I have one of those under a different brand name

[sarir]

You may also find them with the name RAE also made by Slater. Probably a time issue.