Vintage Stanley: The Sequel

Vintage Stanley. The sequel

I hope everyone had a great Christmas.
I picked up a vintage Stanley # 700 corner clamp yesterday for just a few dollars. I don't need another clamp in the shop but this one was hard to resist. It's a perfect clamp to take to a job site.

Stanley began selling vises in 1911 after it purchased the Philip J. Leavens "Jersey" vise business in Vineland, New Jersey1 The Leavens vises were small, bench vises with jaw widths of 1½ inches to 3 inches. Jersey vises were more of a mechanics-style vise than a woodworker's vise.

In the late 1920s, Stanley saw a need for a small woodworker's vise that was light and portable, allowing a carpenter to carry it from job to job. The Stanley Model Shop was charged with the mission to create such a vise. Christian Bodmer, one of Stanley's mechanical engineers with many tool patents, filed a patent with the United States Patent Office on December 17, 1927, for the woodworker's vise that would become known as the no# 700 series.

My particular vise was made between 1950 - 1967. It has 4 - 5/8" jaws that open and clamp on both sides. The 'L' shape. This vise is made out of cast iron. Later vises were made out of aluminum. The vise works great. There's a little rust but the parts move and function well. I'll clean it up with some rust remover and lubricant. The jaws have hardboard or leather pads on them, it's hard to tell right now.

As always - Thanks for following
Be safe and be creative
Best
Steve