Looking for a heavy -duty vise.

We bought a vise for the fix-it shop about 15 years ago. We recently added a metal rolling table to the shop. Mr. Fix-it is going to rebuild a tranny soon and we redid this table to put the tranny on to roll it outside and work in the warmth and the sun if it ever gets here.....


So Mr. Fix-it wants to take our current vise apart and repaint , clean, re-lube it and put it back together.

I did not get a chance to get before pictures, but here are a few dismantled and a first coat of Bill Hirsch HI TEMP and HI GLOSS paint.

We started our hunt last Friday for an additional vise....all except 2 companies are made overseas....We started looking at several stores that we drove by on our trip through the city.  Everything we found on-line and in-stores was made in Chine, India, Malaysia.  We found one or two vise companies that still make their products in the U.S.A
I have requested information from them, there were no clear enough pictures on-line to see the quality so I have requested catalogs, I will keep you posted on that project. Also, the cost of the vises made in Asia all ran below $100.00 . The ones available in the U.S.A. all run between $200-$400. The Asian vises did not have removable pipe clenching jaws all the American made ones did.

The picture to the left is the base and spacer ring. Mr. Fix-it is going to do 2 coats before he bolts it on the new rolling transmission table.

I will keep you posted on how the search goes for the new vise for the bench in the shop. I actually had to resort to looking for a good used vise, because the stuff made 10 or 15 years ago is twice as heavy and double the quality. I think I may have found one in Rhode Island. It may be worth the couple hour drive......