Miraculous Wilton Bullet Vice Revival

Metal working friends check this out! A genuine Wilton Bullet 450S bench vice. Arguably the finest work holding tool ever made. So awesome, It’s design has remained unchanged since the 40’s.

Not only is it built like a tank, it’s also very precise. The moving jaw rides in a tight fitting keyed bore to minimize slop. The parts are all solid cast iron machined to exacting tolerances. Made right here in ‘Merica.

I had been looking for one of these, used, on the internet for ages and they can cost about $500 even in poor condition. New, they go for about $2000; Prohibitively expensive for most hacks like myself.

Well, a few weeks back I was at our shop in Louisiana, and what do I see lying out in the weeds?

The vice had clearly been left for dead. It looked like it had spent most of it’s life being used as an anvil or boat anchor. The manager was glad to be rid of it. For me, Christmas had come early.

I'll warn you, some of you may find the following images disturbing.

This is what it looked like when I found it:

Straight up nasty.

Because the tolerances are so close, once it begins to rust, the moving jaw will seize up. I managed to avoid using a hydraulic press to force the jaw out by heating the fixed jaw casting and applying plenty of penetrating oil.

Almost every bolt had to be drilled out. Some of the results were a little gory:

This hole had to be filled with brazing rod and re-tapped.

Machining the fixed jaw casting:

Machining the moving jaw casting. Note the sketchiness of this vee block set-up:

Freshly machined jaw and anvil faces. Prepped and ready for paint:

I think I was able to match the original color pretty well:

If this is wrong…I don’t wanna be right!

All assembled and ready to bolt down:

I got the replacement handle parts from McMaster-Carr. The jaws, horseshoe washer and domed dust cap came from Mountain Products who make parts for old Wilton vices:

https://www.wiltonviseparts.net/contact-us/

All said and done, I put less than $200 dollars into this and have a beautiful tool that will last forever. We’ll be very happy together.