Vise Vise Baby – Ephemerality

I like old tools. They’re my primary focus when antiquing. They have an individual history with their prior owners, which I don’t know about but enjoy imagining, and I feel a sense of purpose when I buy one and add to its legacy. Plus they’re usually made better than their contemporary counterparts, have already proven their durability, and cost less.

And so it was that with the Veterans Day holiday, I went antiquing with Liz and acquired this bench vise:

I wanted to replace the cheap clamp-on that I had been using, which would never stay in place no matter how hard I cranked down its grips. Now I have a bench-mounted beast. 3 5/8, 2″ bolts say that it’s not going anywhere! I even added lock washers.

And for the second best part: researching the crap out of it! Starting with the cast printing, which reads “THE DESMOND STEPHAN MFG. CO.”

The Desmond-Stephan Manufacturing Company was founded sometime over 100 years ago¹. It’s odd that I can’t find an exact date of incorporation, even on their own website². I’m guessing that they don’t use it as their established date because they were probably a family business when they started operations and tax codes back then were somewhat different and they didn’t get an EIN until much later – ergo they don’t view that as their start date and want to proudly claim their lengthier history.

The vise design and manufacturing actually predated them anyway, having been the property of Simplex Tool Company, later Simplex Corporation, and was sold to Desmond-Stephan in 1931, who continued to make the vises until 1964, when they in turn sold the rights to Ridge Tool Company³. I’m assuming then that my particular vise was made by Desmond-Stephan during this 1931-1964 time period.

My vise, with a single-swivel base and a 3.75″ jaw width, is also conveniently listed in a company catalog from 1941⁴. It has a listed price of $15. Adjusted for inflation using CPI, that’s around $320 today⁵. I got guud dearl!

Additionally, just for more historical nerding out; The Desmond-Stephan Manufacturing Company; which is in Urbana, OH; was just today at the time of me writing this post coincidentally featured in the local news’ callout that Ohio Magazine named the city as one of Ohio’s 5 best hometowns⁶. So we get a little bit of local Americana as part of the story too.

So there we have it: a chance find on an antique tool for a good price and made by a local company that’s apparently in one of Ohio’s best little towns to grow up in. I will feel honored the next time I have to cut a board or sharpen a lawnmower blade.

(Or dispatch of a murderous sentient doll.)