One thing to know from the outset is that the date stamp isn’t necessarily a manufacturing date because castings sometimes sat unused for months or years, so a vise could have been date stamped long after it was cast. For those with no stamp a few were accidentally released without a stamp, and some were made early on before Wilton added that feature. Some have no stamp at all, and some have been known to have typos with dates that are almost certainly wrong. Others will look like 12-31-60 and have “GUAR EXP” above the dates indicating the manufacturer’s warranty would expire on Decem(more about this later). Others will look like 6-30-60, which would be June 30, 1960. Some will look like 9-50 which would be September of 1950. Some will look like 9-945, which would be September of 1945. Unscrew the slide all the way out, flip it over, and you’ll probably find a date stamp in one of several formats.

The slide key is a square length of key stock that fits into a groove in the body of the vise to keep the front jaw from rotating. Unfortunately, a lot of bad information has been published on the topic but I think enough good information has finally been collected that things are more clear now.įor those who don’t already know, the slide key on most Wilton vises has a date stamped on it to indicate the date the vise was ready for release (sale). Luckily, when you’re trying to determine the age on a Wilton vise, it’s usually pretty easy. The other common clue can be patent date markings since issue dates are easily determined in most cases. One clue can be changes to the design/style of the vise that took place at a known time, allowing people to say their vise is either before, or after, a ballpark date. Most manufacturers didn’t use date stamping on their vises, so there are only a few clues for us to work with. One of the most common questions people have about vintage vises is how old they are and the answer is often mostly a guess.

There were a lot of people before me who put time into collecting this information and they should at least be given credit.*** *** Note: If you’re reading this post so you can cut and paste portions for your eBay listing please be kind enough to cite the source.

Wilton expiration date