Picked up a 6" wide morgan vise. It says on one side morgan vice co chicago 360. Was primarily curious if that vocabulary would lead to a round about date of manufacture. Its a nice solid vise and I doubt Ill ever need anything bigger (yet) think it weighs something along the lines of 160lbs according to the website for the modern ones.

Well found one mention of the naming on these vises corresponded to where the company was located at the time which would put this guy about 1929 to 1947 if that holds true. I guess they were founded in Chicago then moved to aurora and then the current location Milwaukee. Atleast theoretically.

Have one more question, the bolt atleast I assume it is a bolt holding the rear jaw in place looks to have been rounded off long ago. Am I correct in assuming this is like a set bolt?

Usually that "bolt" is a tapered pin. At least it was on my two vises with pivoting rear jaws. I think mine are Prentices.

Those pins can be a real pain to get out sometimes.

160 pounds---a bit light for a chipping vise...smile

That makes sense Will, Ill keep soaking it for a few days before I give it a go at taking it apart.


Thomas this thing is a beast, I wanna go out on a limb and say its probably overkill for anything I will be doing in the next few years :D .

ok - since I have a vise almost like this. Once you get the pin out that jaw will/should pivot. I get why it would do that (to keep the clamping force even across the face.

But how common is that feature in these old vises and what focus group where they aimed at?

Not really sure, I was told that this one came off an old Navy or merchant ship of some kind back in the 50's. Not sure how moving the jaw would help. I am just gonna try and clean it up and give it a nice paint job before I put it on my bench.

The back jaw swivels to hold wedge shaped pieces. They were make in several styles for different tasks.

You ever used tongs with a pivoting face to hold tapered materials? Makes plenty of sense to me who has had a lot of time working knives with tapered blades and tangs and having to use a crush piece of wood to get them stable in a vise.

The back jaw swivels to hold wedge shaped pieces. They were make in several styles for different tasks.

Clever!...as Thomas says....."You ever used tongs with a pivoting face to hold tapered materials?"

I have several Morgan’s including the 360 Swivel Jaw. It weighs about 150+-.

Keep soaking the pin , it is tapered and machined to fit perfectly. Once removed you will be able to swivel the rear jaw and actually remove it and clean and lubricate the mating surfaces. This vise is beast and the swivel jaw makes handling tapered and irregular shapes easy. I did some research about 20 years ago when I obtained this vise and actually spoke to a gentleman that had been with Morgan when it was still in operation. He sent me new jaws for my vise and told me that this was their Cadillac of vises. Also, it had become to expensive for the market due to the machining required to produce it. This vise is rare and is an example of fine American Craftsmanship.

Howdy from eastern Oklahoma and welcome to the forum! 

if you haven’t yet already then you might wanna take a look at the read this first thread, it has information on how to navigate the forum 

We like reviving old threads occasionally but this is an older thread and the original poster hasn’t logged on since 2015 so he may not see your comment, 

that being said we love pictures! Do you have any photos of your Morgan vises? Or your swivel jaw vise?

I did not intend to double the same pic. I use this vise and a Yost 330 on a Continuos basis, l have others that are not mounted and stored , I will get some out and post pictures as time permits. I am interested in in all things related to working with metal.

Edited May 1, 20224 yr by Mod30
Remove duplicate photo

That’s a nice vise!

I used to have a couple printiss bench vises with a swivel jaw like that

I have vise which can be twisted, I must say I regret it.

They usually end up needed up, and start twisting with piece you work with

I recently aquired a Morgan Vise Chicago 360. It is attached to an old work bench, it is a beast. I am hoping to find replacement jaws

any recomendations where to find some?

Morgan vises are still made under the name Morgan Milwaukee, 

you might check with them to see if they have replacement jaws for that model,

other then that a lot of people have replacement jaws built by machine shops