Stanly #400 vise advice needed

[JimmyO]

I have found two of these in great shape, for $60 each. Anyone have experience using them? And, does this seem to be a fair price?

 

[Mark Gottesman]

I have no experience using them, but they seem to be a mainstay in framing shops. There is a pair for sale on the Winston-Salem Cl for a similar price. Been there for almost a month.

https://winstonsalem.craigslist.org/tls/5397551097.html

 

[Roy G]

James, I have used this type of vise before. Essentially, it allows you to clamp up a corner of the picture frame and nail it together after you have glued it. It works well as long as you have cut the miters at 45 degrees. Since you are doing one corner at a time, you won't know if the sides are the same length until final assembly. As for the price, you'd have to look and see what the comparable imports go for. When I used one, I found out that it works best on shorter pieces. If you get much over 18" on a side, you will need to rig up some support for the far ends, or else everything flops around and alignment gets difficult.

Roy G

 

[McRabbet]

The Stanley #400 Picture Frame Vise has some interesting history -- it was one of the key inventions patented by Horace C. Marsh of Rockford Illinois while he ran the H.C. Marsh Tool Company. The Marsh Company also produced excellent metal bench and block planes that I have reported on several years ago that were the focus of a splendid collection of Randy Osborne (Ozzie-x here) who passed away in June 2010. In the early 1924, the Union Plane Company purchased the Marsh Company and then in 1926, Stanley bought Union, mainly to get the Miter clamp patents and tooling, plus to take the competing Marsh bench planes off the market and under their control.

There were multiple Stanley-Marsh Miter products marketed by the Stanley Rule & Level Plant, including the Model 100 - a miter cutting machine with a good guided backsaw; the Model 200 - a miter cutter; the Model 300 - a miter sanding device; and the Model 400 - a Picture Frame Miter Clamp. They also made the Model 410 - an octagonal clamping tool. Because of my past interest in Marsh tools (Randy was a close friend and co-founder of the Western NC Woodworkers Association with me - he died from a brain tumor 10 days after my wife passed away), I uncovered some the company history. Here is a link to a copy of the catalog issued by Stanley on the Stanley-Marsh line of Picture Frame. The OP will find valuable information on the use of the Model 400 here. I had a #400, but sold it several years ago through my membership in the Mid-West Tool Collectors Association.

HTH