That's a good point, warranties are important these days. I would want one on something that was brand new, but not so much of a concern for me with something that's been in use for the last 30-50 years. Any of the issues that might have required warranty replacement would have reared their ugly head by now - its been through years of quality testing!
No matter what brand they are, where they were made or when they were made a vise usually gets screwed up when someone decides that isn't tight enough and puts a cheater pipe on the handle to tighten it a bit more.
Checked Portland Craig's list and found several vices under $100 Example; https://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/tls/d/beaverton-work-bench-tool-storage-with/6878216749.html
I don’t look at it as Wilton selling out, they have a full range of vises at different price points and the low end items are marketed so as not to lose those sales. I have a Wilton that is about 55 years old and I would consider it a general purpose vise, it has served me well but then again I don’t have the need for a heavy duty industrial vise. That $60 vise and work bench on C/L would bring an easy $150 in the Chicago area and the bench would be a throw away. I’d buy that in a heartbeat.
If you have a cheap Chinese vise like I have and you do that the handle will bend, ask me how I know. Those older model Record vises are pretty good aren't they? Lots of them on craiglist and quite reasonable.
You know, I don't know that it is stripped, Those threads are "rolled" and what I see is the dark part of the threads is the part that gets used, the area that screws into the "nut". The clean area does not get used and the very end is just where the threading machine tapers out. Maybe I'm looking at it wrong or not seeing something....
The Jalopy Journal
