GS Tooling milling vise reviews?

[PeterT]

Interesting. The Ajax GS link shows both cast & modular styles on this main link. The modular sure look like 'Italy' GS I've seen elsewhere. They don't state country of origin like Penn though

GS Vises

And now we have a 'Sowa' casting style mill vise, COO = Taiwan

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www.suncoasttools.com

The distributers & their branding is often ambiguous that's for sure.

 

[Susquatch]

Seems like there may be more than one supplier using the GS Tooling name. These guys say they are made in Italy.

View attachment 28705

To repeat a little of what I said earlier. GS stands for Gerardi SPA. SPA is Italian for Corporation. Italy is a funny place. I LOVE my Gerardi Vise, but I wouldn't put it past an Italian company to claim made in Italy when all they really did was affix a label.

The GS logo on my vise is laser etched into the base. Once the etching process is setup, it has to be cheaper than riveting on a label. As others have implied, that suggests the vise is a lower price line made elsewhere. That said, Gerardi put their name on it. Given their reputation, I'd bet it's a great vise that would make almost any machinist very happy.

I say go for it!

 

[Rauce]

To repeat a little of what I said earlier. GS stands for Gerardi SPA. SPA is Italian for Corporation. Italy is a funny place. I LOVE my Gerardi Vise, but I wouldn't put it past an Italian company to claim made in Italy when all they really did was affix a label.

The GS logo on my vise is laser etched into the base. Once the etching process is setup, it has to be cheaper than riveting on a label. As others have implied, that suggests the vise is a lower price line made elsewhere. That said, Gerardi put their name on it. Given their reputation, I'd bet it's a great vise that would make almost any machinist very happy.

I say go for it!

This is not true, GS does not stand for Gerardi SPA in this case.

GS Tooling is a brand used by Sowa on all sorts of items from manufacturers all over the place. For some reason they also import gerardi vises with the GS tooling brand.

If go on the Sowa site and look under the GS tooling brand you’ll see thousands of items that are most definitely not made by Gerardi in Italy and have nothing to do with Gerardi.

 

[TorontoBuilder]

This is not true, GS does not stand for Gerardi SPA in this case.

GS Tooling is a brand used by Sowa on all sorts of items from manufacturers all over the place. For some reason they also import gerardi vises with the GS tooling brand.

If go on the Sowa site and look under the GS tooling brand you’ll see thousands of items that are most definitely not made by Gerardi in Italy and have nothing to do with Gerardi.

This is the problem with initials, they're too ambiguous. Unless the company has a word mark where the initials have a distinctive look and logo.

 

[Canadium]

Now I'm quite confused. Over the past few months I acquired a made in Taiwan "GS" 6 inch vise. It looks almost identical to my Kurt D675. So is my GS 6 a Gerardi or just a Chinese clone??? I had assumed before just a Chinese clone of something and had no idea it might have any connection to Girardi.

 

[Susquatch]

This is not true, GS does not stand for Gerardi SPA in this case.

If you mean Sowa when you say "in this case", you are quite correct. But I meant in the case of the Gerardi products made in Italy. Not a big deal either way. Good clarification. Especially for other readers.

Question - what DOES GS stand for in the case of all those other products?

 

[Susquatch]

Now I'm quite confused. Over the past few months I acquired a made in Taiwan "GS" 6 inch vise. It looks almost identical to my Kurt D675. So is my GS 6 a Gerardi or just a Chinese clone??? I had assumed before just a Chinese clone of something and had no idea it might have any connection to Girardi.

Join the club. But for what it's worth, I doubt it's any connection to Gerardi. They are pretty proud of their stuff.

More likely it's a Chinese outfit capitalizing on the name. Sort of like a Mitutoya micrometer hoping you won't notice its spelled wrong.

 

[Dabbler]

Now I'm quite confused. Over the past few months I acquired a made in Taiwan "GS" 6 inch vise. It looks almost identical to my Kurt D675. So is my GS 6 a Gerardi or just a Chinese clone??? I had assumed before just a Chinese clone of something and had no idea it might have any connection to Girardi.

well... a Taiwanese clone of a K657, but that's probably quite good anyway...

 

[Rauce]

That’s the same vise I have. A Kurt clone made in Taiwan and sold under the GS brand by Sowa.

 

[Dabbler]

I just looked up my clone vise and it is a Autowell ARW-689 FWIW.