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Monstrous Gerardi mill vice 7x20, $750, Kitchener, ON

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Tom Kitta said:
This is not a Gerardi - its GS tooling. I am like 90% sure.
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Seems we go through this regularly. GS can be Gerardi SPA or Gerardi Sowa. Apparently Sowa and Gerardi have a relationship. Either way it is a fine vise.

That one comes with the table clamps and I see a bit of the vise stop hiding behind the top right corner.

I LOVE MY GERARDI!

But that one is in rough shape. The seller has an attitude too. Used stuff isn't worth 50% of the new cost unless it's never been used. I'd put the value of that vise closer to 3 or 4 hundred as is. On the other hand, if it works properly and the gauge surfaces are not all Fkd up, those prismatic jaws are solid gold.
 
Susquatch said:
Seems we go through this regularly. GS can be Gerardi SPA or Gerardi Sowa. Apparently Sowa and Gerardi have a relationship. Either way it is a fine vise.

That one comes with the table clamps and I see a bit of the vise stop hiding behind the top right corner.

I LOVE MY GERARDI!

But that one is in rough shape. The seller has an attitude too. Used stuff isn't worth 50% of the new cost unless it's never been used. I'd put the value of that vise closer to 3 or 4 hundred as is. On the other hand, if it works properly and the gauge surfaces are not all Fkd up, those prismatic jaws are solid gold.
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I asked the seller to point me to the sowa page with their used hacked up vises for comparison purposes... just so I don't make a silly offer yah know.
 
Susquatch said:
Seems we go through this regularly. GS can be Gerardi SPA or Gerardi Sowa. Apparently Sowa and Gerardi have a relationship. Either way it is a fine vise.

That one comes with the table clamps and I see a bit of the vise stop hiding behind the top right corner.

I LOVE MY GERARDI!

But that one is in rough shape. The seller has an attitude too. Used stuff isn't worth 50% of the new cost unless it's never been used. I'd put the value of that vise closer to 3 or 4 hundred as is. On the other hand, if it works properly and the gauge surfaces are not all Fkd up, those prismatic jaws are solid gold.
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I have two of these vises. I checked. To be Gerardi SPA it needs a letter G only.
To be Sowa it needs GS.

Also G AFAIK is embossed into the metal.

Mine are both GS. One GS is embossed into the metal, the other one has it laser etched.

There also is a price difference between G and GS.

Gerardi SPA does not claim to have any relationship with Sowa.

Gerardi SPA does claim their system is extensively copied.

Some newer Gerardi SPA products have full company name, like Kurt on the side of vise.

Sowa also does not claim it owns / sells stuff made by Gerardi SPA. Nor does GS tooling claim to be Gerardi SPA.

GS tooling is simply a good clone of Gerardi SPA vise, same as say Toolmex (Bison) makes a version of a Kurt vise. That does not make Polish made vise suddenly a Kurt.
 
Tom Kitta said:
I have two of these vises. I checked. To be Gerardi SPA it needs a letter G only.
To be Sowa it needs GS.
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Tom. You say this like you have an inside track. Others have said the opposite like they have an inside track.

I bought new jaws for mine from Sowa. They came in Italian packaging and they fit my vise perfectly.

My point was, who cares! They are both AWESOME VISES! Nothing wrong with Sowa at all. I'd buy either one in good condition in a heart beat. And I don't hesitate to recommend either one of them to anyone else.

I do absolutely love my vise.
 
Susquatch said:
My point was, who cares! They are both AWESOME VISES! Nothing wrong with Sowa at all. I'd buy either one in good condition in a heart beat. And I don't hesitate to recommend either one of them to anyone else.

I do absolutely love my vise.
Click to expand...

I love our vise, and it had the bonus of being controversy free in its naming

IMG_20221105_213335941.jpg
 
Susquatch said:
Tom. You say this like you have an inside track. Others have said the opposite like they have an inside track.

I bought new jaws for mine from Sowa. They came in Italian packaging and they fit my vise perfectly.

My point was, who cares! They are both AWESOME VISES! Nothing wrong with Sowa at all. I'd buy either one in good condition in a heart beat. And I don't hesitate to recommend either one of them to anyone else.

I do absolutely love my vise.
Click to expand...

Well, I do not own the G vise, but the GS ones are very well made. I used Toolmex and Kurt comparison - both are very good at what they do.

I would not be shocked if GS and G were somewhat related - if we have such hard time figuring them out this feels like prime area to sue for name infringement.

I also would not be shocked if G own at least partially GS brand. I would not be shocked if GS brand was a way to have "cheaper" tooling available.
 
To make things more confusing, if you log onto the Gerardi SPA site, and search dealers, what pops up?....Sowa tools Kitchener. Go onto the Sowa website, the modular vices are all branded GS Tooling.o_O
 
TorontoBuilder said:
I asked the seller to point me to the sowa page with their used hacked up vises for comparison purposes... just so I don't make a silly offer yah know.
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C'mon man! It isn't a 'hack', until the hole is deep enough to tap, install a set screw, and stamp "Oil Here" around the mark!

But...Damn... 7 inches wide and a 20 inch opening... I should be so lucky as to have a running mill with that capacity! LOL!
 
I bought a 2 piece vise for anything that won't fit in the 9" opening Kurt dx6. Never used it. Mill clamps have done everything. A 20" opening vise is a waste for 99.875% of us
 
Darren said:
I bought a 2 piece vise for anything that won't fit in the 9" opening Kurt dx6. Never used it. Mill clamps have done everything. A 20" opening vise is a waste for 99.875% of us
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I used a set of Mitee-Bite clamps a LOT while I was working, for holding some pretty heavy duty blocks of aluminum on the table of the CNC mill I ran. For that relatively light duty purpose, they worked very well.

If I had been running big slabbing cutters or trying for old school versions of high rate metal removal, that vise would have been a better choice. Gotta shop according to needs, eh?
 
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