Chas. Parker 101 vise refurb

[e30bradley]

last weekend I bought two vises.. I will be refurbishing both of them but first I wanted to try on the vise I already owned. Its a Chas. Parker no. 101
The base is broken but everything works well. I didn't take pictures until it was almost done but it started as the usual for an old vice, rusty with many different kinds of paint. First I was using a wire cup on a cordless drill but I decided to take it to work and do some glass beading after work.. Then I used a fine steel metal brush on a bench grinder. After that I rubbed everything with motor oil and assembled it with some Moly grease on the sliding parts. I originally planned on painting this but it looked so good that I decided to keep it like this.. anyone want to see the other two vises I have?

Here are some pictures:

 

[Jarhead0408]

Beautiful vise man!

 

[e30bradley]

Beautiful vise man!

thanks I just wish it wasn't broken.. two bolts will hold it fine, I have to assemble my new workbench so I can take some pictures of it mounted with my other two vises and my new drill press

 

[coolreed]

Very nice. Are you going to paint it? Sometimes you have to be innovative when repairing old vises.

I have been using my offset grinder with a sandpaper wheel to smooth the casting flash and clean/polish the vise with very good results. It seems to work better than a wire brush.

Best of Luck on your restoration.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

Super great. That's why I love rusty old tools. Under the rust, they're as good as new and better than what you can buy at the home depot by a factor of 100.

IIWY, I'd paint it back to original.

Phil

 

[autopts]

Oil it and leave it alone...wait a minute, thats not my vise..Paint it, but if you plan on using it, you have to be prepared of the downsides of painting with usage. Thats a beauty!!

 

[e30bradley]

Very nice. Are you going to paint it? Sometimes you have to be innovative when repairing old vises.

I have been using my offset grinder with a sandpaper wheel to smooth the casting flash and clean/polish the vise with very good results. It seems to work better than a wire brush.

Best of Luck on your restoration.

I was going to paint it, but decided not to because it looks nice this, and chipped paint doesn't look to good. is it normal for an old vise like this to have all those grinding marks? I was thinking this might be a lower budget vise and thats why the finishing work isn't great.

Super great. That's why I love rusty old tools. Under the rust, they're as good as new and better than what you can buy at the home depot by a factor of 100.

IIWY, I'd paint it back to original.

Phil

I agree.. I go to HD weekly but never buy anything from the tool section exempt chinese drill bits and channelocks.. what color was it originally? I'd love to know the history of this vise but a google search didn't give any good info.

Oil it and leave it alone...wait a minute, thats not my vise..Paint it, but if you plan on using it, you have to be prepared of the downsides of painting with usage. Thats a beauty!!

I'm leaving it like that, and it will get used. Thanks!

 

[Catalyze]

Grats Eric! Old vises are a treat to own and mostly fun to work on. Yours is one that I would think about leaving bare. I tried with a Reed and made it almost 10 days...LOL
Craig

 

[e30bradley]

Grats Eric! Old vises are a treat to own and mostly fun to work on. Yours is one that I would think about leaving bare. I tried with a Reed and made it almost 10 days...LOL
Craig

why do you say that? I am going to leave it bare, but I'm just wondering why you would leave this bare but not a Reed. anyway, I just got a Reed tonight and I plan to restore it.. along with two others I have. four total so far I will paint the Reed.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=156233

 

[Catalyze]

Here is an old Parker in the raw. It just looks "right" to me.
View media item 21197
The Reed just didn't look as "classic" in the raw to me....so it got painted.
View media item 21196
It's all in the eye of the beholder....and how much spare time I have. LOL
Craig

 

[e30bradley]

Craig, nice vises. what color did you paint your reed? do you have pictures of it?