Here is a Desmond Simplex 41-P I'm also working on. The slide was rusted in place gooood. Took a lot of cleaning and penetrating oil. Eventually I was able to close it all the way via the handle. Then to open it back up I had to take a piece of brass bar and a little sledge and banged on the base to open it back up and get it apart. I was careful not to cause any damage...
The person before me broke the collar, no doubt trying to get it open. I used some JB Weld to put it back together. I'm probably going to drill & tap a couple holes from the top down and some screws with red loctite to hold it all good. Then I can cut off the top and grind them flush. It's probably overkill but at least then I know it's solid.
The top of the dynamic jaw was a little worn away, the cast part, not the jaw inserts. Also it looks like someone drilled a small hole in the front of the dynamic jaw face. I filled both with JB Weld and sanded them smooth. This was purely cosmetic and thankfully didn't require *that* much filler. I could of left it as-is, but everything else on the vise was so nice... It would of been like that perfect classic car with the one little scratch on the door... The static side looks a lot better condition... Probably won't mess with any JB weld on it.
Both parts of the vise were stamped with "1-40" and "21" on the bottom. I haven't cleaned the base off yet, still trying to get the screws out of the jaw inserts. Will report what I find once it's cleaned good if there are any more stampings. I'm *assuming* it means it was cast January 1940??? The number 21 might be the date or possibly just a serial number to keep the two halves together? Can anyone confirm or deny this? I don't know when Desmond Stephan Co was in business exactly so....
