Reed 24 Utility Vise project

[Shiftless]

As part of his grand clean out unhoarding project Strouty posted a pic of an old vise that he didn't want to send to the scrap yard. He offered it to anyone willing to pay the postage. The swivel base is MIA. Somehow it had recently run into a large amount of white house paint. Worse than that, sometime in the past it had been badly abused resulting in a big crack in the static jaw support (on the other side) and hopelessly bending the handle.

So being the sucker I am, I offered to pay postage if he would send it to me. (Fortunately vises of this size fit into USPS flat rate boxes.)

Here is the pic Strouty posted that drew me in to the project.

 

[Shiftless]

The white house paint wasn't fully cured yet so I thought I'd better get it off ASAP. After some liquid paint remover and a quick blast with my pressure washer it is looking better. Under the house paint was a coat of burgundy slightly metallic car paint, a coat of some kind of red, under that a gray and under that what is probably the original now orangey red.
The gloss you see is fresh BLO (boiled linseed oil) wiped on to prevent surface rust. A thin application of synthetic grease will take care of the main threads and nut.

Except for one full 360 degree turn of slop, the action is pretty smooth.
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edit: I decided to remove the spindle and not cut it in half. Anybody need it? (no handle)
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[Strouty]

It looks better already. It was mounted on the back of my bucket truck, directly under the bucket, where there was a drain hole, the last person that borrowed the truck spilled a gallon of paint in the bucket, so it drained out onto the vise.

 

[davethorik]

I have a 23-1/2 that looks just like it. The original color seems to be a medium green, and mine is a swivel base. I like how it is made to look like a scaled down proper machinist vise, and isn't as flimsy as an exposed screw vise (although they obviously have their limits lol).

Should be a fun project.

 

[Shiftless]

Strouty:
Thanks for filling in the details about that paint.

 

[Shiftless]

Although to one or 2 of you guys, it may seem sacrilegious, I grabbed this vise with the intention of making a set of bookends. I know, it's a Reed and all, but it was already missing the swivel base, the handle, and worst of all had a big crack in the main body. It is receiving a full cosmetic restore and will have a place of honor on one of my bookshelves or perhaps get traded away to somebody else to use on their bookshelf. Who knows???

Anyway, here is a pic of my progress so far. I cut off the slide at a length to match the jaw face. In case you are wondering how that might be done, I put an abrasive cut off wheel on my 10 inch chop saw. Then clamped the slide onto the saw fence with a big C clamp and went to work. After about one minute of sparks, the cut was complete. (I removed the main screw first). For working vises, I prefer to leave the slide bare with BLO. But for bookends, I am going with full paint coverage except for the jaws, and maybe the anvil surface.
The jaw inserts cleaned up nicely...not much wear at all. Obviously in this pic they are masked off. I tried to remove them, but after impact tools failed to budge them I said f__k it and masked them off.

Not too far from my house is a hardwood specialty store where they sell scraps and cutoffs from exotic and not so exotic species. After painting I plan to mount these vise pieces on slabs of wood with felt or cork pads underneath.

Anybody want to suggest a final color? Perhaps Rustoleum Regal Red? Or a vintage looking blackish green? Wilton hammered Verde Green? How about Rustoleum Cast iron gray color?

 

[Shiftless]

The inspiration for my project came from fellow GJ member Mark in Indiana who made this one. (and I think quite a few more)

Thanks Mark!

 

[454ragtop]

Course, now you have to decide whether to fill in the crack with some epoxy or filler, or leave it as an explanation of why the vise was deemed bookend material.

As to color, I vote for some form of red, probably darker shade.

 

[Strouty]

I was wondering if you would split it down the middle, this makes more sense anyways. Looks like it will turn out very nice.

 

[Shiftless]

Thanks, Strouty

454:
I will not be filling that crack. It is on the side opposite to the lettering so when it is on the shelf the crack won't show anyway when the lettering is facing forward. If it wasn't for that crack, I wouldn't have made it into bookends.

 

[Mark in Indiana]

The inspiration for my project came from fellow GJ member Mark in Indiana who made this one. (and I think quite a few more)

Thanks Mark!

Shift:
I'm honored by your compliment and can't wait to see how your bookends turn out.