Beaten & abused Reed 1C vise restoration

[MayerMR]

Hey fellas,

Though I already posted the before/after in the massive GJ "vises" thread, some fellas wanted some more details on what all went into the restoration.

I ran across this vise several weeks ago and passed on it because of the obvious reasons. But for some reason, the vise just stayed in the back of my mind. As I normally do with abused, neglected, and otherwise abandoned inanimate objects, I proceeded to personify it and decided that it deserved better. So suffice it to say, I ran back and picked it up.

Little buddy on the ride home:

It's a pretty big vise, but it doesn't look very large next to the Athol 624 1/2 that I picked up the same day...that sucker is surprisingly heavy:

Well fast forward a day or so and I had posted my new find up on the aforementioned GJ vises thread to ask for advice on whether I could properly get this damage re-repaired. The consensus was basically that everyone was amazed that someone managed to break a Reed 1C in the first place and that my options were basically; 1) Part it out and make my money back or 2) throw it on the bench and use it until it breaks. A few individuals mentioned that if I ground the welds down too much to clean them up some that I would run the risk of weakening the repair substantially, which, of course, is very true.

As you can see, the repair is quite unattractive:

 

[MayerMR]

Unfortunately, it looks like some of my photos disappeared from my phone, but I proceeded to tear down the vise without much trouble. I then started to grind down the welds a little bit when I realized that though the static jaw had weld beads indicating a past repair, after wire wheeling the paint off and doing some finish grinding, I couldn't find *any* evidence of a repair - I actually think that the person doing the repair may have continued those beads onto the main body for aesthetic reasons, but I may be wrong.

I tried to tread lightly during my grinding session on the dynamic jaw because it most certainly had been broken in the past. The below photo doesn't show it well, in fact, it looks like I went pretty wild and ground most of the weld off, but I really didn't take all that much off - the angle of the photo makes this pretty deceiving.

Then it was time for the JB Weld "filler":

After letting it cure for a couple of days, I used a sanding grinder on my dremel to cut down most of the JB Weld before hitting it with 120 and then 240 grit foam sanding blocks.

 

[MayerMR]

Then it was time for a nice coat of etching primer:

With all the sanding and abuse this little guy has suffered during its life. Most of the original surface patterning on the work areas had long since given up the ghost. Normally, this wouldn't concern me too much, but with the damage and filler, etc, I really wanted to try to minimize how much the eye was focused on that so I decided to try something a little different. When I stopped by Home Depot to pick up some Hammered paint (hoping the hammered effects would hide the defects) I noticed they also have some paint that replicates a "sandstone" texture. I figured that it may work to replicate that fresh-cast look.

And after a couple of coats of the stuff I was pretty pleased how well it worked!

That said, I really *wasn't* pleased with how the dynamic jaw looked still. Kind of lumpy and ugly. So I decided I couldn't live with it and ground through the paint back down to bare metal and reapplied some more JB Weld, this time continuing the filler further down the front of the jaw towards the handle and higher up near the front jaw (but not in a location where someone using the vise is likely to hammer it and cause it to crack off. I did a lot better job on the blending on the second go 'round. Sorry, no pictures of Round 2 though.

While waiting for the second application of the JB Weld to cure, I decided to tackle the handle, pipe jaw pins, and swivel locks. As bad as the paint looked, it sure was some damn hard paint and did serve to protect those pieces from the elements pretty well.

Note: There was some rust inside the swivel base, but I took care of that by dipping the base in Evaporust overnight.

Since this vise was already in pretty bad shape, I decided to use it as a test bed for a couple of different techniques. The second "test" I wanted to try out was using a cold-bluing solution on the exposed steel. The solution reacts with ferrous metals and produces that blackened color you see used on shotgun and rifle barrels. I figured if it turned out poorly or didn't work that I hadn't really harmed something that would hurt my feelings too badly.

The solution I purchased is produced by Birchwood-Casey and is called "Perma-Blue" and cost about $8:

Had I not been a ******* and knocked the open container over, this little bottle would have lasted me for probably countless vises. As I *did* knock it over and spilled probably over 90% of the contents, I will probably need to buy another bottle in 2-3 vises. But as you can surmise, you really don't need much of this stuff - a little goes a long way.

Now I really just followed the directions on the bottle. After cleaning the parts, I just wet a cotton ball with the solution and wiped the surface of the parts down. I let them sit for about 1 minute and then wiped it off. After wiping it off, the directions say to clean the part with cool water and then lightly buff with some steel wool. This last step really is necessary because as you'll see when you use it, the areas that begin to dry have a little "crust" for lack of a better term. It really reminded me of what you see when you spill milk and don't clean it up...kind of a dry, crusty residue. But the steel wool cleans it right up.

Once the pieces are fully dried, I wiped them down with some Johnson's Paste Wax and let them air dry for about 20 mins until the wax dried hazy. Then I grabbed an old t-shirt and buffed the wax off and had a nice shine. This will help the parts from rusting in the future, but will need to be applied once every 6 months or so, depending on usage.

Super easy and it looks really slick:

 

[MayerMR]

My next problem to address was the swivel bolt. When I purchased the vise, the swivel bolt was missing. I did some pretty serious internet searching, but was unable to find a replacement or even what the length/thread pitch was. I posted my issue on the GJ Vises thread and the resident vise expert, Kevin (KMScott), promptly responded with not just "it's a 3/4-16 fine thread bolt that is 1 3/4" long"...but an actual, no kidding drawing of the bolt. He had fabricated a bolt in the past for a Reed 1C, so I quite literally couldn't have hoped for more. Using his drawing, I went down to my local Fastenal store and was able to pick up the proper bolt in Grade 8. Unfortunately for me, they didn't have a shouldered version, which is fine. So I just grabbed a 3/4" hardened washer and used a piece of 5/8" ID nylon tubing cut to the length needed for the shoulder and used a pair of vise grips and large wrench to "thread" it onto the bolt. The OD was still too small, so I just took some painter's tape and wrapped it until I achieved the correct OD (48" is needed, btw). Now I know this is kind of a crappy fix, but I figure how often do I really need to rotate this sucker? It's not like it a high RPM situation. Sure I could probably find some copper piping or something, but meh, this will work for me. Anyway, here is the result:

Ok, back to the fun part. After about 2 days, I felt the sandstone paint had cured enough and it was time for the color!

Now, as I've gotten older, I've learned to be patient, though it's still hard. Especially when you're nearing the end of project and really want to see the finished product. But I've marred enough paint that wasn't quite dry in the past to learn that you're better off waiting. A full three days after applying the last coat of paint I went out and began the reassembly process. I painstakingly went through each pipe jaw hole with a 3/8'' tap to ensure when I put the pins back in that I wouldn't knock or chip and paint off - basically I just "cut" the paint that creeped into the holes. I also used the same tap to clean up the threads on the set screw for the split nut on the handle.

My final task was to take a white paint pen and highlight the manufacturer's name and model detail on the side.

And finally, the final product!

Quite a fun project. Saved a vise on the brink of the scrap bin, learned a lot, and am pretty happy with how it turned out!

 

[va.grouseman]

That's pure dedication Mayer.---Really nice restore there.---But even though you got it looking good, I'd still use it, make it earn it's keep.--- But that's just me.

 

[MayerMR]

That's pure dedication Mayer.---Really nice restore there.---But even though you got it looking good, I'd still use it, make it earn it's keep.--- But that's just me.

No question about that...going to mount it on my other workbench this weekend and she'll be earning her keep before long.

 

[mgmlvks]

WOW - that is inspiring - lots of good ideas for me to contemplate!

 

[Unruh]

Now, as I've gotten older, I've learned to be patient, though it's still hard. Especially when you're nearing the end of project and really want to see the finished product. But I've marred enough paint that wasn't quite dry in the past to learn that you're better off waiting. A full three days after applying the last coat of paint I went out and began the reassembly process.

My final task was to take a white paint pen and highlight the manufacturer's name and model detail on the side!

This is a lesson I also had a hard time learning.

Great job on that vise. I was talking to a local guy and he said before doing the manufacturer’s name to go over the letters with a file and knock off “just a bit”. I’m gonna try on my next vise.

 

[AngryBeaver]

looks good! what shade of green is that?

 

[GETRIDAONE]

I see you have a 5 gal. bucket of Evapo-Rust. I have found after soaking the parts that rinsing with distilled water will cut down on the flash rust when dry.
Nice job on rehabbing the vise and putting it back to work. The lime green paint and black hardware look good together.

 

[thehorse13]

I have to admit, when I saw the color choice I was skeptical but after seeing the blued components against the green, I'm loving the combo.

Excellent save!

 

[Retroman]

Love the color combo what brand and color is that?

 

[yaidunno]

I really like that vise. Looks to be a very robust and compact vise. Good job on the save!

 

[MayerMR]

This is a lesson I also had a hard time learning.

Great job on that vise. I was talking to a local guy and he said before doing the manufacturer’s name to go over the letters with a file and knock off “just a bit”. I’m gonna try on my next vise.

I could see the value in that if the letters themselves weren't well cast or were very uneven. Luckily for me though, the letters on the Reed were pretty well pronounced.

I see you have a 5 gal. bucket of Evapo-Rust. I have found after soaking the parts that rinsing with distilled water will cut down on the flash rust when dry.
Nice job on rehabbing the vise and putting it back to work. The lime green paint and black hardware look good together.

I just use regular tap water, but I agree, rinsing with water after an evaporust dip is necessary, especially if you plan to paint.

I really like that vise. Looks to be a very robust and compact vise. Good job on the save!

Thanks very kindly!

 

[MayerMR]

looks good! what shade of green is that?

I have to admit, when I saw the color choice I was skeptical but after seeing the blued components against the green, I'm loving the combo.

Excellent save!

Love the color combo what brand and color is that?

I'll answer all three of you at once!

The green paint is Valpspar Tropical Foliage Satin

 

[gman007]

That was a lot of labor of love and it shows as it looks great, well done dude!

 

[Shiftless]

That was a lot of labor of love and it shows as it looks great, well done dude!

I second that! Well done .....

 

[DFB]

Nice Job

I want to mention I "found" two different vises at my flea mkt with weld on them which like yours needed some TLC to look anyway decent. And I have to say could not find evidence of either actually being broke and it just seemed like they were both reinforced one had weld all along the fixed base mounting ears and up the body and the other was on below the moveable jaw. That was also a Reed. And started to wonder if was like some regional thing old timers might have done for preemptive reinforcement

 

[KMScott]

MayerMR, excellent repair. Just love seeing old iron brought back into service.

 

[exmaxima1]

What kind of Bandsaw is that in the background? The wheels look like something off an older Porsche 928.

 

[1982fxr]

I have to admit, when I saw the color choice I was skeptical but after seeing the blued components against the green, I'm loving the combo.

Excellent save!

This

 

[Summersteel]

Did you also blue the slide arm of the dynamic jaw?
How is the bluing holding up?

 

[MayerMR]

Nice Job

I want to mention I "found" two different vises at my flea mkt with weld on them which like yours needed some TLC to look anyway decent. And I have to say could not find evidence of either actually being broke and it just seemed like they were both reinforced one had weld all along the fixed base mounting ears and up the body and the other was on below the moveable jaw. That was also a Reed. And started to wonder if was like some regional thing old timers might have done for preemptive reinforcement

How strange! I know for certain the dynamic jaw was broken - very visibly broken at one point. Don't think the static one was every broken though? Very odd thing. Did you buy those vises?

MayerMR, excellent repair. Just love seeing old iron brought back into service.

Hey thanks so much Kevin, really appreciate the compliment!

What kind of Bandsaw is that in the background? The wheels look like something off an older Porsche 928.

It's actually my next restoration job. It's an early Canadian-made Beaver Power Tools Model 2300 band saw. They were later bought by Rockwell and the later ones had the Rockwell name on the plate. Looking forward to getting her up and running as well!

Did you also blue the slide arm of the dynamic jaw?
How is the bluing holding up?

Yes sir, I blued everything except the jaws, which happily happen to be fairly dark and look blued as well. Can't tell you honestly just yet how well it's holding up as I really haven't used it too much since completing the build. But I imagine it'll hold up decent enough for a vise! And if not, re-doing the bluing is easy as can be!

 

[NC Rick]

Thanks for the inspiration!