The VISES of Garage Journal

[meatsis]

Wow Kevin I’m so sorry for your loss. My deepest condolences to you and your family.

 

[jw3]

I throw mine into the mix. I just put it back together mins ago. I found the old vise in a building I tore down on my place. One of dads stashes, I guess lol. After soaking in used motor oil for a month, I got everything freed up and thought what the hell, let’s clean this damn thing up. I know that it sat in that building for at least 30 years.


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[Outlawmws]

Your dad would be amazed!

 

[jpickar]

I haven't posted since the page number was around 1000 or so. Anyway I made two vice stands. One for my C2 in the shop and one for my reloading gunsmithing room for my 3" Wilton. I will paint them when spring comes. It is a warm winter so far, it was 30 degrees today, but not warm enough to paint.

 

[jw3]

Thanks Outlaw


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[jw3]

I had it. We have several trucks and pieces of equipment, so it seems we always have used oil on hand. I don’t know if it works better than penetrating oil, but sometimes the availability drives the marketplace. Lol. I put the vise in a 5 gallon bucket and let it set for close to a month. The vise is going on our welding trailer. We happen to run Miller equipment, new holland blue is very close to Miller blue.


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[kenc184]

jw3,

is it an optical illusion or is that a monster vise above and behind your Morgan?

 

[jw3]

It’s a good sized vise. It’s a Larkin( import from Tractor Supply). Good eye


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[gman007]

I throw mine into the mix. I just put it back together mins ago. I found the old vise in a building I tore down on my place. One of dads stashes, I guess lol. After soaking in used motor oil for a month, I got everything freed up and thought what the hell, let’s clean this damn thing up. I know that it sat in that building for at least 30 years.

JW
You have honored your dad well, great job

 

[gman007]

I haven't posted since the page number was around 1000 or so. Anyway I made two vice stands. One for my C2 in the shop and one for my reloading gunsmithing room for my 3" Wilton. I will paint them when spring comes. It is a warm winter so far, it was 30 degrees today, but not warm enough to paint.

Jpickar

Cool stands, very nicely done

As for for warm winter, well at least in Michigan, it is almost impossible to tell what kind of winter (or any other season for that matter) it is. In the last few days we had -12F (and with wind chill felt like -20F), and got slammed by considerable amount of snow.

Then since yesterday it has started warming up and we got hit with freezing rain and now it is about 32F and freezing rain will continue until tonight and then turn into snow and snow for next 3 days. Currently my whole area looks like one giant ice skating rink!! And I can not wait for snow to cover all the ice, that should be real fun! (can I call this icing on the cake or should be called snowing on the ice )

Then again as the saying goes, it is Michigan weather, if you do not like it, wait 10 minutes and it will change!

 

[jw3]

Thanks Gman


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[va.grouseman]

Gman, the snakes, mosquitoes, and ticks are fast asleep.---Glass half full.

 

[va.grouseman]

Jw2, does the vise actually say Larkin on it, cause it looks like a Larin.


https://www.ebay.com/i/132885100909?chn=ps

 

[Chubbz]

New to the wonderful world of vises. Already mounted 1 as you can see because it was needed. Want to clean both of them up and keep them. The 504 1/2 was my very first vise. The D44 is my 2nd. 504 1/2 I picked up for free from a kind guy. The D44 belonged to my father in law. Any info on either would be helpful. Tips on restoring them would be great too. Want to paint them orange and have the lettering black. Can't post pictures yet but I have them uploaded on my page.

 

[jw3]

VA it is a Larin not Larkin.


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[va.grouseman]

Chubbz, looks like you swung the pendulum to the other extreme from the Gman.---I don't know which of you fellows got it worse.---But welcome to the Forum.---Be looking for those pics.

 

[Chubbz]

What extreme? Got it worse? The bug for getting and restoring old vises?

Both of the vises work and will rotate with 1 finger. Want a few more.

 

[Fierljeppen]

What extreme? Got it worse? The bug for getting and restoring old vises?

Both of the vises work and will rotate with 1 finger. Want a few more.

I think that VA was referring to Gman's location vs. your listed location. Welcome to the whacky world of vises at the Garage Journal.

 

[Chubbz]

I blame not having my coffee yet... Makes sense now though. I say hell because I'm in the suburbs with a HOA that's on me about every little thing you can think of...

It's good to be here on GJ though. Just went through another thread about lubing ratchets. Didn't even think that was a thing but now I'm thinking tool maintenance for everything. Trying to get my hands on another vise that I don't have to worry about weld spatter with.


EDIT:
So should I wire wheel and brush the vises or vinegar bath? Iffy on the vinegar since a test just turned a reciprocating saw blade from rusty to black. Thinking leave the slide bare and put BLO on it and grease the screw with Power Punch grease. Everything else gets paint besides for the handle. Paint I'm thinking normal Rustoleum Orange and a black gloss paint marker for the lettering. Thoughts?

 

[Smitty]

Vintage vises as far as the eye can see.


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[wrenchguy]

i wish i could find a guy that knows how 2make things happen here!

 

[Smitty]

i wish i could find a guy that knows how 2make things happen here!

Ahhh...the blacksmith shop from the shire.

 

[kenc184]

Finished the Rock Island 577. As best I could tell, the original RI color was battleship grey. This grey is a mixture of gloss white with satin black, I like it.

 

[lafester]

Finished the Rock Island 577. As best I could tell, the original RI color was battleship grey. This grey is a mixture of gloss white with satin black, I like it.

Nice! If I upgrade my 574 it will probably be with something similar (maybe 5").

 

[jw3]

I blame not having my coffee yet... Makes sense now though. I say hell because I'm in the suburbs with a HOA that's on me about every little thing you can think of...

It's good to be here on GJ though. Just went through another thread about lubing ratchets. Didn't even think that was a thing but now I'm thinking tool maintenance for everything. Trying to get my hands on another vise that I don't have to worry about weld spatter with.


EDIT:
So should I wire wheel and brush the vises or vinegar bath? Iffy on the vinegar since a test just turned a reciprocating saw blade from rusty to black. Thinking leave the slide bare and put BLO on it and grease the screw with Power Punch grease. Everything else gets paint besides for the handle. Paint I'm thinking normal Rustoleum Orange and a black gloss paint marker for the lettering. Thoughts?

Chubs what is BLO?


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[gman007]

Chubs what is BLO?


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Boiled Linseed Oil

 

[gman007]

Finished the Rock Island 577. As best I could tell, the original RI color was battleship grey. This grey is a mixture of gloss white with satin black, I like it.

Ken
Nice job, looks great!

 

[Smitty]

Finished the Rock Island 577. As best I could tell, the original RI color was battleship grey. This grey is a mixture of gloss white with satin black, I like it.

Beautiful job ken, the vise looks like new.

 

[kenc184]

Thank you guys, means a lot coming from you vise pros!

I know its not huge by the standards of quite a few on this site, but I doubt I'll need more than this 157 lb monster.

 

[txlonghorn1989]

Finished the Rock Island 577. As best I could tell, the original RI color was battleship grey. This grey is a mixture of gloss white with satin black, I like it.

Nice restoration kc184! What's the badge on it?

 

[zoomieport]

A Baby and A Mini...

 

[gman007]

A Baby and A Mini...

Zoomie
Are you going to elaborate a little bit more on the details or did you just post this to make us salivate and drool all day long over the babies and to boot the anvils as well. OK then you got me

 

[kenc184]

Nice restoration kc184! What's the badge on it?

Over the period they owned the Rock Island name "Birtman electric" installed this tag on each vise.

"manufactured by Birtman electric company, rock island division, rock island illinois, made in the united states of america"

 

[va.grouseman]

Zoomie, did you buy one of those all steel machined Mini Babies?---Seems like I remember the man was selling them for $900.00.

 

[bubinga]

I blame not having my coffee yet... Makes sense now though. I say hell because I'm in the suburbs with a HOA that's on me about every little thing you can think of...

It's good to be here on GJ though. Just went through another thread about lubing ratchets. Didn't even think that was a thing but now I'm thinking tool maintenance for everything. Trying to get my hands on another vise that I don't have to worry about weld spatter with.


EDIT:
So should I wire wheel and brush the vises or vinegar bath? Iffy on the vinegar since a test just turned a reciprocating saw blade from rusty to black. Thinking leave the slide bare and put BLO on it and grease the screw with Power Punch grease. Everything else gets paint besides for the handle. Paint I'm thinking normal Rustoleum Orange and a black gloss paint marker for the lettering. Thoughts?

It will, Electrolysis, Or technically, reverse Electrolysis,will leave the surface black too.
Just need a little follow up with a scrubby pad or SOS pad.

 

[trijeff]

VA, I know there was the guy who machined/welded one, but I think Zoomie's is one of the ones from Hamler and is cast. It looks like Zoom's is the one smaller than the 2" baby but not the smallest one Hamler makes.

https://hamlertools.smugmug.com/

 

[Chubbz]

It will, Electrolysis, Or technically, reverse Electrolysis,will leave the surface black too.
Just need a little follow up with a scrubby pad or SOS pad.

Just tried and didn't do much to it. Dunking a bunch of old sockets.

So wire brush for the vises is what I'm thinking to make it easy. Until I build a blast cabinet.

 

[gman007]

Just tried and didn't do much to it. Dunking a bunch of old sockets.

So wire brush for the vises is what I'm thinking to make it easy. Until I build a blast cabinet.

Chub

I am not sure when you stated "Just tried and didn't do much to it" are you referring to Electrolysis or not. If you are, then depending on how rusty the item is, it might take several days rather than hours of continues Electrolysis to see results. The speed of processing will also depend on your setup such as how many sacrificial electrodes, what material etc you are using. Electrolysis in general needs patience and time (but no physical labor on your part).


Evapo-Rust has worked well for me, but for some the higher cost of it is a major consideration and specially if the vise is large, you might have to resort to tricks like stuffing the vise parts in sturdy and thick plastic bags to minimize the amount of Evapo-Rust that is needs to cover the entire piece. And just like Electrolysis, this method needs patience and time.

Wire brushing works fine but what I personally do not like about it is all the resulting rust dust. Plus it is a lot more work than some of the other methods. Also using this method, it is harder to remove rust from crevices and tight spots.

I do not like vinegar as one can easily over do it and end up with pitting.

As for blasting, I would not sand blast a vise which can damage the surface, but rather use softer blasting media such as glass bead blasting etc. And one needs proper setup (cabinet, ventilation etc)

For the record, I have used Wire brushing , vinegar, Electrolysis, Evapo-Rust and bead blasting.

 

[Smitty]

Just locked up this Columbian no. 508 on a heavy duty stand. The vise is in pretty good condition and the stand is massive.


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[gman007]

Just locked up this Columbian no. 508 on a heavy duty stand. The vise is in pretty good condition and the stand is massive.

Smitty strikes again and this time bigger than ever and a nice stand to boot. He has officially jointed the very exclusive 8" vise club! Congrats