Recent content by Billbo66

Personally, I would look for an old cast iron Kohler 10 or 12 horse engine (K301 model, found on a lot of the 70s/80s garden tractors). Look at Craig's List, and see if you can pick up some old garden tractor for 100 bucks. Parts are available, and they are great fun to work on. Single cylinder...

Here are my favorites. 5" Chicago machinist, and a 2" baby bullet. Hope to fill in the middle with a 3.5 swivel soon.

I have the fuel M18 lithium drill/driver combo, and would highly recommend it. Charge is fast, torque is great, and working life is good, so far. It was a toss between the Dewalt combo, and Milwaukee, but I am glad I got the Milwaukee. I look forward to expanding.

I like the Parker Push-Lok. it remains flexible in cold weather, is oil resistant, and very easy to repair/splice. General red rubber hose gets stiff in cold weather, breaks down when covered in oil, etc. It will last for years.

Haha... the Pony vise. It is the orange imported cheap casting thing. I think my expectations were a bit too high for a light duty hobby vise. It didnt break, but the swivel lock is not able to hold up to my brute strength. Any 4" jaw vise that weighs in at less than 15 lbs should be avoided...

Also, Filson was interested in my garden tractor project, so I sent him a private link to the Flicker album. I am not sure if that is appropriate here. If anyone is interested, I could post it, or send as private message. No vise content, but fun old iron.

I didn't see the preheating idea until this morning, but it makes sense. I did a bit of research, and a lot of the blacksmithing guyes use boiled linseed oil as a finish, as well. Evidently, you can bake it up to 500 deg., which will blacken it a bit. Last night, I rubbed it down with Watco...

Thanks for the welcome messages! I am still on the fence regarding painting. It was an automotive paint supplier that could do the custom mix in a can. I am starting to like the Boiled linseed oil idea, since it will allow me to get to work faster. I wire wheeled is a bit more last night, and it...

Also- there are no numbers on the slide to indicate date of manufacture, or any model numbers cast into the body. Weird. Is that normal with the early Wilton stuff?

I have been lurking here for a few weeks, and have learned quite a bit. I have recently bought a Chicago era 5" Wilton Machinist vice, and have some restoration questions. I have seen a lot of really great restorations and paint jobs. My vice is functionally great, although it could use a paint...