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I picked up this last week and at first wasn't happy with the runout. Runout was around 0.004". After several hours I did get it to 0.001" which is probably good enough but I can't help myself. I ordered some 1144 metal and a Shars ER32 chuck. A couple of hours playing on my lathe with a 4 jaw...

I only have one vise that I restored and don't use. It was my grandfather's and a smaller Columbian mechanic vise. I know it's not worth much but I don't plan on getting rid of it. When I repaint my daily use vises, they look good for about a week. Welding and grinding gets them dirty quick...

If I'm restoring it, I strip it done to bare metal and wipe down with acetone before painting. My vises that I use daily, I'll repaint occasionally and most of the time I'll just wipe down with acetone and repaint after removing the jaws and taping up machined surfaces.

I I bought the balls already drilled and tapped from McMaster Carr. All I needed to do was turn down the ends of the handle and thread on my lathe. With the handle off, I polished the meatball in my lathe as well. The spindle is original to the vise but may have been repaired since the meatball...

I originally was going to put a groove in the middle of the handle with a ball, spring and set screw, but I didnt think there was enough thread to install everything.

The vise is finished. Friend loves it. You can see the old vise it replaced at the bottom of the picture. I add a 7/16-20 set screw to the meatball so you can lock the handle in place to act like a speed handle. I added a thrust bearing and it's smooth as silk.

The vise is ready to be put back together. I probably won't assemble until I drop it off to my friend's since I don't feel like picking up that much weight. I think he'll be happy with it. Funny story, I took it apart at his place and I knew about the split nut but I knew he didn't. I showed...

I started cleaning up the vise and flat stoning the slide to remove all the high spots. Vise was made in 5/60. I see two rivet holes so at one time it had a tag. My friend will be much happier with this vise than his 8" light duty Chinese one.

I've got a piece of cold rolled 7/8 rod to use and ordered two threaded 1-3/8 steel balls from McMaster. The handle on it now looks to be 1/2" npt pipe with nuts so that has to go. I made a handle for my Morgan a could years ago but peened them on. This time I want to try something else...

I found this vise for a friend. It was a good deal for this size vise. I know it's a Reed 106R but there's no Reed logo. Does anyone know if this vise originally had a tag and possibly a rebranded Craftsman? My friend wants me to restore it for him and he wants it painted red. The first thing...

I bought the Chief and and later the Astro 498K. The 498K had a better trigger than the Chief and a lot more power (which is should since it's in another class). I gave the Chief to my uncle and bought the 401K.

I rebuilt a pulling engine and saved a 5/8-11 head bolt to make a thread chaser out of. I stuck it end my mill and used a ball end mill to cut 3 slots in it by eyeballing. Works great to clean the threads out.

I asked SK about a month ago who makes their LP90 because Olsa had the same ratchet head and the customer service rep told me AJ Manufacturing in Illinois. That wasn't surprising to me but it was surprising that they told me that.

Made a set of copper jaws for my grandfather's 1940s Morgan Chicago 45. I'll never get rid of this vise.

If a welder, washer and nut doesn't work, it's usually not going to be a fun time. The Rigid type (I have the Astro version) works better than the tapered ones but you need to drill all the way through so you can removed the shank by tapping it out. Grip Edge makes an extractor that looks...

Not my vise but saw it on the back of a friend's service truck with broken jaws. I told him I could make him a new set. First time I've made serrated jaws. I haven't trammed my mill in for a while so I didn't mind nodding the head and rotating my vise.

Those shake and bakes are the ticket for rusted bolts. I use mine often on exhaust studs.

This is the first time I've tried hammered black. I've used flat black in the past but I think I like the hammered better.

I got around to painting my vise again. I usually paint it every few years once I've chipped or burnt enough paint off it. I'm happy how the black and copper jaws look.

SK isn't terrible but they're not as strong as Wright. The box end is thinner than most (but has wider "hips") and that can be handy in spots. My biggest gripe is that the SK combo wrenches are made in China now and I don't think the price is any different. I don't want a possible Chinese...