Parker 725 Trojan Vise

Hackhamster · Feb 28, 2018

I acquired an old vise from a friend of mine while I helped him move a bunch of his junk. It came from an old tech school welding shop in Baltimore that was being refurbed into a cooking classroom, and go figure, they were just chucking the old stuff in the trash. My buddy did a bit of dumpster diving, and one divorce later, I get a vise out of it.

Anyways, it says C. Parker, Co. Meriden CT USA on one side, and Trojan 725 on the other. Underneath is a patent date from 1914. It has a swivel mount secured by two big fat bolts on top, and 4 mounting bolt holes to attach it to the bench. It was in remarkably good condition, and the mechanism works smoothly. The surface is pretty rusty, and there are paint splotches all over it, the metal has been cut into in a couple places and the jaws are pretty worn, but overall, it looks great. The only problem is the swivel ring on the bottom has a crack running through it vertically.

I've looked around online, and there don't seem to be any (for a noob like me) easily found resources on this specific model, although there are plenty for the other Parker model lines. So, I come here to, er, drink from the firehose as it were.

I'm planning to strip the thing down, weld the crack shut, replace the jaws or refurbish them somehow, prime and paint it a nice battleship gray enamel and bolt that sucker down and use the heck out of it. Any tips for any of this? This is my first attempt to recondition an old tool, but I can't wait to have that thing in operation and want to get started.

1982fxr · Feb 28, 2018

We need pics

Hackhamster · Feb 28, 2018

Here are some pics. Go figure, they are every which way. edit: and of course, there is a Vise 101 thread I haven't read :headscrat

Fierljeppen · Mar 1, 2018

Hackhamster said:
C. Parker, Co. Meriden CT USA on one side, and Trojan 725 on the other. Underneath is a patent date from 1914. It has a swivel mount secured by two big fat bolts on top, and 4 mounting bolt holes to attach it to the bench.

I've looked around online, and there don't seem to be any (for a noob like me) easily found resources on this specific model, although there are plenty for the other Parker model lines. So, I come here to, er, drink from the firehose as it were.
.

Nice find! The Trojan series was Parker's economy line of bench vises. It makes sense that it came from a school then. I have an attached 1912 document, graciously contributed by GJ member sonoronos, spelled the same forwards and backwards.

If this information was meaningful to you, I would ask that you find out about the 1914 patent and let us know what it is all about. It might be about the change in the swivel base, I don't know.

Welcome to the "Church of Vise"

Hackhamster · Mar 1, 2018

Thanks for the image! Nice to see where it fits in the Parker 720 series (what do I know, I just started on this a couple days ago). Those bolts on the side of the vise, that connect to those square plates under the swivel plate, I'm going to try to pull those off and clean them up, and the patent document below gives me nice view of how under the rust it's all put together.

The patent is right here. It describes a new swivel base for the Parker no. 19 vise. The swivel base for the 725 is nearly identical except it has 4 bolt holes instead of 3, and underneath is a square metal plate with the patent inscribed on it. It's in a like-new condition since it was protected, will post a pic later.

Hackhamster · Mar 1, 2018

Found a nice picture, I think I might try this color-scheme rather than the gray I was considering, it looks classy:

Shiftless · Mar 1, 2018

Congrats on obtaining that classic vise. I have one about the same size a Parker Model ...
If you take a close look at those jaw inserts, you will see that they are very complex. Unless you are a super skilled machinist, like fellow member KMScott, I would just clean up what you have there already. I can’t see major damage in your pics.
The last paint job idea looks way better to me too.
Make sure to take pics along the way and maybe post over in the main vise thread when you can.

Hackhamster · Mar 1, 2018

Shiftless said:
If you take a close look at those jaw inserts, you will see that they are very complex. Unless you are a super skilled machinist, like fellow member KMScott, I would just clean up what you have there already. I can’t see major damage in your pics.

I can barely make out the outline of the inserts, its really corroded. Even brushing the **** out of it with a wire-wheel I really can't see any detail. I was checking out a video about electrolysis, I might need to do that.

Shiftless said:
The last paint job idea looks way better to me too.

I just need to find a good oil-based paint that is a dark-greenish black, and I saw a tip on hand tool restoration where they just hit up the bare parts with paste wax. This might be a good excuse to buy a new moto-tool so I can true up the lettering cast into the sides.

Shiftless said:
Make sure to take pics along the way and maybe post over in the main vise thread when you can.

There's a "main vise thread" ???

Shiftless · Mar 1, 2018

Hackhamster said:
I can barely make out the outline of the inserts, its really corroded. Even brushing the **** out of it with a wire-wheel I really can't see any detail. I was checking out a video about electrolysis, I might need to do that.
I just need to find a good oil-based paint that is a dark-greenish black, and I saw a tip on hand tool restoration where they just hit up the bare parts with paste wax. This might be a good excuse to buy a new moto-tool so I can true up the lettering cast into the sides.

There's a "main vise thread" ???

Yes, there is!
You have some catching up to do. We are past 3000 pages and 60,000 posts

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44782&page=3120

For truing up the lettering I, like many others, use hand files.
To protect bare parts from rust I like Boiled Linseed Oil, known among us as BLO. I also use Fluid Film.

drivesitfar · Mar 2, 2018

Hack: Nice find and welcome to Garage Journal where there are more than a few of us that like vises (vices).

can you measure the jaw width (guessing 5 inches, but i'm not the Parker expert)? also it's weight? either it's missing just the wrench to loosen and tighten the swivel base or it's been modified with a different nut. the jaws look like they are in good shape especially for it's age and being in a dumpster years ago.

good luck and here's what a big vise looks like with a couple coats of BLO on it after 3 years.

Hackhamster · Mar 2, 2018

drivesitfar said:
Hack:also it's weight?

The old catalog image above says its 64 lbs, 4 1/2 inches, and opens to 6 1/2 inches

drivesitfar said:
either it's missing just the wrench to loosen and tighten the swivel base or it's been modified with a different nut. the jaws look like they are in good shape especially for it's age and being in a dumpster years ago.

According to the patent diagram, which shows how the swivel plate is suppsoed to look, those are the original nuts. One of the bolt ends is a little mushroomed over, so I will have to fix the thread to get it off. The jaws are really worn, unless I just haven't gotten through the corrosion, layers of paint, etc... that have built up on t over the years. Like I said above, I can't even see how to begin to remove them.

drivesitfar said:
good luck and here's what a big vise looks like with a couple coats of BLO on it after 3 years.

That looks pretty nice. Does the BLO age and get darker or more silvery?

Shiftless · Mar 2, 2018

The BLO takes a long time to fully harden and darkens with age to a very handsome finish. If you are in a hurry, you can bake it on... Another thing I have read about but never done myself. It will STINK!

As I said before, the Parker jaws are difficult to remove and replace. I never even attempted to do it on any of my Parkers.

Drives posted a pic of his big Reed with BLO... here is a pic of my big Reed (a 406 I recently passed on to a GJ member) with 2 coats of BLO. This pic looks shiny because the second coat has not cured. I wire wheeled the surface but did not strip it completely down to shiny metal. Personally, I like old things to look well cared for, but still old. The BLO stops rust but doesn’t look hard like clear coat sprayed on.

Hackhamster · Mar 2, 2018

Does the BLO interact with petroleum lubricants? I figure I will disassemble, clean, paint or treat the surfaces, lube and reassemble. I know I'm not going to paint the parts/surfaces that are going to be greased, but the parts that require lubrication not to get BLO either? Or does it even matter?

And since I don't actually have a lot of free time, I'm going to disassemble it and restore it piecemeal, but once I get it clean, what is a good temporary coating to apply that will prevent rust but be easy to remove when the time comes to paint (just a light coat of machine oil?). I'm planning on wrapping the cleaned pieces in toweling or old sheets and keep them indoors to prevent condensation rusting them again in the garage (its not exactly temperature or humidity controlled)

I'm going to the Home Despot today to get polishing materials, I guess I can pick up BLO at the same time.

Hackhamster · Mar 2, 2018

And I read an old thread about a 0000 Parker Vise, where it talks about how the "economy" Parker models were painted green to distinguish them from the regular vises they sold, which apparently were black. Were the Trojans, another economy line, painted green as well? I'm not finding a lick of green on the one I'm working on, but I found a nice Rustoleum Dark Forest Green I might try.

Shiftless · Mar 2, 2018

You can paint right over the BLO with Rust-Oleum. If you simply wipe the BLO over everything and put it into storage you should be good to go. Is the humidity really high in your storage area? Even at 70% here, my BLO covered steel or iron doesn’t rust.

Regarding your color ideas ...

Here is a pic of one of my Morgan Chicago vises that I painted Rust-Oleum dark HUNTER green.

Hackhamster · Mar 2, 2018

My garage is on the north side of the house, and has a dampness problem because the drainage on that side is so poor. French drains, drain tile, ditches dug, all that stuff has only made it tolerable: my neighbor's yard and gutters drain downhill into my side yard, where the driveway and the house itself give water a slow exit downslope to the street, where the change in elevation is about 6" over 50 ft. Anyways, the side yard next to the garage is a mudhole 6 months of the year, so the garage itself is always humid, thus stuff gets rusty quick.

Anyways, my question was about applying grease over BLO-treated parts. Does the BLO need to be stripped off before lubing? AS for painting, does the BLO act as a primer once its dry? I was going to strip it, prime it, paint it, but if BLO allows me to skip a step, great.

Hackhamster · Mar 2, 2018

Shiftless said:
Here is a pic of one of my older Morgan vises that I painted Rust-Oleum dark HUNTER green.

That is really nice! I like the dark green Ooh, I just found a different green: Rustoleum Racing Green.

:beer:

Shiftless · Mar 2, 2018

Thanks, hack!
When I bought it a few months ago for $9.99 it was a mess.
I don’t see what you would need to strip off old BLO to add some oil or grease. :dunno:

As far as your idea of metal flake racing green, I will say “your vise - your color” but metal flake paint on a vintage vise would not be my first choice. Vises are not too hard to repaint so go for it and if you change your mind later, just pop for another spray bomb and change it up.

You might want to do some reading in the vise repair thread. It is almost 300 pages by now.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=252830&page=287

Parker 725 Trojan Vise

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