York 150 vise restoration

Mr. 360 · Feb 26, 2015

This is a great thread, lots of info here on these rather obscure (this side of the pond anyways) vises.

I have an old York 60 that I found on the dirt floor in part of a barn on my families farm when I was a kid. It would have been sitting there for I dont know how long from the previous owner of the place. I sat it on a shelf and forgot about it.

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Fast forward to my mid teens and I was working on an old power wagon up there, and when I wasn't looking a family member had clamped the steering box in it and was pounding on it right on the concrete floor, broke the jaw and a bit of the casting. I don't even think they noticed. I don't think the damage is going to be a deterrent for what I need it for, but I kick myself a little everytime I see it. Good to know you can still get the jaws for it though, I was going to make some when I give mine a full resto but I may just buy them to keep it looking sharp. Other than the little bit of damage, it works really well, and doesn't appear to have actually been used that much.

Geurt · Mar 11, 2015

Mr. 360 said:
This is a great thread, lots of info here on these rather obscure (this side of the pond anyways) vises.

I have an old York 60 that I found on the dirt floor in part of a barn on my families farm when I was a kid. It would have been sitting there for I dont know how long from the previous owner of the place. I sat it on a shelf and forgot about it.

Fast forward to my mid teens and I was working on an old power wagon up there, and when I wasn't looking a family member had clamped the steering box in it and was pounding on it right on the concrete floor, broke the jaw and a bit of the casting. I don't even think they noticed. I don't think the damage is going to be a deterrent for what I need it for, but I kick myself a little everytime I see it. Good to know you can still get the jaws for it though, I was going to make some when I give mine a full resto but I may just buy them to keep it looking sharp. Other than the little bit of damage, it works really well, and doesn't appear to have actually been used that much.

Cool story! I'm sure the little 60 will clean up well.

I got another sweet deal on an 80. Its in a fair condition. Maybe I'll only clean it up. I'll upload some pictures tomorrow.

Geurt · Mar 12, 2015

Fretters · Mar 12, 2015

That looks clean on the corrosion and abuse front Geurt.

That 80 I'm currently working on has a cracked swivel base. It's been either dropped or hammered at some point, creating a burr, so there's been some overtightening to compensate which has cracked the swivel. It's still in one piece though. It has led to an interesting dome shape being created on the swivel rim after being used that way for a while.

Mr. 360 said:
This is a great thread, lots of info here on these rather obscure (this side of the pond anyways) vises.

I have an old York 60 that I found on the dirt floor in part of a barn on my families farm when I was a kid. It would have been sitting there for I dont know how long from the previous owner of the place. I sat it on a shelf and forgot about it.

[...]

Fast forward to my mid teens and I was working on an old power wagon up there, and when I wasn't looking a family member had clamped the steering box in it and was pounding on it right on the concrete floor, broke the jaw and a bit of the casting. I don't even think they noticed. I don't think the damage is going to be a deterrent for what I need it for, but I kick myself a little everytime I see it. Good to know you can still get the jaws for it though, I was going to make some when I give mine a full resto but I may just buy them to keep it looking sharp. Other than the little bit of damage, it works really well, and doesn't appear to have actually been used that much.

Nice vice.

You can always trust some neanderthal to abuse something given half a chance. The damage they've caused shouldn't be of any detriment though. The insert shelf is still pretty much complete. It's more just a cosmetic annoyance than anything else.

MikeF2316 · Dec 17, 2015

Rather than start a new thread, I figured I'd just tag onto this one.

I wanted a heavy duty vise, one that I could abuse without actually abusing it. I found this locally on kijiji, an online classified in Canada.

The original owner bought it new from a surplus store 25 or 30 years ago. Presumably it was a few years old then.

It didn't really need anything other than a good cleaning. It looks like some brake fluid runs have damaged the paint. And it's seen some use, but not really abused. There was a slight bit of damage to a couple of the retaining screws for the jaws, I think from clamping stuff. And there was no washers under the nuts for swiveling. You can see it's quite a bit larger than the 5" Mastercraft vise it will replace. There was some minor surface rust, as well as some rust and "stuff" behind the jaws. And the base was on front to rear, at least in my determination.

The grease on it was dark and more like glue than grease. The bottom before cleaning.

Obviously they are painted after assembly. Note the paint on the jaw from poor masking.

I wire wheeled all the unpainted surfaces to remove rust and shine them up. I removed all the old sticky lubricant. Here's the result

So I put it back together, and mounted it to the bench.

Of course the aluminum jaw protectors I just made for the 5 inch vise are too short for this one.

The only thing I don't like is the slop in the swiveling mechanism. There seems to be about 5 mm play for and aft when the bolts are loose.

Ranger2016 · Mar 2, 2016

I have found a York 150L Vise at an auction. The Vise however didn't have any original jaws included. I have found the York Internet site to order parts and I sent in a request to order a set of jaws for the vice. Part number 06.01.01.05.0.0. I made an order within the site to make the purchase, however someone from York sent me an invoice to pay prior to shipment. Does one just wire funding to their company bank account? Is their a more secure way of paying for York parts? Have I selected the right jaw for my vise? Can anyone provide any advice for purchasing parts from York?

Geurt · Mar 2, 2016

Ranger2016 said:
I have found a York 150L Vise at an auction. The Vise however didn't have any original jaws included. I have found the York Internet site to order parts and I sent in a request to order a set of jaws for the vice. Part number 06.01.01.05.0.0. I made an order within the site to make the purchase, however someone from York sent me an invoice to pay prior to shipment. Does one just wire funding to their company bank account? Is their a more secure way of paying for York parts? Have I selected the right jaw for my vise? Can anyone provide any advice for purchasing parts from York?

I had good experiences ordering through the York website. Indeed you get an invoice and then you have to transfer the money yourself to their account. Shortly after you will receive your order. The jaws you selected should work fine for the 150.

MikeF2316 · Dec 9, 2016

MikeF2316 said:
Rather than start a new thread, I figured I'd just tag onto this one.
...

All the pictures seem to have been deleted. I PM'd the powers that be but didn't hear back. It actually seems easier to redo rather than edit.

I wanted a heavy duty vise, one that I could abuse without actually abusing it. I found this locally on kijiji, an online classified in Canada.

The original owner bought it new from a surplus store 25 or 30 years ago. Presumably it was a few years old then.

It didn't really need anything other than a good cleaning. It looks like some brake fluid runs have damaged the paint. And it's seen some use, but not really abused. There was a slight bit of damage to a couple of the retaining screws for the jaws, I think from clamping stuff. And there was no washers under the nuts for swiveling. You can see it's quite a bit larger than the 5" Mastercraft vise it will replace. There was some minor surface rust, as well as some rust and "stuff" behind the jaws. And the base was on front to rear, at least in my determination.

The grease on it was dark and more like glue than grease. The bottom before cleaning.

Obviously they are painted after assembly. Note the paint on the jaw from poor masking.

I wire wheeled all the unpainted surfaces to remove rust and shine them up. I removed all the old sticky lubricant. Here's the result

So I put it back together, and mounted it to the bench.

Of course the aluminum jaw protectors I just made for the 5 inch vise are too short for this one.

The only thing I don't like is the slop in the swiveling mechanism. There seems to be about 5 mm play for and aft when the bolts are loose.

MikeF2316 · Dec 9, 2016

And a modification to address my complaint.

The shoulder on the vise isn't tall enough to keep it centered as you're swiveling it. Plus one of the holes is much further in from the shoulder (green arrow) than the other.

So I made a plate and a spacer to mount a standard bearing.

Note, due to the offset "center" hole, I need to move one mounting screw. Countersunk screws are a must here, for clearance.

Another plate and a piece of plywood to carry the bearing for the base

And the vice reassembled from the bottom.

It looks the same from the top

Geurt · Dec 10, 2016

Very cool modification and the condition of the vise is near mint. Good job!

BRWEIDEM · Sep 7, 2017

This is a great thread. New member here, I joined last week because I found an old York 150 while shopping in a small town in central Arizona. I thought it was an old Wilton and lit up like a light bulb when I first saw it but was disappointed after looking at it closer and discovering it was a York (I had never heard of York before this). I hesitated buying it but ended up doing so because the price was right. Thanks to the GJ members for posting such a great information about this vise, I am definitely glad I bought it now. I contacted York, as other members have, and based on the response I received believe the vise I have was manufactured between 1934-1946 - during the height of WWII. What a great story these vices carry with them.

I am looking to do a full resto since the vice is still in great condition. It came apart easy and although it definitely shows signs of use it was definitely not abused. I've restored a number of things before but want to be careful here because I've really come around to liking this vice, especially given the unique story behind it. Can anyone help with a few questions I have?

I have everything torn apart and was thinking I would sand blast the body but then came across the discussion about electrolysis. What does this process accomplish and how specifically do I go about doing this? When do you use electrolysis vs. sand blasting?

Regarding paint, are you using spray paint or buying a specific paint to use in a cup gun? If using spray paint does the quality seem to be ok?

I think that's it for now, I'm sure I'll have more questions later. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Brad

EOC_Jason · Sep 7, 2017

electrolysis works well when a vise is too rusty to be taken apart, or a person doesn't have the resources for blasting it...

Sand blasting works best if you can fully disassemble. It strips off the paint and rust and gets you down to bare metal quick. If you want to polish up anything afterwards a wire wheel does the trick.

I've always used spray paint (and primer) and had great results. Just make sure your parts are good and dry and clean. I like to leave them out in the sun for a couple hours on a hot day. The cast metal is porous so primer & paint adheres well.

Bcom · Sep 7, 2017

BRWEIDEM said:
This is a great thread. New member here, I joined last week because I found an old York 150 while shopping in a small town in central Arizona. I thought it was an old Wilton and lit up like a light bulb when I first saw it but was disappointed after looking at it closer and discovering it was a York (I had never heard of York before this). I hesitated buying it but ended up doing so because the price was right. Thanks to the GJ members for posting such a great information about this vise, I am definitely glad I bought it now. I contacted York, as other members have, and based on the response I received believe the vise I have was manufactured between 1934-1946 - during the height of WWII. What a great story these vices carry with them.

I am looking to do a full resto since the vice is still in great condition. It came apart easy and although it definitely shows signs of use it was definitely not abused. I've restored a number of things before but want to be careful here because I've really come around to liking this vice, especially given the unique story behind it. Can anyone help with a few questions I have?

I have everything torn apart and was thinking I would sand blast the body but then came across the discussion about electrolysis. What does this process accomplish and how specifically do I go about doing this? When do you use electrolysis vs. sand blasting?

Regarding paint, are you using spray paint or buying a specific paint to use in a cup gun? If using spray paint does the quality seem to be ok?

I think that's it for now, I'm sure I'll have more questions later. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Brad

You might want to start your own new thread of questions on your vise. This thread was started 6 years ago.

tonyciambrone · Sep 8, 2017

Bcom said:
You might want to start your own new thread of questions on your vise. This thread was started 6 years ago.

People complain about duplicate threads, not searching and they complain when people revive threads. Can't win.

Geurt · Sep 8, 2017

Great find Brad! Your York will clean up nice.

Since starting this thread 6 years ago, I restored a couple of these Yorks. I used both sandblasting and electrolysis with success. Choose whatever is easiest available for you.
Regarding paint, I am very satisfied with Rustoleum Hard Hat spray paint. Easy to apply and very durable. On all of them the paint holds up very well, even on the ones which are regularly used. Signal red is the color which comes very close to the original York red.

Good luck!

BRWEIDEM · Sep 8, 2017

Sorry about that, new guy here still learning the unwritten rules. I decided to post here because I found the thread to be a great resource. I figured I would add and maybe it could help someone else in the future like it helped me. I spent days looking under the vintage tool forum and was glad to stumble across this thread.

Anyway, I would like to try electrolisys but wondered if it only attacked rust or if would also help with the old paint? My guess is no but I am unsure. My York was painted blue at some point and can still see some of the original red underneath. If not, I will stick to sand blasting.

Thanks again for your help.

MikeF2316 · Sep 8, 2017

BRWEIDEM said:
Sorry about that, new guy here still learning the unwritten rules. I decided to post here because I found the thread to be a great resource. I figured I would add and maybe it could help someone else in the future like it helped me. I spent days looking under the vintage tool forum and was glad to stumble across this thread.

Anyway, I would like to try electrolisys but wondered if it only attacked rust or if would also help with the old paint? My guess is no but I am unsure. My York was painted blue at some point and can still see some of the original red underneath. If not, I will stick to sand blasting.

Thanks again for your help.

That's not an unwritten rule. You get to decide where you want to post. I agree with what you did, as evidenced by my posts in this thread. I think it's better with the more obscure stuff in one thread. I'm looking forward to more posts (in this thread, if you want) as you restore it! :thumbup:

Mikkeli · Jul 24, 2018

Some really nice restorations. Inspired by these bullet vises i bought York from Finnish auction site (35 EUR sounds bargain to me). Should be in my hands in couple of days. I'll post some pictures later.

1foxracing · Jul 24, 2018

This is my York 100 I recently refinished.

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Mikkeli · Aug 15, 2018

What do you think guys, should I restore this one or just keep using as it (vise is in perfect working order)?

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Already got some stickers for restore purpose, but seems that I have to get bigger York for those stickers :thumbup:

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Outlawmws · Aug 15, 2018

Up to you, but a good cleaning and wire wheel the bare metal would probably work wonders

EOC_Jason · Aug 15, 2018

Maybe wipe it down clean, and re-grease the main screw... Otherwise I would leave it as-is...

MikeF2316 · Aug 15, 2018

As you can see from my posts up above, I'm a believer in clean, lubricate and use. I would strip and paint only if the paint was in really poor shape, which is not the case with this one.

pelletman · Sep 17, 2020

I picked up a 150 last weekend at a local yard sale from a local scrappie. It is a cool vise, but I am not really impressed by the swivel base mechanism, or lack thereof. Just a couple of carriage bolts, which I think I will replace and maybe use stainless acorn nuts. Undecided on paint, maybe just BLO or Flood Penetrol finish. I tend to like raw metal finishes, plus nobody thinks you are trying to hide anything. Last picture is before going into the warm purple power (cheaper and I think as effective as Simple Green, although Joe P might disagree). I hadn't yet seen how to take it apart and I wanted to get the old crappy paint off. I like to preserve things like the brake fluid vise in this thread, but this one was too far gone.

BRWEIDEM · Sep 19, 2020

Pelletman, I think you have yourself a good find. Like many other garage journal users, I too have contacted York in the Czech Republic and have some written history of these vises. I could post the transcripts - they are interesting. Either way, I enjoy using something that pre-dates the Wiltons that are so sought after.

I almost passed mine up when I saw it. It caught my attention because it looked so much like a Wilton but Im glad I brought it home. Mine had an awful blue paint job with some of the original York red poking through. I opted to strip mine by means of electrolysis which worked well. I didnt want to paint it because I knew it would never be close to original so I decided to leave it bare and coat it with boiled linseed oil to protect it. Ill post a few pictures soon.

I agree with you about the swivel base. It is crude and does not function well but I simply attribute that to its period of production.

Once you strip it down you should find a stamp reading MORAVIA 150 on the flat area near the jaws.

BRWEIDEM · Sep 19, 2020

One other thing. Depending on how far you want go with this, you can get new Jaws and hardware from York that still work with these old vices. In my communication with York, I ended up purchasing a set of jaws and screws that worked and fit perfectly. The Shipping cost as much as the parts themselves but it was good to know parts could still be found for these vises. I did have to contact a local hardware store for the metric pins that hold the screw and nut in place.

York 150 vise restoration

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