Wilton Vise Paint

coolreed · Jun 7, 2012

Anyone ever attempted to repaint a Wilton back to the factory finish?
Wiltons have a peculiar pattern to their finish. Some are painted silver and some are a blueish gray.
I want to repaint one of my Wiltons and I called Wilton to see if I could purchase the paint (pn 1118220). But Wilton stated they do not have any (Bovine).
(They have to have some if they are making them.) :willy_nil

joshmodelskidoo · Jun 7, 2012

try getting a paint code?

rlitman · Jun 7, 2012

coolreed said:
They have to have some if they are making them.

Not necessarily in a form they can sell to you.
Perhaps they use a heat cured paint, or something with a VOC content too high to sell. Whatever the reason, I've never seen a company sell the same paint that they use in the factory.

Most companies either say you're out of luck, or contract with a custom touch-up paint company to provide a touch up paint to their specifications.
I've got a Raabe "Precision Color" marker from one such arrangement on my desk. When I tried to get the paint by the can (or anything other than this marker), I was told that it is not available.

Eric Commarato · Jun 7, 2012

My Wilton machinist vise I've owned since the mid 1980's originally had a hammered paint finish. I repainted it a couple years back and the blue Hammerite spray paint was a dead match.

bigcaddy · Jun 7, 2012

Eric Commarato said:
My Wilton machinist vise I've owned since the mid 1980's originally had a hammered paint finish. I repainted it a couple years back and the blue Hammerite spray paint was a dead match.

Ill second this. I've painted a ton of wiltons either grey or hammer tone blue from Krylon and its as close as you can get to the original without using a paint gun and the hassle of cleanup.

The 2 pictures i attached are a vise i painted about 4 months ago. I should have a few of my C1 mounted on my bench thats been painted the same color but i can't find them right now. It looks just as good as the small one in these pictures.

radgto · Jun 7, 2012

I've seen a couple threads that say they used Rust-Oleum Verde Green hammer tone and it looks pretty spot on to me.

kc-steve · Jun 7, 2012

Yup, Rustoleum Verde Green is fairly accurate for later models of Wilton, but a couple of months ago someone posted an original Wilton green on the Wilton History pages (page 11). It looks like a hospital green from the 1950s or so. If you weren't around back then it is hard to describe.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=86615

Steve

autopts · Jun 7, 2012

Thats a great example Steve.
Two photos, are of 1975 and later, one base is factory new the other was painted Verde Green. The Tradesman color is a perfect match The third was the closest color I could find to that and that Painters Touch Sage Green

bigcaddy · Jun 7, 2012

I've got an original Wilton Baby Bullet with most of the light mint green color still intact. Here is a pic so you can get an idea of what it looks like.

kc-steve · Jun 8, 2012

Thanks autopts and bigcaddy, the cavalry has arrived.

Nuthin' worse than posting something different and no one around to back ya up, ya know?

Steve

coolreed · Jun 8, 2012

Thanks for the response and info. That Krylon Hammertone Blue looks like a match to me. This is what I will paint. As soon as I find someone to help me move this thing. Good Grief.

Thanks again.

zekers59 · Jun 8, 2012

Coolreed,

Good grief is right....8" Bullet is the Mother Lode. Maybe get two cans of paint.... :beer:

jvitez · Jun 8, 2012

kc-steve said:
It looks like a hospital green from the 1950s or so. If you weren't around back then it is hard to describe.

Steve

Here's an interesting description of the history of where hospital green came from. The same day surgery theatres of one of our teaching hospitals was still tiled in this green until a few years ago. Yes, it was the original 1950's tile.

http://www.cmaj.ca/content/181/6-7/402.full?sid=e7c5b63c-1ba7-408f-88f2-48b338058be8

coolreed · Jun 12, 2012

I looked at Home Depot, Lowes, ACE, Sherwin Williams and could not find Hammered Light Blue in Krylon or Rustoleum in the OKC region. I could find every color except Light Blue. However, Rustoeum has it listed on their website and Amazon lists it.
So,...I ordered two cans from Amazom.

It may be a while before I start the rebuild as I have a few other projects pressing, but I will post pics of the results. Hopefully two cans are enough. :willy_nil

sonoronos · Feb 21, 2017

Does anyone have a final word on what Rustoleum Hammered finish is closest to brand new Wilton Vises?

I have seen conflicting information regarding the color. I have seen both references to Hammered Verde Green and Hammered Light Blue, but it has been unclear which color is actually the correct color.

There are photos showing what is described as Verde Green that look perfectly blue, with no green hue at all which seems odd. There are photos described as Verde Green that look metallic blue green or slight aqua. There are photos of light blue that look silvery blue.

Anyone have a final word?

blsnelling · Feb 21, 2017

I'm using Verde Green.

Lighting makes a huge difference. This is the same vise in different light.

Mickey O · Feb 21, 2017

The newest color matching machines the auto paint stores have do an incredible job of matching colors. We painted a door on a green metallic car and you can't tell the match was that good.

rlitman said:
Not necessarily in a form they can sell to you.
Perhaps they use a heat cured paint, or something with a VOC content too high to sell. Whatever the reason, I've never seen a company sell the same paint that they use in the factory.

Most companies either say you're out of luck, or contract with a custom touch-up paint company to provide a touch up paint to their specifications.
I've got a Raabe "Precision Color" marker from one such arrangement on my desk. When I tried to get the paint by the can (or anything other than this marker), I was told that it is not available.

Snap On sells spray cans of touch up paint for their toolboxes although I don't know if it's the same paint they spray the boxes with.

sonoronos · Feb 21, 2017

Thanks, blsnelling...it's looking more like Verde Green is just much greener than the new wilton vises - Verde Green definitely looks green under tungsten lighting!

The problem with doing color matching is that manufacturers don't make custom hammered paints - at least not one that I know of.

One other likely alternative is Hammerite Hammered Light Blue (41150).

G-ManBart · Feb 22, 2017

sonoronos said:
Thanks, blsnelling...it's looking more like Verde Green is just much greener than the new wilton vises - Verde Green definitely looks green under tungsten lighting!

The problem with doing color matching is that manufacturers don't make custom hammered paints - at least not one that I know of.

One other likely alternative is Hammerite Hammered Light Blue (41150).

Verde Green is nearly identical to the current bullets...both machinist and tradesman.

I took the spindle off a fairly new vise and when I removed the collar I found the original paint was unfaded underneath (you can see the outline of the collar with the gap). I sprayed RustOleum Hammered Verde green on the outer rim right next to it and it's obvious how close they are.

The hammered light blue is closer to the very oldest Wilton color, but really has too much metallic in it.

sonoronos · Feb 22, 2017

G-ManBart said:
I took the spindle off a fairly new vise and when I removed the collar I found the original paint was unfaded underneath (you can see the outline of the collar with the gap). I sprayed RustOleum Hammered Verde green on the outer rim right next to it and it's obvious how close they are.

With respect, that dynamic jaw is not from a modern Wilton, correct? By modern, I mean a vise made after 1980?

G-ManBart · Feb 22, 2017

sonoronos said:
With respect, that dynamic jaw is not from a modern Wilton, correct? By modern, I mean a vise made after 1980?

No, that's not correct. I said it was "fairly new" because it's a modern vise, in the current color. I don't recall exactly, but I think it was 1997 or 1998 production.

sonoronos · Feb 22, 2017

G-ManBart said:
No, that's not correct. I said it was "fairly new" because it's a modern vise, in the current color. I don't recall exactly, but I think it was 1997 or 1998 production.

hmm...thats interesting! which specific vise model is that from? because no modern wilton i have seen has that raised vee on the dynamic jaw.

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

G-ManBart · Feb 22, 2017

sonoronos said:
hmm...thats interesting! which specific vise model is that from? because no modern wilton i have seen has that raised vee on the dynamic jaw.

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

It's a 600.

sonoronos · Feb 22, 2017

That's a beautiful vise, but that is definitely not a 90's or even 80's 600 as far as I know.

I think you might be considering 60's and 70's made Wiltons to be modern, but I'm talking specifically about Wilton vises made today - in 2016/2017. The color of those vises.

That two-bolt jaw style hasn't been on a Wilton vise made in the last 36 years. It is clear based on evidence that a color changed occurred in Wilton vises somewhere in the 80's. What that new color is has not yet been documented.

blsnelling · Feb 22, 2017

They are now making then again in this style. This one was made in 2016. This was confirmed by Wilton.

G-ManBart · Feb 22, 2017

sonoronos said:
That's a beautiful vise, but that is definitely not a 90's or even 80's 600 as far as I know.

I think you might be considering 60's and 70's made Wiltons to be modern, but I'm talking specifically about Wilton vises made today - in 2016/2017. The color of those vises.

That two-bolt jaw style hasn't been on a Wilton vise made in the last 36 years. It is clear based on evidence that a color changed occurred in Wilton vises somewhere in the 80's. What that new color is has not yet been documented.

I don't know where you're getting these ideas, but you're wrong...pretty much everything in your post is wrong.

That vise was made in the 1990s and the color hasn't changed. It's pre-1998, but it's definitely in the 1990s.

I did a post about the restoration/repair of this vise:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=333591&highlight=wilton+600

If you were familiar with 1960s and 1970s Wilton models, you would know the shape has changed over the years....and very noticeably in the 600 and 800 models.

I just finished this 600 and it has a 1973 date stamp. Notice the difference in shape of the dynamic jaw? They went to a more flat profile in the early 1980s and a slight tweak to the shape a few years later when the dynamic jaw became fully solid.

I also have this 600....I don't recall the exact date stamp, but I want to say it's a 2000 model. Notice it has the large dust cover and no obvious separate tail cap assembly? That's the newest main body design.

sonoronos · Feb 22, 2017

Your information is super valuable and I am definitely wrong about the years for the 600 with the funky jaws. But this is the problem I have with the information on the paints for Wilton vises. None of it is consistent. The problem is that there are so many vises out there repainted Verde Green. Some of the Verde Green vises aren't even hammertone.

For the past several years, I have looked at Wilton Tradesman and Combo vises and they have all looked hammered light blue. In no light do they appear to be as green as Verde Green. Yet google is absolutely littered with photos of people who have rattle-canned their vises Verde Green, some claiming that its factory when the Verde Green finish they have on their vises aren't even Hammertone!

In flash or very bright sunlight, Verde Green and Light blue are very similar. But in tungsten lighting, Verde Green becomes very green and all the Wilton vises I have seen in the last 5 years have been straight-up blue in tungsten lighting. Not even remotely green.

Look at the picture that blsnelling posted. It's clear that somebody rattle-canned that vise. Look at the base. They are two different colors and textures.

The point is, people keep claiming new vises are Verde Green and that isn't true or isn't always true. So what color are they? Are the new vises in 2016/2017 a different color from 2008-2015? Are the machinist vises a different color from the combo/tradesman vises?

Are the 600/800 series Machinist Vises not painted hammertone at all, but a different, straight metallic verde green color from the factory?

blsnelling · Feb 22, 2017

sonoronos said:
Look at the picture that blsnelling posted. It's clear that somebody rattle-canned that vise. Look at the base. They are two different colors and textures.

It may appear that way, but this is a new, unused vise, manufactured in 2016. Obviously, the base is a different color, but that's how it came from the factory.

G-ManBart · Feb 23, 2017

12/99 production 600S. Note the triangle shape above the spindle. It's in the shadow a bit, but the 1990 (checked) 600 next to it that I repainted in Verde Green is a bit lighter, for sure. I have found that the more coats of the hammered paint you use, and the thicker you put it on, the more hammered finished you get, and that darkens it quite a bit. This was my first vise restoration, and I should have put more coats on it.

G-ManBart · Feb 23, 2017

1966 production baby with original paint and stickers. I don't call this sage green at all....far too dark and too much blue to be sage green.

G-ManBart · Feb 23, 2017

1968 production 9450 with original paint and stickers....note the underside of the swivel base that wasn't subjected to chemicals, sunlight, etc.

G-ManBart · Feb 23, 2017

Original paint 1973 production 9A450SJ on the left and 1971 production 9450 on the right with a fairly recent (last 15 years) Pow-R-Arm 303 with factory paint for comparison.

I call this a blue/green gray color and other than wear is obviously the same as the 1968 9450 original paint, original stickers I just posted.

G-ManBart · Feb 23, 2017

1940s No. 4 with what appears to be original paint. This is the light/powder blue frequently referenced.

blsnelling · Feb 23, 2017

G-ManBart said:
1966 production baby with original paint and stickers. I don't call this sage green at all....far too dark and too much blue to be sage green.

G-ManBart said:
1968 production 9450 with original paint and stickers....note the underside of the swivel base that wasn't subjected to chemicals, sunlight, etc.

bgott said:
This is the original green. It looks like a hospital or avacado green. The slide is stamped 5-50, just to give you a time frame.

This vise by bgott looks to be a completely different color to me. Does that mean we're trying to identify a fourth color?

blsnelling · Feb 23, 2017

G-ManBart said:
1940s No. 4 with what appears to be original paint. This is the light/powder blue frequently referenced.

spongerich said:
Here's a few pics of my #4. Date on the slide is 1-46 which I suppose makes it one of the earliest ones.

Did you consider this vise by spongericht to be the same color?

sonoronos · Feb 23, 2017

This is all amazing info. It is becoming apparent that Wilton had different colors vises not just by year but also by model. Crazy.

G-ManBart · Feb 23, 2017

blsnelling said:
This vise by bgott looks to be a completely different color to me. Does that mean we're trying to identify a fourth color?

It very well could be. It's hard to know for sure when we're talking about items 50+ years old because paint fades, and the environment the vises were in varied so they'll all age different.

Add in the fact that it's possible Wilton changed vendors, or the same vendor changed ingredients, if not the actual color, used for the paint and that will make them age differently. Two paints that look identical today might look different in 50 years even if they sat side by side as they aged. It's all really a guessing game.

G-ManBart · Feb 23, 2017

blsnelling said:
Did you consider this vise by spongericht to be the same color?

Depending on the light, they do look pretty close to one another. It looks like a base gray paint with a lot of blue in it...on my screen it seems powder blue to me.

If I had to guess, I'd say the earliest Wiltons were what I would call a powder blue. After maybe 10 years they went to something more green than blue. It could have been a lighter green that might look closer to a sage green on some screens, or to some eyes...hard to say. At some point a bit later...probably by the 1960s they went to what I call a blue/green/gray color that is really hard to duplicate. At some point in the 1970s they went to what most of us call the modern color similar to the verde green, but even that shows some variation over time...not much but a little.

Lighting, monitors, etc make all of this really hard to know for sure.

G-ManBart · Feb 23, 2017

sonoronos said:
This is all amazing info. It is becoming apparent that Wilton had different colors vises not just by year but also by model. Crazy.

I won't say that's not possible, but I would say there's an alternative explanation that might also make sense.

There are examples of Wilton casting a bunch of one size vise and selling them over a long period of time. For example, my 2" baby is marked Chicago, but dated 1966...9 years after they left Chicago.

It could be that they made batches of castings and painted them to prevent rust, then assembled them and sold them over time. That could mean two vises with the same date stamp have different paint colors because they were actually made at different times.

RedTangoX · Sep 9, 2020

Fantastic thread.

I have a patent pending Wilton No 4 without a date stamp, but mine needs restoration and it does not have the original paint.

Can anyone recommend a modern paint that is fairly close? It sounds like the original color can be described as a powder blue.

On an old thread, someone recommended Krylon Hammertone Light Blue, but that doesn’t seem to be made anymore. Also, I have a paint gun so feel free to recommend a mixture or an off the shelf spray paint.

I realize this is a tough question, but any recommendations or advice is appreciated.

Wilton Vise Paint

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Attachments

Well-known member

Well-known member

Active member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Member