A mediocre Parker vise restoration...

I picked up this Parker for $35 off of Craigslist last month from a farmer down the road.

It was looking a little tired, with lots of welding slag on the movable jaw, so I thought it would be a good candidate for my first vise restoration.









The restoration started off well enough. I used my grinding disc and flap disc to remove the old welding residue. I dissembled it all and put the painted parts in my blast cabinet to clean them up.

They were followed by a coat of primer and a couple of coats of Rustoleum Hammertone Black.

The jaws and handle were cleaned up with a flap disc on my grinder and coated with paste wax.

Then I thought I'd get creative and paint the lettering. The indentations for the letters were very shallow in places so I found myself painting them with a toothpick and wiping off the excess.

Some of the letters were barely even visible so it made painting them a real PITA. If I had to do it again, I wouldn't have bothered.

Still, I was happy about it until I applied the Rustoleum clear coat after letting the black dry for 2 days. It wrinkled almost immediately! I was somewhat disappointed but decided that the vise is going to get hammered on anyway so I wasn't going to bother sanding out the wrinkles and trying again... this vise was ready for use.









This project has made me re-consider restoring my older, larger Parker No. 34.



I might just keep it in it's original condition. Thoughts?

Catamount,
About NOT restoring your vise...
I have been wondering the same thing about my two old vises. I have a Reed and a Rock Island, and I am considering just degreasing and cleaning them, to see if I could stand to leave them alone. On that big beautiful Parker you have, I personally might try to remove the paint drips, but otherwise I would just clean it and mount it on the bench, and then give myself a few days to think about it. After a while you'll know whether you like it that way, or prefer to restore it.

Keep in mind, it's only original once. You can always restore it later, but you can never return it to original.

Good luck! -------Lump

Mediocre my ***, looks great!!

Lump said:

Catamount, On that big beautiful Parker you have, I personally might try to remove the paint drips, but otherwise I would just clean it and mount it on the bench, and then give myself a few days to think about it. After a while you'll know whether you like it that way, or prefer to restore it.

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I agree! I've got it bolted up right now. The un-restored Parker actually has some personal ties... it belonged to my grandfather. One of the major reasons I don't want to steal any of it's history. I think I'll leave it au natural.

The Craigslist vise didn't have any real meaning to me so it was more of a project. It looks okay but I think I'm a fan of the natural looking vise.

mrholeshot said:

Mediocre my ***, looks great!!

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Hey, thanks!

I might be wrong but I think that vise was made after Parker had shut down and their parts and equipment was moved to Union Mfg. Co. in the 50's. I've had 2 vises with Union Vise Co. on the side however they still used the Parker name. I believe they used roll pins to hold on their jaws. Great job..

autopts71045 said:

I might be wrong but I think that vise was made after Parker had shut down and their parts and equipment was moved to Union Mfg. Co. in the 50's. I've had 2 vises with Union Vise Co. on the side however they still used the Parker name. I believe they used roll pins to hold on their jaws. Great job..

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Ah ha! That would make sense! Also, "town" reads New Britain (Union Mfg.) not Meridian (Parker). I was wondering about that. Looks like Parker was obtained by Union in 1957. So this vise is not very old at all.

Thanks!

Nice job which needs no apologies.

Where vises are concerned, I'm a use guy. I'd have knocked off the slag, hit the jaws with a three-cornered file to sharpen the crosshatch, replaced the gnarled handle and put 'er to work.

As far as crosshatch on the jaws, my largest vise is an Athol which has smooth jaws which are part of the casting, not replaceable. I'm conflicted about it. The smooth doesn't hold like crosshatch, but it doesn't leave marks either.

jack vines



jack vines

.....nice job. But I have to say, I thought the next picture was going to show the beer can being crushed

jtbinvalrico said:

.....nice job. But I have to say, I thought the next picture was going to show the beer can being crushed

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me too.....

Excellent job.

Looks real nice to me. Thanks for sharing.

As for restoring the other one, that's all personal preference. Starr at it for awhile and decide what you like.

Not to shabby at all.

Catamount said:

I agree! I've got it bolted up right now. The un-restored Parker actually has some personal ties... it belonged to my grandfather. One of the major reasons I don't want to steal any of it's history. I think I'll leave it au natural.

Hey, thanks!

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OH, it belonged to your grandfather? Then in that case, I would clean it slightly, and leave it as is, if it were me. I have a few things around which were my dad's and my grandfather's, and NO WAY would I want to remove any of their "fingerprints" on their tools. Anything that reminds me of those men is good, in my book.

Cheers! Nice work, too.

Great job on the resto, and count on more vote for leaving the larger Parker the way it is. It has tons of character.

mrholeshot said:

Mediocre my ***, looks great!!

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Off topic, everytime I see or hear the word mediocre I think back to a blind date I went on when I was 26 (20+ years ago). A friend of mine wanted to double date so he hooked me up with the cousin of his girlfriend. He asked me about it while we were eating breakfast one Saturday morning and I asked what does she look like? His reponse "well she's not beautiful but she's not ugly kind of mediocre". NOTE TO SELF and all others that should be a warning.

Well truth be told she was a very nice woman, but when it came to looks she looked more like a meaty oger, which I told him the following Monday at work that he needs to better pronounce his words. I did go on a few more dates with them because I didn't want to hurt her feelings and she was fun to be around. She just had kind of a barrel shape to her and man face and man hands.

Sorry to digress,

TheGrooveking

Nice ,great Work!!!,Thanks for sharing.




Greetings



O

TheGrooveking said:

Off topic, everytime I see or hear the word mediocre I think back to a blind date I went on when I was 26 (20+ years ago). A friend of mine wanted to double date so he hooked me up with the cousin of his girlfriend. He asked me about it while we were eating breakfast one Saturday morning and I asked what does she look like? His reponse "well she's not beautiful but she's not ugly kind of mediocre". NOTE TO SELF and all others that should be a warning.

Well truth be told she was a very nice woman, but when it came to looks she looked more like a meaty oger, which I told him the following Monday at work that he needs to better pronounce his words. I did go on a few more dates with them because I didn't want to hurt her feelings and she was fun to be around. She just had kind of a barrel shape to her and man face and man hands.

Sorry to digress,

TheGrooveking

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Ha! Great story. And I love your new pronunciation of the word "mediocre". I'll try to use that soon.