Finally Found My "Go To" Vise

[6pony6]

So I've picked up 10 or so vises over the last year. Nothing special. A couple small Rock Islands, Columbians, Craftsmans, etc. Today I think I finally found the one that will stay on my bench.

It's a Reed 104 in great condition. Weighs about 40lbs and is very smooth. Came from a lady whose uncle recently died. Anyone know if the green is the original color? Not sure if I'm going to restore it as I like the look it has now.

I may have overpaid at $40, but that's okay.

 

[uniballer]

You **** that is a great price!

 

[drivesitfar]

6P: pretty sure the original color wasn't the John Deere green on the dynamic slide. here's a few pictures of my Reed 104 that i think sat under a lathe for 70 some years in a 95 year old's shop. strip your vise and give it a coat or two of BLO and you've got a vise for life. grease the main screw after cleaning the slide and screw and then just do normal maintenance every year or two depending on use.

did i mention I LOVE REED VISES.

nice find.

 

[G-ManBart]

That's a good price! I have two Reeds that seem to have their original paint...sort of the same kind of sage green color on both of them. I'm sure it varied over the years, but I've seen quite a few that had the same light green and I'm guessing it's not a coincidence. I suspect the older vises weren't painted green, but had some sort of other black/natural finish on them.

 

[Shiftless]

6pony6:
I recently redid a Reed 204. Much of the (red) paint was chipped off but I couldn't find any other color in crevices. Either the vise was originally red, or some long ago previous owner did a fantastic job stripping off the original paint and redid it in red.
I sprayed it Rustoleum Regal Red which seems to be a close match to what was on the vise when it came into my hands.
Drives:
The more I look at mine, the more I feel like stripping it down and giving it a few coats of BLO like yours. It looks great!

 

[jimreed2160]

The original paint color of any vise is part of its history but often a mystery. I have restored many working tools and my experience tells me that anything made from 1870-1914 was probably coated in asphaltum. It is black and is the same thing used on handplanes, vises and Model T automobiles. This mixture of tar, linseed oil and lamp black is easy to detect in the cracks and creases and will turn your hands black if you strip the vise by hand. I think paints (mostly industrial gray) began to be used in the 1920s. More paints in the 1930s and colors in the 1950s.

Many vises are easy to determine because they were made for short periods. Reeds present a different problem because their models stayed in production and the company is still in business.

As for your vise, I would discount the green because most dynamic slides are not painted. Scratch around the inside corners of the casting. My guess is that the bottom coating will be black.

 

[scooternut]

Great vise, great price, and just like Drives, I love Reed vises.

Honestly, even if you paid 400, and were mounting it on your bench for you and generations, I'd have still said great price.