Has Anyone Successfully...

[ftb]

Gotcha.

The question is what you - good people - use to restore anvils that are on the back of some vises, other than the mill.

Flap disc? File? I wanted mine perfectly flat with a mirror finish if possible. A machine effect but hand made.

So please share your tips and tricks - I'm all ears.

 

[PugetDude]

Gotcha.

The question is what you - good people - use to restore anvils that are on the back of some vises, other than the mill.

Flap disc? File? I wanted mine perfectly flat with a mirror finish if possible. A machine effect but hand made.

So please share your tips and tricks - I'm all ears.

How patient are you?
Mill ******* file and a stone with lapping compound will get it flat.

Flapper disc(s) and a straightedge will do it quicker.

 

[Packard V8]

Gotcha. . . . So please share your tips and tricks - I'm all ears.

Nope; don't got me. I know how, but ain't gonna tell you. ;>)

jack vines

 

[ftb]

How patient are you?
Mill ******* file and a stone with lapping compound will get it flat.

Flapper disc(s) and a straightedge will do it quicker.

Flapper was going to be my choice but thought I'd ask if there's something better out there.

Nope; don't got me. I know how, but ain't gonna tell you. ;>)

jack vines

Troublemaker eh?

I'm restoring a vise as a present for someone who is dear to me as well as much older. They'll never use it but it will hopefully remind them of good old times when they had their fun around a workshop building race cars. I'm not into 'restoring' vises and a couple of mine are unpainted and pretty beat up. It's the technique I'm after

 

[Firebrick43]

You should hand scrape it. You need a certified ceramic square to use as a master.

 

[ftb]

You should hand scrape it. You need a certified ceramic square to use as a master.

Thank you! Although it's probably a bit of an overkill, I see what you mean. Found a video on YT that shows how it's done. For anyone interested -

.

 

[PugetDude]

Treat it like bodywork, but instead of filling the low spots you want to take down the high spots.

Get a can of cheap flat black spray paint. Mask off the vise except for the anvil. Mist a light coat of paint over the anvil. Using a FLAT sanding block with 40 grit, do a couple of passes over the top of the anvil at opposing 45 degree angles. The sandpaper will show you the high spots as shiny spots in the black guide coat.

Depending on how much you need to take it down , use a flapper (carefully) or just coarse 40grit W/D sandpaper to bring it down flat. Take it slow, use multiple guide coats and a good straightedge (check from multiple angles) and stop when you have it as flat as you like. Switch to a 80 grit paper, guide coat it again, and then go to 120. Take off only as much as needed to get it flat, you're not trying to reduce the thickness.

Should be dead flat with a nice finish at that point. You can continue all the way to 6000 grit wet/dry if you're so inclined... or just polish it up with some Flitz or simichrome paste after the 120 grit and call it finished.

Post pics of the before and after!

 

[gte718p]

Scrape it and then lap it. Lot of work though and you are going to need a surface plate if you want it "perfectly" flat.

Scraping:
http://www.metalscraping.com/
Lapping:

 

[77Mini]

Flapper wheel
Sander
File
Draw file
Stone

Depending on how flat and perfect you want it you can probably skip a few of those steps

 

[CrotalusAtrox]

Use a file to get it flat then hand sand with a flat block start with 150 220 400 600 800 1200 then buff with cloth buffing wheel black compound then green. The vise pictured was sanded to 600 then a de-burring wheel was used then buffed. The finer you sand the shinyer it will get. Is it perfectly flat nope but who cares.

 

[jakemac]

Belt Sander w/ increasing grits.