Help refinishing Vise restoration with Dremel tool

[Kcaps9]

Hi folks, long time lurker, first time poster

I just bought an old usa made columbian vise, and it has some surface rust I wanted to get rid of and polish and repaint the entire vise. I have access to a dremel tool, but not sure what bits I should use to remove the rust without damaging the steel. Its ok if it removes the paint since it will be repainted. Any input would be greatly appreciated. I searched a few posts and the vise thread but could not find specifics on which bits to use, and the technique to use with them. Thanks Much

 

[Kcaps9]

Bump

 

[zkling]

How large of a vise it it? How heavy is the rust? Using a Dremel type tool to do the entire vise is going to be tedious, time consuming and pretty expensive. Do you have a bench grinder that you can get a wire wheel for?

 

[doan]

Wire brush, but Dremel is way too small and will take forever. 3 or 4" wire brush in a drill will be a lot better. Maybe use the Dremel in areas the bigger brush can't get to.

 

[FJ 432]

What I found works best quickly is a wire wheel used with a drill. A Dremel can be used but it is not the best tool.

 

[Kcaps9]

It's a smaller vise, 3 and a half inch, I have a bench grinder but figured the vise was a little small for that as there's a lot of small crevices Id need to get into

For the Dremel wheels should I use a brass brush or the stainless steel?

 

[Ronniexj]

Electrolysis is a good option for removing the rust and most of the paint.

After that or instead of, I would use a straight bristle wire wheel on a grinder, not the twisted kind.

If you only have a wire brush and a dremel available; I would use paint stripper to remove the paint then a combination of the hand brush and dremel with a wire wheel attachment.

Steel bristles have worked good for me.

 

[1982fxr]

I've refinished a lot of vises and i would shoot myself in the face before i would strip even a small one with a dremel.

The cheap multi size wire wheel sets for a drill will get 95% or more of what you need--like $7 for crappy ones at hf, but they will work. that an a wire wheel on the grinder. jmho

 

[Kcaps9]

Thanks everyone for the advice, I picked up some wire brushes for my drill and it's working great

 

[benjamintmiller]

Do yourself a favor and go buy an angle grinder. You can get name brand ones for less than $50, and stripping paint with a wire wheel is something they excel in.