I know next to nothing about vises but I picked this one up today and need some help. No idea who it was made by or if it's decent enough quality to restore or not. Lady was on some hard times with her husband in a nursing home so I felt good putting some cash in her hand. Feels fairly tight everything is straight and it's not beat to hell. Please let me know your thoughts.
Help With New Vise
- Thread starter Rinspeed
- Start date
FreshlySnipes
Member
Looks like an older import to me. Only worth restoring if it needs repairs/maintenance or you just want to do it for fun.
I'd just bolt it down and use the hell out of it. Looks like it might be heavier than the average 5" import.
I'd just bolt it down and use the hell out of it. Looks like it might be heavier than the average 5" import.
bushmechanic
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2014
- Messages
- 4,820
If you live in a cardboard box with nothing in it, making it pretty and as slick as it can be at this point will cost around $40 or so.
If you have some caliper paint (any paint, really), dish soap, wire brushes, and/or naval jelly hanging around, or anything of the like (most will have at least two of those things) you're probably in the $15-$25 range.
So, whether or not making it nice doesn't really come down to it's market value. It comes down to whether or not you're willing to pay that much and sacrifice a couple of TV shows to dip, scrub, dip, treat, and rattle can.
Edit: For the record, I've done it before and I'd do it for this one, too. That thing has at least another half a century in it if it's cleaned up. Doesn't matter if it's worth $5 on Ebay; it's worth giving it at least a basic chance at a new start, at least in my personal estimation.
I wouldn't judge either way. They're hard to ship around and keep on the market, so it's a personal decision all the way; rather like cleaning up a CRT monitor.
Last edited:
matt_i
Well-known member
Get you some soft jaws (make them from AL or Cu) degrease, dip it in evaporust, repaint with some hardener-laced enamel, and you'll have a nice tool.
Packard V8
Well-known member
Why not just use it as is? Those are decent user vises, but not worth a restoration.
jack vines
jack vines
Indexmill
Well-known member
Just clean it up, lube it and use it. You can learn about vises and then get one worthy of a restore.
TailGunner3000
Well-known member
Certainly worth a clean and paint.
matt_i
Well-known member
A person could continue to use the evaporust for many other projects
I probably had 6 projects in the "wading pool" this summer (just a plastic tote). I just paint-filter it and pour it back in the bottle for the next project.
It saves a lot of hand-sanding and will go down in all of the pits, which the sandpaper won't, and imo that's the breeding ground for addiional rust under the paint.