Paramo No.23 Vise Refresh

[calum]

Picked up this Paramo #23 Hi-Duty vise for free in good working condition and decided to give it a quick refresh.
The jaws had weld spatter on them and the handle had a bend in it but overall was a solid piece of Sheffield steel in decent condition.

Here it is next to my small Record 1 Ton.

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A bit of history on Paramo vises, the story goes that the F. Parramore Works casting factory in Sheffield, England was commissioned and approved by the British government to produce castings for Record vises under the brand Paramo Tools since the Record factory was bombed during WWII. F. Parramore was originally a casting foundry producing iron stove grates and heavy cast pipes for sewer systems.
The F. Parramore cast iron foundry was shut down in 1981 and eventually demolished. The tool division, Paramo Tools, went into receivership in 2003 and closed down.

So, the vise. I stripped it down into component form and soaked it in a vat of heavy duty degreaser to strip the grime and paint off it.
After a good cleaning I set about the damage marks and rough edges with a flap wheel to smooth them out.

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During grinding
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I wire wheel brushed the rest of it to get the paint off the hard to reach areas.

Then, after masking, 2 coats of metal primer and 3 coats of Hammerite blue paint.

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Assembled back together. Handle straightened, jaw threads re-tapped 5/16 BSW along with new screws and grease applied to lead screw, half nut and guideways.

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[jimkinney]

Wow, nice score, and nice rebuild.

Is the lever behind the handle a quick release?

 

[Shiftless]

WOW!
You did a great job on the repaint of that big Paramo.
Please explain the circumstances where you can just walk over and pick up a great condition, free quick release bench vise.

If you want to collect a few more “you ****” compliments on top of mine, go over to the main vise thread and post your narrative and a few of the pics.

You didn’t post your location. I assume you are in the U.K. Or ???

 

[calum]

Hey, yes in Scotland.

Re. the find, this vise was surplus to requirements at my work. It had been used in the weld clad shop for years but now no longer needed so I swiped it at the first opportunity.

It is a quick release which works brilliantly now its had a going over. I used copper grease on all the mating components so its smooth as you like now

 

[Shiftless]

I have an ancestor from Scotland who fought for the colonies in the Revolutionary War.

I enjoy your country’s whisky especially Laphroaig and Lagavulin.

I have a Record vise in my collection. English vises (vices) are rare on this side of the pond.

 

[exmaxima1]

That Paramo 23 was in great shape, and I probably would not have repainted it. My Record 23 (same as the Paramo) was in worse shape when I repainted it. It needed some serious repair to the jaw support.

 

[macgee]

Very nice!

Record/Woden/Paramo are one of my very favorite vices, here in the states they're fairly common but get overlooked but I consider them one of the very best makers.

I was given a 112 Record and a massive all steel Paramo the I regrettably gave away but both were really big. Didn't realize how nice of vises they were till afterwards. Currently own a couple of No.3 vices, one with copper jaws and a second with oak jaws, installed thrust bearings in them and new spring to make them even smoother. After restoring a number of Records and Paramo's, I think (IMHO) Paramo's have better/tougher cast iron, The Paramo's have been much more difficult to mill and remove burs on the casting. Tolerances seemed to be a little tighter as well between the static jaw body and the dynamic jaw slide.

Would love to get my hands on a #00S version, I've yet to see one in a swivel version although it's always offered in the catalogs.

Enjoy the vice, it looks great!


Edit: Found an old pic of my Paramo #72 Steel (non cast iron) Paramo vice, was never really been able to find much info on it other than told its one of the steel versions