Parker Vice Division Union MFG Co Model # help

[Duderino]

Recently acquired a beast of a vise. It’s labeled Parker Vice Division Union MFG Co New Britain, CT. It has 6” jaws and weighs about 150-175 if I had to guess, haven’t got it in a scale. Anyone have any ideas of the model #?

 

[chrisnazzy]

The Parker vises made by Union Mfg Co were the last versions before they quit making them forever. I think they ceased production in the mid 60's.

Your vise would have been a 976B IIRC and would have had a sticker designating its model number in the rectangle box on one side.

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[Duderino]

That’s it! Searched and found one identical but with the sticker. Thanks for the help.
Everything works great on it, no repairs or anything. Planning on cleaning it up and using it.
Threw the guy $50 for it, he just wanted it out of his shed. can’t imagine I overpaid too much, it’s pretty much mint except some rust.

BTW- I don’t see a bit of old paint on it anywhere. I’d like to bring it back to original but it looks like it was never painted to begin with. If anyone knows anything about these and can tell me what the color it was (or if it was bare) that would be great.

 

[chrisnazzy]

I have no idea what the original color was or if it was painted at all. If you want to find out though disassemble it and soak it in Simple Green for a day or two. If there's paint under that patina it will begin to lift up and peel for easy removal. The Simple Green also degreases it as well. Once you're done soaking it just dry it thoroughly and put a wire wheel chucked up in a drill or grinder to it to remove anything left and prevent flash rusting.

At that point you've got a great bare cast surface perfect for primer and paint or your favorite metal oil. Lately I've really been digging just oiling them up with boiled linseed oil (certainly not an original idea, I learned about it here on GJ). Here are a couple before and after pics of vises with decades of patina that I simply stripped and wiped down with boiled linseed oil.


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[LNKMK8]

That Parker appears to be in excellent condition; you did very well at $50

 

[Duderino]

Looks great.
I’m the process of disassembling now so I’ll see what’s under there, but I love the look of the oil so that’s probably the way I’ll go anyway since it’s a daily driver.

 

[tool_scrounge]

I believe it is a 976B. Weight is 165 lbs. Nice you have the swivel lock handle. Here is a link to a posting of mine.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=7739152&postcount=69883

 

[Duderino]

I believe it is a 976B. Weight is 165 lbs. Nice you have the swivel lock handle. Here is a link to a posting of mine.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=7739152&postcount=69883

Did you ever get the measurements you needed?

 

[tool_scrounge]

Did you ever get the measurements you needed?

I ended up finding an engineer's wrench on Ebay and setup the swivel base lock similar to what is on your vise.

 

[Duderino]

Here she is all done.
Thanks for all the advice and tips I found on the site. My son and I had a great time bringing this old vice back to life. Makes me happy to know it will be working for many years to come instead of dying in a shed.

 

[wbarnes1001]

That's awesome! Did you use a wire wheel after soaking in simple green and then BLO?