The ridge CO. Pipe vise

[restoreguy]

Hi everyone! I picked up this old ridgid/Ridge pipe vise at an auction and I’m debating restoring it, what are your thoughts and does anybody have the age of this thing and/or the original documents to go with it? I’m trying to find the original colour and more info on it but its proving to be challenging. They’ve been making these for a long time and it seems like they’ve made them mostly in red. I’m trying to find out if it’s been repainted in black, was it the original colour? All I can tell is that I think it’s decently old because of the D and G intertwined in the ridgid logo. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[four.cycle]

1931 Ridge Tool Co. ad pp 213

1939 Ridge Tool Co. ad pp 291

1952 Hardware Age Ridge Tool Ridgid ad pp 109

1960 Hardware Retailer Ridge Tool Co. ad pp 590

.... just a wild guess, and I could be wrong, but I think I'd go with RIDGID RED myself....

Keep this link handy at all times!

... and THIS ONE!

Welcome to the site!

 

[Shiftless]

Yes, welcome.
Old pipe vises don’t get nearly the following that bench vises receive. So go ahead and spiff that one up and show it off.

 

[i4ni]

Very usefull. I have one I still use quite a bit. Mine's rust colored

 

[restoreguy]

1931 Ridge Tool Co. ad pp 213

1939 Ridge Tool Co. ad pp 291

1952 Hardware Age Ridge Tool Ridgid ad pp 109

1960 Hardware Retailer Ridge Tool Co. ad pp 590

.... just a wild guess, and I could be wrong, but I think I'd go with RIDGID RED myself....

Keep this link handy at all times!

... and THIS ONE!

Welcome to the site!

This is AMAZING! Thank you, I think I’ll do the Ridgid Red, as recommended. I’m not quite sure why it was painted black but I’ll sandblast it off and get her back to original colours! Thanks again, I’ll post pictures when I’m done

 

[d42jeep]

Based on the 1939 Ad which most closely matches your vise, I would go with black enamel. I believe that 1939 Ridgid pipe wrenches were painted black. This one is from 1944 and is unrestored.
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

eerrr.... because black is the number one selling color of spray paint and there's always a can of some kind of black spray paint in the garage?

 

[d42jeep]

Or actually because black is the original color. Or what you said. Either works for me. If one wanted a really fancy display, the brake rotor the vise is bolted to could be painted silver or if money is no object, chrome plated.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I’m not quite sure why it was painted black...

Because Ridge didn't use red until after WWII.

 

[restoreguy]

Would be a shame to put red if its older than WW2 and the original colour is black. Maybe I should paint it black? I just want to restore it to the original or as close as possible.

I have a few projects before I get to this one so there’s time to discuss. The stamp says it was made in Elyria, Ohio and they moved there in 1943 (according to google), WW2 started in 1939 and ended in 1945. If it was manufactured in 1943-1945 it could very well be in black. There doesn’t seem to be a specific date on the vise itself so it’s hard to tell.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

The stamp says it was made in Elyria, Ohio and they moved there in 1943 (according to google),

In this case, Google is not yer friend. The Ridge Tool Co. website history timeline says it was founded in Elyria in 1923, but the same timeline also says they moved to Elyria in 1943, which is very confusing. It gets worse. Wiki says they were founded in N. Ridgeville in 1923 and relocated to Elyria in 1943. What my research seems to show is that they had an "office" (it may have just been a business address) in N. Ridgeville in 1923, and they used that as their business address, but the factory was always in Elyria and they merged them in Elyria in 1943. Regardless, no early pipe wrenches say anything but "Elyria" as far as I know. Look at the ads 4.c posted above. Elyria in 1931. Elyria in 1939. And all the tools are black. Red would not show up like that. And all the prewar wrenches that show up with any original paint or traces of original paint, it's black. Trust your eyes and instincts. Would a pipe vise originally red and repainted black in the 50s or 60's already look like the traces of black paint on that vise? If you want to read more, consult the Ridgid thread. See the Sticky at the top of the forum this thread is located in (which is the Vintage Tool Discussion forum). There is an A-Z Index inside it. Go to Ridge. Click.

 

[restoreguy]

Thank you for taking the time to write all that out! I checked out the other thread as well and I think you nailed it. Amazing info! I’ll post a picture when I’m done with it and after seeing the magazines and this, it’s going black. It might skip the line and get done sooner rather than later as now I’m really interested in this pipe vise.