Vice

[Randy Allen]

Hi folks...a nearby here... Have a Reed Mft vice, no#203 1/2R that I received from my dad before his passing. I'm just now starting to clean it up and was wondering if anyone had any info on this model. The jaws are rather small. 3 1/2 in., it's very heavy...40lbs maybe, and it's massive. It appears to be painted green at some point in the past but it may be the original color too. Thx for your help.

 

[Mark in Indiana]

Welcome to the group. Sounds like a good vise. Please post pictures.

 

[BlueBomber]

Welcome, to GJ, Randy! There's a lot of vise experts on here and an entire thread dedicated to vises. Try posting a few pictures over there and you'll get help in a jiffy!

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44782

 

[Vantastic]

Original color was grey.

 

[Shiftless]

Hi folks...a nearby here... Have a Reed Mft vice, no#203 1/2R that I received from my dad before his passing. I'm just now starting to clean it up and was wondering if anyone had any info on this model. The jaws are rather small. 3 1/2 in., it's very heavy...40lbs maybe, and it's massive. It appears to be painted green at some point in the past but it may be the original color too. Thx for your help.

Another welcome to the GJ brotherhood of crazies.
Reed vises are among the best built and most heavy duty of the bunch. Congratulationsmon starting with a winner. 3 1/2 inch jaws on a 40 pound vise will take car of almost any task you throw at it. Don't wail on it with a big friggin' hammer and don't ever slip a pipe over the handle to get more leverage and it will last you for the rest of your life.

First thing to do is go over to the vise thread, introduce yourself, and post a pic or two. You'll get knowledgeable advice within minutes! There is a separate thread on the restoration aspects of vise ownership and/or collecting. Dont be shy...we all started with just one right?

 

[drivesitfar]

Randy: Sorry to hear about your Dad passing. he was a very smart man if he owned a Reed 203.5 vise. i'm guessing early 50's and built to last 100 years with a little maintenance and care. Shift's thoughts are great. use a short piece of RR track to beat on anything to get it flat instead of the vise and like he said don't put a pipe on the handle or hit with a sledgehammer to tighten something in it's jaws. get a pair of copper soft jaws would be my recommendation and for color i like my steel naked with BLO (boiled linseed oil) on them like my Reed 4C that i think weighs 190 pounds.

cheers and welcome to our group

 

[Shiftless]

+1 on the Boiled Linseed Oil as Drives suggested.

Gotta be patient though. Paint dries fast, BLO takes days or even weeks to fully dry depending on weather. But in my humble opinion, the end result is worth it on vintage iron. I have a few COES wrench co. wooden insert handle adjustables that get thin coats of BLO every week for a month or two after I first clean them up from the garage sale heap. The oil goes on the wood and the steel and preserves and protects against surface rust and drying and splitting of the wood. The BLO doesn't seem to chip off like paint does on working tools and any worn areas are much more easily retouched.

Here is my largest Coes wrench. It has about 4 coats of BLO on it now. I like the patina. If a guy wants a bit less gloss, just spend a few seconds with a nylon scrubber pad. Steel wool is another option but steel wool breaks off on the wood grain and will rust if the tool sees high humidity. Not good. Use nylon scrubber pads. (Scotchbrite)