Vintage table?

[aggie113]

If craigslist and the guy selling it is to be believed, this table was made for their (great?) granddad or some such back in the 1920s. The add had it listed for 900! I got it two months later for much less. Probably will be the vise table. I'm thinking of getting the top blasted and depending on results, painting or refinishing in something protective. Looking at the underside it appears the legs are able (or would if the springs weren't covered in rust) to fold up and be held in place if the bottom bracing is removed. I'll throw up an after pic to show how it cleans up. FYI, already tried steel wool and some rust converter with little effect.

 

[DD T/A]

If you plan on actually using it regularly for serious work, have you considered leaving it alone?

I don't get painting a surface that will be pummeled by years of pounding and scratching. It reminds me of people who spend an hour and probably 500 gallons of precious clean drinking water(in our desert quiched town) on washing their concrete sidewalks--

what? Are they gonna eat their dinner off the sidewalk?


Prepare it for what you intend to do with it. If it will never be used, then yes you could paint it. But remember there is no such thing as any paint that can handle severe scraping and hammering.

 

[aggie113]

Paint would be only to prevent rust from quickly returning. I don't plan to baby it at all, or spend $300 having it professionally painted/powdercoated. At most I was thinking of something like a coat of that bed liner stuff to give the surface some grip.

 

[Zrxrunner]

My weld/metal work table started out similarly. I took a few flap wheels to it, made it industrial clean and soaked it down in BLO. Rust stays minimal, can pound the tar out of it, and still not feel bad about the dings and dents. Depending on how you grind and clean it, could give it a cool finish. Heres a before, and best after pic I have on my phone. My 2 cents.

 

[RTM]

Depending on how you grind and clean it, could give it a cool finish. P.

80 grit paper in a Random Orbit Sander gives a fun finish on bare steel. One of our suppliers does it on some of our stainless stuff.

 

[aggie113]

Don't really have a deep bench of power tools yet. Best I'd be able to do is a wire brush on a power drill. Looking at the progress I got with steel wool and sand paper I realized it would take me many, many hours and even then the result wouldn't be as good as sand blasting it.

 

[pancho400cid]

You "could" use any of the rust-converter paints. You have to get ALL the oil off with the cleaner that goes with whatever paint you pick. Some of those paints really need to be top-coated with "regular" paint (POR-15 for example).

Example - POR-15 and their de-greaser (formerly "Marine Clean"):

https://www.por15.com/POR-15-Cleaner-Degreaser

https://www.por15.com/POR-15-Rust-Preventive-Coating

The finish you would get might not be show quality but I'd think it would be plenty good enough for a shop table.

 

[aggie113]

Turned out OK. Only one rust hole and it was on a foot where water likely pooled for extended periods.

 

[GalaxyRat]

Turned out OK. Only one rust hole and it was on a foot where water likely pooled for extended periods.

Looks great!

Sent from my SM-G973U using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[pancho400cid]

So it's sandblasted in the pic? Not painted?

 

[Jagmandave]

I have the twin to it, took it out of a car dealership that was closing. Great shop table, I've had mine for over 30 years. Mine was originally painted with some thick epoxy based paint - holds up great but you can scratch thru it. I expect it would be tough to remove. I bolted mine to the shop floor..... as I have my 6" Wilton bolted to it.

 

[aggie113]

So it's sandblasted in the pic? Not painted?

Bare metal in the pic.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

I see some rust pitting but nothing serious

 

[DD T/A]

Table looks good!

 

[thehorse13]

I'd be very happy with a work table that looks like this. Great grab!

 

[sayoda]

That is an awesome work bench!!!

Sent from my E6810 using Tapatalk

 

[whateg01]

I hope you got it for much less. Those look like the legs on a modern workbench sourced from an industrial supply house. The legs on dad's main bench are similar and would have been from the early 80s. Still makes a sturdy work surface. How thick is the top?

 

[Sheriff41]

The blasted table looks great, and looks like a perfect match for that vise! Good job!

 

[aggie113]

I hope you got it for much less. Those look like the legs on a modern workbench sourced from an industrial supply house. The legs on dad's main bench are similar and would have been from the early 80s. Still makes a sturdy work surface. How thick is the top?

Top isn't too thick but it weighs enough I'll try it with the vise and see if I can get away with not bolting it to the floor.

 

[Jagmandave]

Are you going to coat it? I was wondering if some garage floor epoxy paint would give a good tough work surface and flow out nicely? The top on mine is about 1/8" thick (11 ga?)

Mine is really heavy too, but I wound up bolting it down as when I'd put some torque on the big vise it wanted to tip or move sideways - since mine is up against a wall I also ran some lags into the studs on the wall. It's a nice, rock solid bench now....so much so that I bolted an electric winch to the bottom leg and use it to pull cars up my sloped driveway and onto my lift.

Works a treat. I regularly build engines (small 4 cyl but all cast iron) and transmissions on it now.

 

[aggie113]

I looked at what spray on bed liners hold up best to a pounding and decided on using some PlastiKote on the top. Also thought about strapping it to the wall for stability, might try that before putting holes in the floor.

 

[aggie113]

Found a stamping on the lip. US OMC. My guess would be OMC Steel popped these out once upon a time, but just a guess.
Sprayed it down last night. Temp is dropped so it will take a few days to dry properly. Then I'll mount the vise to it.

http://imgur.com/uqv9ys2.jpg for full size pic.