was Given a REED 204R vise.

[SurfHunter]

Hello all,

I was given a REED 204 R the other day, She operates very smoothly, however she needs a good bath.

any suggestions as to the best way to remove her rust?
no bead/sandblaster avail. May have a soda blaster avail though,

I'd like to clean her up and give her a fresh coat of paint.

TIA

 

[Carla]

I'd think that soda-blasting would be the really optimal way to clean your vise to bright iron/steel, for the best refinish work. (I use fine glass-beads, but really wish I had a soda-blasting rig here, for doing restoration work on older equipment......even fine glass-beads need be used ever so carefully on machined surfaces, or the surfaces masked if the 'patina' may be preserved)

By the by......your Reed is of approx 1939-40 vintage, if you would care to know, with its uncommon combination of the patent number on the main casting, but the earlier style screw.

Added on edit........a good way to save time/effort in cleaning castings for refinishing is to 'kill' the existing paint with a heavy application of 'Jasco' or equivalent paint remover, then allow the 'killed' paint to dry thoroly, at which point a glass-blast (or, presumably, soda-blast likewise) will remove it quickly and easily. Sometimes, on castings which were given several coats of 'gummy' enamel (usually in a military or Naval context), multiple applications of paint remover, allowed to dry and wire-brushed, will be the most practical way to bring the castings to a stage where the media-blasting is made easier.

cheers

Carla

 

[thehorse13]

Let me be the first to say, "You ****." That is a fantastic vise that you have there.

Looking at the only picture that you have posted, if this were my vise to restore, I would drop it into a homemade electrolysis tank. There are plenty of threads on this site that show you how to make one.

After a bath in the tank, the metal will look fantastic and you can then decide if you want to keep it in a metal finish using boiled linseed oil or paint it up the way you like.

If the prospect of creating an electrolysis tank scares you, a simple wire wheel on an electric drill would take a lot of the grime off but it will be time consuming.

To give you a comparison, the attached vise before and after was stripped down to metal with an electric drill and a variety of wire wheels. This vise served in the US Navy during WWII in the Washington DC Navy yard. The thick gummy finish mentioned in the previous post was certainly present on this big boy.

Whatever you decide to do, congrats, you have a great vise.

 

[Packard V8]

I'd like to clean her up and give her a fresh coat of paint.

Certainly seems what a majority here would do.

As for me and mine, I'd disassemble, hit it all with a hand wire brush to knock off the larger detritus, oil the moving parts and put it to work.

And yes, that's a very well-made vise.

jack vines

 

[SurfHunter]

]Thank you so very much everyone!! I sure do appreciate the advice. To my amazement what I thought was a heavy coat of rust , turned out ti=o be a whole lot of black paint.

I sprayed her with some aircraft stripper, and that worked wonders within 30 minutes.
99% of the paint is completely gone,
I did notice someones SS# engraved into the vise, under all the paint.


Carla, was the original color of this vise Black? I've seen a few metallic grey ones online, during an image search.

I meet a nice lady, who needed a roof leaked repaired, She lives a few houses from my buddy, She had told me that her husband just passed and that she was parting with all of his tools in the garage.
He was a woodworker, and a pretty damn good one too. She asked if Id be interested in anything, and as it turns out she led me to the garage, and What a surprise, all the tools and equipment.

I sat down with her and her daughter and helped them price a few things, and I asked if there were any Hand planes. She brought me into the guest bedroom, and there on the queen bed, were about 60 of them.... I was shocked !!!!

I purchased several, and then bartered my services for a few as well. As I was getting ready to leave I saw 2 vise's the REED and a small bullet Wilton, and I asked if they were selling them as well, She said that they were keeping the "Smaller" one, Wilton..

But can I please make the other "go away" I offered her money and she refused, So i told her If she has any other issues or repairs that come up, that I'd take care of her...

as I was putting the vise in the truck, she was also dragging a heavy bag of Wrenches and told me to make them go away as well.

so there it is, in a nutshell.
I left behind about 30 hanplanes , mostly craftsman, wards master, and a few Sheltons

as I was only really interested in the Stanley Baileys. I'm still debating whether or not I should just go ahead and grab the other planes, just to have,,, You Know !!! I'm sure I can find room somewhere
maybe just modify them for different purposes... who knows..

 

[thehorse13]

That vise was black but some folks change up the colors when restoring them. If the Reed vise was mine, I would shoot it with black and then paint the raised letters with some white.

 

[SurfHunter]

I'd like the idea of having her back to her original color, I 'm also thinking maybe I should paint her the same color Grey as my Pattern makers vise and keep them the same.. hmm. tough decision here..

If I go with the Black, which Black wold make her really "POP" and stand out?

I use this black for restoring my hand planes.

Is semi gloss best, should I go with a Satin?,, or hammered??

Help.. lol

 

[Carla]

I'd like the idea of having her back to her original color, I 'm also thinking maybe I should paint her the same color Grey as my Pattern makers vise and keep them the same.. hmm. tough decision here..

If I go with the Black, which Black wold make her really "POP" and stand out?

I use this black for restoring my hand planes.

Is semi gloss best, should I go with a Satin?,, or hammered??

Help.. lol

Hi, SurfHunter,

I have a Reed 404 here, of the same vintage as your 204,which has its original finish pretty much intact.

The original paint is black, and appears to be a cheap gloss black enamel, applied rather thinly. I'd suspect that the Reed works used the cheapest paint available, with the idea that many purchasers would not care about the paint finish of a vise, and those who did would have their own 'company standard' colour.

The lettering on the side was tipped with 'stove aluminium' paint, but not all the lettering was done, the 'made by' and 'patent number' lines were just left black.

Personally, I think black a dreary colour, for something as large as a vise. (the japanning on hand planes and some other small tools being a different aesthetic) I'd recommend a light French grey, with a dark red tipping to the lettering.

cheers

Carla

 

[thehorse13]

Rust-oleum makes a hammered black paint that dries to a dark gray color. It looks fantastic.

Have a look at the Prentiss Vises that I've done in this color. Prentiss vises were also black but I like my color scheme much better.

 

[CrotalusAtrox]

Hey SurfHunter the Vise forum in the general tool section has lots of restored vises you can review and maybe something will catch your eye. I painted these two Athols Satin Oregano, I like it may not be for everyone

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[SurfHunter]

They both look very nice, Thanks for posting.

Okay, So I'm having a lil bit of trouble completely dissembling the handle from main screw.

After reading this post
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=131601

And looking at my vise, I'm beginning to think mine has been modified Shorter possibly,
Or maybe had been cut during the war, in order to bring home as scrap, possibly.. Dont know.

 

[Carla]

They both look very nice, Thanks for posting.

Okay, So I'm having a lil bit of trouble completely dissembling the handle from main screw.

After reading this post
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=131601

And looking at my vise, I'm beginning to think mine has been modified Shorter possibly,
Or maybe had been cut during the war, in order to bring home as scrap, possibly.. Dont know.

Your vise has been repaired. It takes some rather extreme abuse to break an older Reed vise, but, if it breaks, that is where the break will most likely occur.

I've seen a very few Reed vises which have been broken, and repaired as yours has. One of them is one which I brazed back together myself, some thirty-odd years ago. But never again.....never again.....the amount of heat one must put into a vise jaw to keep it at a good brazing temp is seriously 'uncomfortable' to 'put it mildly'.

I don't know what percentage of the original casting strength a brazed Reed vise will have.....just try to use it 'gently', and see how it does in service.

cheers

Carla

 

[thehorse13]

Yep, that vise was broken and repaired. My experience with repairs in stress areas is that they never hold. Whenever I see this, I write off the vise as scrap metal and/or a parts vise.

Sorry about the bad luck, OP.

 

[SurfHunter]

Yeah, I was thinking the same, Go Figure. I've already cleaned her up somewhat. Guess I'll give her a fresh coat of paint and use it for time being. It was free !!! so only investment was a can of paint, and some much needed alone time in the shop..

 

[SurfHunter]

She turned out pretty good, I think. I have a few touch ups, Highlight the lettering, Then time to put her to use..

Here are a few shots from beginning to end. Hope ya'll don't mind all the pictures.
I'm pretty happy.

have to upload, 2 separate posts

 

[SurfHunter]

Just a few more to go..

 

[SurfHunter]

And that's all folks !!!

 

[CrotalusAtrox]

Looks great SurfHunter