Wilton c2 refurb first post!

[roma042987]

Hello my name is Roma first time posting on this forum. I came across this old vise a few weeks ago. The guy said it came off the bumper of an old 5ton military wrecker. Being fond of tools and and old military stuff (and in need of a good vise) i picked it up. At the time i knew nothing about wiltons or vises so didnt really know how good of a deal i was getting for 100 bucks. I took it home and started doing some homework on vises turns out it was a pretty good deal and looked to be in excellant shape with the exception of a missing end cap.





The vise had roughly a half inch of paint on it so i decided to take it apart and refinish it.



Everything came apart quiet easily with the exception of one of the swivel base bolts. I put my 1/2 impact on it and broke the locking pad.

Here it is with the paint cleaned off and ready for the acid etching.



<a href="http://s122.photobucket.com/user/roma042987/media/IMG_0299.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o271/roma042987/IMG_0299.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_0299.jpg"/></a>



<a href="http://s122.photobucket.com/user/roma042987/media/IMG_0298.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o271/roma042987/IMG_0298.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_0298.jpg"/></a>



found a 2 5/32 freeze plug that fits perfectly in the end to serve as an end cap. two coats of por15 and ready for a top coat.







Meanwhile i had the jaws and associated parts yellow chromate zinc dipped



I ended up painting it an italian olive color and assembled with new stainless steel hardware for the screw retainer and jaw retainer bolts.







Here is where its at today. I cant think of a good way to refinish the handle. A new one can be purchased for 140 bucks but i just cant justify that.

 

[bigdave39355]

very nice! great work


Dave

 

[mtesh73]

nice job roma, you should post this in the "vises of garage journal" thread in this sub forum also.

 

[PT Doc]

Nice. I would have left it in the raw but nice work.

 

[straightcut]

Welcome to GJ. To say you got a pretty good deal for $100 is an understatement, so you earn a "you ****" for that!

Well bought and nice job on the restoration.

 

[roma042987]

Welcome to GJ. To say you got a pretty good deal for $100 is an understatement, so you earn a "you ****" for that!

Yeah i know I got it right

thanks for all the comments everyone!

 

[drivesitfar]

Roma,
first off for not knowing which vise you wanted or if $100 was a good deal you might have bought the best Wilton made IMHO.

sorry to hear that you took an impact to the rusted nut and broke that piece. hopefully that is still available which i think it should be so not a big deal. usually i see the base of the swivels broken and re welded or the vise just mounted like you did on your cart. i'm really surprised the cart isn't tipping over with that sitting on the end of it.

i really like the gold zinc look and that green really sets it off. i wouldn't spend the money to buy a new screw if yours is working great and doesn't have any other issues other than the rust. we've been talking a lot the last few months on the best way to shine up steel so take a look at the vise thread after you post this awesome vise on it.

is there a way to put that gold zinc color on the handle too? that might look pretty good and really give your vise the finishing touch. raw steel shined up with a linseed oil or Johnson paste wax would look good too.

by the way welcome to Garage Journal and looking forward to seeing more of your projects or your input on things you have an opinion on how to do it right or better.

 

[oldldh]

Nice Wilton save!!!


Ya Dun Gud, Bubba!!!

 

[Todd.Brock]

Nice. Put the handle and swivel clamps under the wire wheel . Nice bright shiny finish. I need to redo mine from about 4 years ago.

 

[roma042987]

Roma,

is there a way to put that gold zinc color on the handle too? that might look pretty good and really give your vise the finishing touch. raw steel shined up with a linseed oil or Johnson paste wax would look good too.

by the way welcome to Garage Journal and looking forward to seeing more of your projects or your input on things you have an opinion on how to do it right or better.

i was going to get the handle zinc coated as well but i dont want the whole screw done because it has a nice shiny almost stainless steel looking finish on it. Thank you i look forward to trying to contribute to this great forum.

 

[roma042987]

Nice. Put the handle and swivel clamps under the wire wheel . Nice bright shiny finish. I need to redo mine from about 4 years ago.

i put a wire wheel to it for a few minutes and it certainly seemed to help but i really would need to put some time into it to get it shiny. Fortunately the screw is easy to remove so i may end up doing something with it later on. Im goining to weld up a nice welding table one of these days and will then permanantly mount the swivel base and attach the vise. The cart is just a temporary spot for it.

 

[Todd.Brock]

Ok, well shiny maybe excessive, but here is my before/after... Someone gave me the right swivel clamp downs for the cost of shipping. I wired them and they turned out the same. The finish has dulled and started to re re rust. It lives in a garage and is not a conditioned space. So I should redo them again. I need to repaint it too , hammer tone has not held up well. Not to mention that hideous green.
[This is the best before picture I have of the handle.


After

 

[roma042987]

That's impressive work on that handle! i actually called around about getting it chrome plated and the only thing close i could find was a decorative chrome job for around 100 dollars. Most new handles are hard chrome plated which is considerably stronger. I guess a new screw for 140 bucks isnt too bad but i just cant bring myself to spend it. Im having a bit of a hard time tracking down the correct swivel clamp pads for mine because the catalog shows the c2 to have a different swivel base locking system than mine has.

 

[drivesitfar]

Roma: since a lot of the swivel bases on these C2 Wiltons are broken you might put a note in the Parts thread in this general tools section. also in the Wanted thread off the main Forum page. PM me if you cant find them

also most Wilton swivels are interchangeable, but I've never owned a C2 so not sure other ones off of smaller vises might work. KMScott has a website for most of the wilton parts at www.wiltonviseparts.net i think or PM (private message) him.

good luck and read back on the vise thread a few weeks and you'll see some very nice restorations where they just wire wheeled their handles. yours looks fine and should shine up great if you just spend an hour or less on it.

 

[Davefr]

Great job with the restoration!! C-2's are my favorite!!

You might want to accent the raised lettering.

 

[Alexbn921]

Nice job on the restoration. Take some time and wire wheel the handle, if you want it to look like new use a 3M deburring pad on it. Only took 20-30 minutes to get mine back to perfect. There are some guys that bonded the broken lock down to a piece of steel to reinforce it.

 

[pipehack]

Nice vise. I have a C-1 and love it. I was surprised that the cart didn't flip over when you had the vise on it. My C-1 is pretty heavy and your C-2 is bigger. I like the zinc coating. Where did you get that done at?

 

[Duct Tape Man]

Great work! Love the before and after shots...