A while back I found a vice in garden mum had been using as a door stop. Turns out its my great grandfathers bench vice. Thus far I've removed the bulk of the creepy crawlies and crud but needless to say its somewhat seized, was in use by my grandfather till the late 70's when he passed it only mum who ended up with it in the garden. I've sprayed the hell out of it with penetrating oil and with a mallet managed to close the jaw about a quarter of an inch. it does though spin freely the other direction now so I'm assuming its just corrosion built up between the body and jaw. Anyone have any advice on this? I cant find any form of a guide on the vice which is stamped as a Record N1. Heres said vice after some cleaning
Wire brush as much of the surface stuff off. Keep soaking WD40 in to the mechanism. It'll slowly work together and you'll be able to wire brush more of it.
disassemble it [or as best you can]. clean all the crud out from the workings give it a good greasing [not oil, grease] put it back together
If you can dismantle the vice you could try cleaning with electrolysis, which will remove all rust. https://www.familyhandyman.com/workshop/how-to-remove-rust-with-electrolysis/view-all/
Good news, progress! mainly good. Vice is now apart but the pin holding the spring and washers snapped off so ill tap that out an use a split pin instead. Going to attack it tomorrow with some solvents to remove the crud. May try that electrolysis be quicker than the dremel/angle grinder. I have some blue hammerite for after but think ill need some etch primer
Soaking in white vinegar overnight seems to do a god job of shifting rust too, if watching BlackSmithing / BladeSmithing videos has taught me nothing else...
Ill give the vinegar a whirl, took a slap wheel an wire brushes to it today filed out the crap from the slider so it moves freely again also attacked the spindle with the brush before it died. Old paint is clearly blue which is what ill respray it as, but I found some odd bits of green paint under parts of the original blue which is odd, still it'll get a coat of hammerite blue.
When I used to work in a bike garage, some of the rusted up old restorations we'd free up by soaking them in coca cola. One night in coke and it'll come out clean, no exaggeration. After that, wire brush and mineral oil whilst you're working on it to prevent the return of rust, until you paint.
Calling it now finished, the vinegar worked a treat took off the bulk of the corrosion rest was fine sanded away, a of oxidisation has occured where there was no paint so I may spray the spindle end and winder as the rest is coated in a grease so it wont corrode. Blue is a hammerite I couldnt justify paying out for whats now known as Irwin Roundel Blue but it works lovely and smooth.
Good work. I'm really getting into these artisan/restoration videos on YouTube - there' something extremely satisfying about crafting an amazing item from another mundane object or restoring something to its former glory.
Great job - it's always nice to see old things being given a new lease of life. The vice should be in service for several years to come.
Well, I have a plan to mount it to a bench soon, It'll be removeable as its a murphy bench so would make it a bit weighty to leave on there. I'll spruce it up an get fitted photos .
