Thread: Restoring an old wood workers bench vice

gel paint stripper for the paint
then electrolyisis for the rust then wire brush steel wool and lots soapy water to remove the crud
dry well with a heat gun or hair dryer
prime and paint the painted parts
wax the threads and other exposed metal parts to protect them

andrew

Thanks for that. DO you have any hints on the elecrtolysis, voltage, materials, timing, etc

Here is my vice restoration thread involving electrolysis.

Before


After

Thanks for that! that is great results, and an awesome tute. Looking at the tutorial, i have only question . did you strip the paint first, or do it all with the paint on?

Also, what paint/primer did you use to get that result, and did you need to coat the handle at all, or is that straight from the bath??

Thanks

Originally Posted by pwatt01

Thanks for that! that is great results, and an awesome tute. Looking at the tutorial, i have only question . did you strip the paint first, or do it all with the paint on?

I didn't bother to strip the paint because as you can see the paint was almost already stripped. In the Sodium Carbonate bath it sort of fell off. However, next time I would remove the paint with paint stripper first.

Also, what paint/primer did you use to get that result, and did you need to coat the handle at all, or is that straight from the bath??

I used a Wattle Epoxy enamel spray can, 3 coats.

I did not put the handle/screw in the bath - I just cleaned/polished it up using a wire wheel on a bench grinder.

pwatt,
you can get wire wheels, either disc shaped for a bench grinder or cup shape for a small angle grinder. I use both these to get rid of old paint/light rust on steel whenever I am doing up old steel work (trailers, trestles, tools etc).

But electrolysis is much easier on the ears and muscles, however it can take a little while to set up and leave to "brew" and will only work on items as big as your electrolysis container.

By _far_ the best paint to use is the epoxy rust paints as BobL recommends, no need for undercoats and such. Spray if you can, but brushing is OK too. I have been using them for ages now, stuff I did 10 years ago in the workshop is still in excellent nick. I just redid my old bike last year and it came up beaut (blue gloss frame and satin black everywhere else)
Some tool pix
The hacksaw was painted more than 12 years ago (I made it when I were a lad and it was going a bit rusty!) and the grey No 4 plane (which I found in an old hangar where it had been left uncared for, for at least 20 years, 3rd to last pic) was done about the same time. Both been kicking about in tool boxes and used (obviously the plane was looked after more than the saw in that time).

Regards
SWK

Thanks for all your help guys.. i will be doing this over the next few week, and will keep you up to date with how it goes.

Thanks again!