Thread: Dawn No 10 and Dawn Saw Sharpening Vice

Hi Folks
After several years of intense suffering with the crappy vice atttached to an ok work bench I inherited when we bought this place I decided to ease my pain and went in search of a good, used, well built 9" or 10" QR vice - Dawn or Record. After a few failed attempts on eBay I acquired a No. 10 with QR in good but unloved condition. Cleaned up, fresh jaw inserts, leather liner and mounted properly after battling with the weird and wonderful ideas of my predecessor it is a revelation. Like trading in a 1960's VW for a top notch 4WD and being instantly ready to go cross country. It's not the extra torque that makes the difference, it's the drive - the extra square inches of clamping surface area mean I can secure timber for planing with one finger - literally.

Question. What is the favoured lubrication for these things so that it moves freely but doesn't contaminate treasured pieces that come in contact with the rails or screw?

In what to me was a bonus/afterthought the deal included an almost unused Dawn Saw Vice. "Used it once" was the seller's comment, so I thought he'd probably got it new on a "seemed like a good idea" basis and life went in other directions. It's the real deal with a ball joint on the base and cam actuated clamping. Never seen one of these before and so this morning I spent 15mins with search engines trying to find out something of its history. Not a sausage. (To be clear, I'm not a tool collector. I like them because I use them.) The search produced not a single image, article or forum post on this thing so my curiosity is highly aroused.

Question. Does anyone here know anything about the history and reputation of this vice?

I'd be grateful for any input.

Cheers
Mark