Thread: Parkinsons' Perfect Vise Restoration

Hi Lyndon

That should scrub up really nice.
I would go for the Auto paint myself, in my experience it seems to adhere better rather than sit on.
Check if it needs an undercoat.
I used an Auto spray on a Beisemeyer T/S fence rail setup and am very happy with it.

Good luck

Keith

I’d be inclined to go for the matt Rust-oleum. That’s good paint that.

Thanks guys. I'm also interested to know if anyone knows of other products I haven't found

Originally Posted by BEM

Thanks guys. I'm also interested to know if anyone knows of other products I haven't found

Have a look at Septone Hammer Finish at Supercheap.

I have used it on machinery and am quite pleased with it.

The Septone looks good. I might use it on other projects but I want the vise to look as original as possible. Here are some more "before" photos of parts I've been cleaning up.

I’ve used mechanical and chemical methods to the remove rust. I used a wire wheel on my bench grinder and a 125mm Scotch-Brite cleanup disk on my angle grinder on the large easy to get at surfaces. For harder to reach corners I used a rotary tool with radial bristle discs, and wire wheel tools. I used Rusted Solutions Rust Remover for the smaller parts with some wire brushing. The screw is proving to be the hardest part to clean up. I’ve ended up putting the handle end into a large zip lock bag of rust remover. I’ll see how that works.

I’m enjoying the work and seeing an old well made tool coming back to life is its own reward. I’m glad I didn’t have to buy a new one.

Lyndon

I was looking at this photo of when I was removing the paint and it made me think. The roughed up red paint on the left is possibly what the vise looked like when freshly painted. It is very different to the somewhat plum colour shown best just below the bolt on the right. Are there any coatings experts on the forum? How much change can 80 -100 years of oxidation do? I’d like to be as true to the original colour as possible but which is right? I’m possibly being a bit pedantic but meh... That’s me.

Vise paint colour.jpg

Hi Lyndon

Maybe have a look at this from 2013

Possible to restore a Parkinson's wood vice.....?

Plus, I found the attached.

PPV.jpgPPV.jpg

This may help with colour choice.

Cheers
Keith

It's been a long time since I posted on my progress but I got to the painting point and stopped. I focussed from then on the design and building of my workbench and only got back to the painting when I was ready to install the vise on the bench. Here it is, all painted up.
Parkinson vise finished.jpg

Here are the primer and paint I used. The Rustoleum Motospray while not the same colour as the original, is I think still quite nice and should stand up to a bit of abuse.
Paints used.jpg

Well done Lyndon,
it's looks great.

Thanks Keith. I'm pretty happy with it.