Thread: Help with Dawn vice

Hi all,

I recently took apart my grandfather's old Dawn No. 175 in order to clean it and get it running smoothly before reinstalling it to the bench. Once taking it off I realised that the two metal jaws are not parallel (they are wider at the bottom when viewed from side on). I'm new to woodworking, but I assume they should be parallel and the easiest fix would be to put wooden inserts onto the face to correct for the problem? Is this common? I would be guessing the vice is 30-40 years old. There is not much play in the vice and it appears to sliding squarely.

Also, the paint on the front and back of the vice is a slightly different colour maroon. Could this be due to the paint on the outer jaw being affected by UV (the inner jaw won't have seen much light) or is it more likely that the two parts are from two different vices?

Thanks