Well the other day I answered a FB MP ad for free spruce and sugar maple. It was 20 miles away and in the back lot of a construction company building (small) with a bunch of dumpsters. Found this vise rusting away on top of a bench that looked like it was cobbled together in about 2 minutes......It was not rusted solid so I decided to take it and try and bring it back to life. It was manufactured by the Charles Parker Co. originally out of Meriden, CT, model number 973. I didn't even have to soak it in vinegar as the rust buildup looks to be rather recent. I used a wire brush on my drill and some wd-40 and it cleaned up in about an hour and a half. I also slapped on some red 'n tacky grease on the spindle and I'm just tickled pink that this thing is up and running. I didn't take apart the bottom nut that holds in the base plate but I may do that tomorrow just to clean up some of the rust. Everything spins super easy and I just love the design of the locking mechanism for the base plate with the built in wrench.
Nice!!! I had an old Charles Parker I got from an old barn. Had 6” jaws. Forget the model number, 956 maybe. Very heavy, probably 125-150 lbs. Ended up selling it. I actually had quite a few vises for awhile as I found them fun to collect and cheap to buy. From that same barn I also got two 48” pipe wrenches that I still have. They were rusted shut, but I brought them back to life.
Nice! I just looked it up on eBay and it looks like some sold from $100 and up. I see a few listings currently active at $150! I also restored a pipe wrench I found in the house clamped to the shut off for the gas meter!!! That thing was covered in rust and I ended up soaking that one in vinegar and then the wire wheel and wd-40. I've got a video of me turning it with one finger (and almost dropping it ) but waiting for it to download from Dropbox....
Great to see some old iron resurrected on here. That vise will serve you well for many years and is leaps and bounds ahead of the stuff cast overseas these days. I have an old Wilton I did something similar with. Of course I’m partial to Parker considering I live about 15 miles from Meriden CT.
Yeah I'm excited. It's got the rough jaws on there but I'll look for some plastic inserts. I wish manufacturers would go back to making quality products like they used to.
Great job there, looks fantastic! I also long for the old days when quality mattered. That's the price you pay when you allow offshoring to China to "save" a few dollars on an item.
Thanks! I'm all for saving a few bucks.......but I think what manufacturers are forgetting is that people are willing to pay for quality. There's no reason why this kind of quality built vise can't be used for 200 years if you take care of it. There's so much waste in the world. I just couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it - I just told my wife the second I saw it I was like "Uh........someone just threw something out that they shouldn't have...."
Nice job. I like old vises. I have 5 bench vises in different states of repair/ refurb and 2 blacksmith leg vises. I like to use the leg vises to hold my chainsaws by the bar when sharpening chains.
Hopefully it was put out for trash, and not just an "outdoor workbench" (that happened to be by the dumpsters) for the construction company maintenance guy...maybe for dumpster repairs or something? Just saying... If it really was put out for trash, then that's quite the score, you can still buy quality vises like that, but they are big $$$!
Yeah there was a lot of junk there...including 2x4s and stuff on some kind of rack....but all the wood was warped like crazy and the bench that it was on was hanging on by a thread and wobbling all over the place. There was broken glass all over the ground all around the bench as well so I was pretty confident that nobody was using that space for real work. Also based on the rust it was left outside very recently...... There was another guy there taking wood as well and he was asking me if it'd be ok to take the garbage cans but I pointed out that they looked very new and were probably used......as garbage cans..... So he didn't take them. This is the only pic I have of the "rack" of wood. You can see a different bench on the left. That was also cobbled together and I didn't give it more than a glance.
Nice find and restoration! I'm on a FB page with vise guys and they are big collectors. Reed, Wilton, Chas. Parker. Still folks out there making some parts and casting the base nut wrenches. Lots of them paint them and letter them, which looks really good. I am honored to have both of my grandad's bench vises. A Columbian and Wilton. Still use them.
Thanks. I like doing that - I don't like waste!! I saw some videos where they painted and whited out the letters. Looks real neat. I like the "au naturel" look of the clean metal. That said I might be tempted to use some metal bluing or heat it up and apply some boiled linseed oil. Also, I need to find a proper bench to put it on! Right now my garage is a game of musical chairs since I've got too much stuff in there! Hahaha thanks. Reminds me of when I was a kid - I was really good at taking things apart....but not putting them back together!! Tanks man! What exact vocation did you study? I have a B.S. in Biochemistry. That degree came in super handy doing financial IT on Wall st. right out of school!!! I should have gone to trade school. What a waste of time college was for me.
I have a B.S. in BS! I went for carpentry. Dad was a roofer so i did that. Do mostly small work now. I wouldnt have lasted in college.
Hahahaha. I'm actually stunned I survived given how little studying I did. You should have seen all the uptight pre-med hardcore classmates I had. It was comical.
Carpentry is awesome btw. I worked for a buddy of mine doing millwork and general contracting for 6 months after the first time I quit my job. Learned a lot of the basics which turned out to be super useful ever since.
That's a nice vise! And a good restoration. Bonus on the wrench. I bought a Parker and a Reed a decade ago for $50, gave the Parker to my brother and kept the Reed, my father has a large Reed vise too. I've also collected a few woodworking vises, including a very nice Record 53E and a Brodhead-Garrett 500X. I am no fan of newer stuff, the old vises are far superior quality and fit.
