r/HandToolRescue

To all vice experts! I am in the middle of a vice restoration and could use some help identifying and approximate age of this vice. I can't seem to find any makers marks but all the parts are stamped number 11. Also would it devalue the vice if I repaint it?

As always I wish I had taken more before pictures, but I always get too excited to start a restoration.

I was picking up some lathe gouges from FB marketplace and I saw this crusty old Wilton vise sitting on a pile of unrecognizable scrap. It was crusted in dirt, dust, spider eggs and any other crap that a neglected old tool tends to collect when forgotten in a garage for decades. On top of this it was also seized entirely and required a good long soak in WD40 and some aspirational hammer taps to unstick the moving parts enough to disassemble everything.

Once I was finally able to get it taken apart I was off to the races with pressure washing, paint stripper, electrolysis, more pressure washing and a whole lot of scrubbing to get it to bare metal. I wasn’t a huge fan of the original sparkly-turquoisey-blue-green of the vise so I decided to go with a glossy black with white lettering.

Now I have a beautiful, functional brand new feeling vise that needs a workbench worthy of its grandeur!

Was cleaning up an OLD, well used and abused NB40 1/2" drive ratchet whose previous life was served more as a hammer than a ratchet and left out to the elements.

I found it covered in rust, but the internals were free of rust. It was far too pitted and deeply scratched / dented on the exterior for a polishing but I already had it and didnt want to just clean and lube and throw it back to work, I wanted to give it something more to make it look better than I found it.

I gave it a bath in boiling water and dawn to draw out the general grime and oils, brushed off the significant buildup of rust and then let it soak in evaporust for about a day. I ran it on the wire wheel and buffer to smooth the surface as much as possible.

It had seen so much abuse from a previous owner likely using it as a hammer that the front face cover was no longer flat and significantly dimpled. I put it in the press between 2 pieces of flat tool steel and pressed it until it was true and flat.

I knew I was going to blue the direction lever and gear drive, but after letting it sit on the bench a few days, I decided why not blue the entire ratchet. The bluing tends to detract attention from the imperfections.

I mixed up some concentrated selenious acid, nitric acid and phosphoric acid and brushed the entire surface with the solution, applying 2 coat, letting it dwell in solution for about 2 minutes and then put it in a pan of water to neutralize the solution. I dried the parts, reapplied the acid solution again to give it a deeper, more even black oxide finish, then again neutralized the parts and soaked them in conventional oil.

I replaced the anvil detent ball and spring, replaced the selector switch detent ball and spring and then reassembled the pieces.

It was a late night reassembly when I remember that the center face screw was not the factory flush screw, but just wanted to get it back together. I am going to replace the center face screw with the correct black oxide screw on Monday and then its going into the drawer, its a 26 tooth ratchet, so it has some slop and backdrop, but it positively engages in both directions and locks TIGHT with no slop.

Is it an accurate restoration? Obviously not, but it looks cool and will definitely take some abuse for years to come.