Restoring an Old Metal Vise

When we first moved into this house, the space where my current small workshop is located was originally a little garden shed. The previous owners left behind a bunch of stuff, most of which wasn't worth saving, howeover there was one thing which I kept: an old metal vise.

I figured it would come in handy and one day.... I would clean it up and restore it a bit. Ever since, it's been sitting on the counter, I've used it a few times, however it was quite grimy and dirty and could definitely use a good cleaning.

I didn't know too much about the vise. It had a small sign on it which said: "Great Neck no.hdv4". I did a little research and found a new version of it online, howeover it only made me like the old one even more.

To begin with, I took it apart as far as I could, removing all the screws, and gave everything a good scrub.

After cleaning it, it became clear that most of the areas which I thought might have been built up dirt was in fact just paint peeling a bit, so I started sanding. At first I wanted to remove as much as possible, but after a while I became satisfied with simply cleaning it up as much as possible and smoothing out any old paint.

Initially I had thought of painting over the old paint, but then I thought it might be interesting to do a forced patina instead. This is where you create a rust surface which you then neutralize and seal.

I combined 1/2 cup of hydrogen peroxiode, 1/2 cup white vinegar and 1 tsp of salt in a spray bottle which I applied on all the metal parts which I hadn't taped to protect. I ended up letting this work over night and a nice patina developed in conjunction with the black paint.

Then I rinsed with water, dried and then brushed with a combination of baking soda and water to neutralize the vinegar. After a final wash and a thorough dry, I sealed all the rusted parts with a water based polyurethane. The last step in this process was to apply our mineral oil and wax polish on all the metal before assembling back together.

After this I did get a brand new vise! I also replaced the metal jaws with wood and leather clad ones instead which I think will be more useful as I intend to use this to hold wood more than leather.

For a better perspective on this process, make sure to watch the video!