Wood Vise Gloat?

[Pat Stewart]

I just picked these up at a school auction. $168 for 10 (one w/ no acme thr'd shaft). Brands are Wilton, Colombian and Rockler. A couple of them are missing some easy replacement parts. All in all, they're in better shape than in person than the auction pictures.

I've been reading up on rust removal. I'll give Evapo Rust a try first and then go from there.

Instead of spending $$$ on one or two vises, now I'll have a vise on every corner and then some for $$......

[Bruce Page]

Nice score but I'd rather see them still being used in a school shop.

Maybe the school bought new vises for their classrooms...yeah, that's it!

[Dave Cav]

I've been reading up on rust removal. I'll give Evapo Rust a try first and then go from there.

That's gonna take a LOT of Evap-O-Rust. I would get a plastic garbage can, mix up a solution of citric acid, and use that. A lot cheaper and works about as well.

Good score on the vises, BTW. You will make a nice return on your investment.

[Pat Stewart]

Nice score but I'd rather see them still being used in a school shop.

Maybe the school bought new vises for their classrooms...yeah, that's it!

Bruce,

I'm sure the new vises were Tuckers!

I just saw a shop (thru the window in the door since it was locked) at the new Sedalia, Mo high school. It was a far cry from the Powermatic and Delta shop I rememer 22 years ago...

[Pat Stewart]

That's gonna take a LOT of Evap-O-Rust. I would get a plastic garbage can, mix up a solution of citric acid, and use that. A lot cheaper and works about as well.

Good score on the vises, BTW. You will make a nice return on your investment.

Dave,

Citric acid is/was an idea. I just have to find a source. Any good suggestions? I've heard of checking with home beer brewing stores.

[Dave Cav]

Dave,

Citric acid is/was an idea. I just have to find a source. Any good suggestions? I've heard of checking with home beer brewing stores.

That's where I get mine, the local home brew supply place. It's also readily available on the Web. I have also heard that lemon and/or lime Kool Aid are also mostly citric acid and will work about as well (you want the unsweetened kind). I haven't tried it for rust, but years ago in the Navy we used lime kool aid (actually the Navy version of the same thing; we called it Bug Juice) to descale the steam heating pipes in the galley steam tables; it worked like a charm.

[Tony Shea]

Damn, you better keep studying those rust removal techniques. That looks like far too much work for my taste and really far too many vises for one guy. But, to each his own. Good luck with 'em.

[Pat Stewart]

That's where I get mine, the local home brew supply place. It's also readily available on the Web. I have also heard that lemon and/or lime Kool Aid are also mostly citric acid and will work about as well (you want the unsweetened kind). I haven't tried it for rust, but years ago in the Navy we used lime kool aid (actually the Navy version of the same thing; we called it Bug Juice) to descale the steam heating pipes in the galley steam tables; it worked like a charm.

Now that you mention it, I recall soaking brass fire hose nozzles and bittings in Bug Juice on the ship when I was in the navy. Good times, good times......

[Greg Hines, MD]

I would love to have a pair of them for the end of my bench. Nice find, though it is a pity that the school does not need them.

Doc

[Richard M. Wolfe]

Oddly enough, about two weeks ago at a school (college) auction the guy I work with picked up three workbenches with vises on each end. One was a junk vise but the other five were Wilton. The workbenches themselves were not worth salvaging but he got the lot for about sixty dollars.