I am getting the sharpening station all set up and just got a hefty bonus, so I may splurge for a Gramercy saw vise, especially now that I am sharpening saws for the workshop where I have been teaching.
I remember someone posting about baked oil finish on a Gramercy vise but cannot find the post. Here are my choices for finish:
Baked flax oil. http://benchcrafted.blogspot.com/201...cast-iron.html
Cold blue with Minwax antique oil as also in above link.
Hybrid- Cold blue followed by baked flax oil. Really I want a black look and figure that would give me the black finish, and might have a deep look to it with the brown linseed oil on top. Will the flax oil finish stick to cold blue? I don't see why not.
Really those are my choices, as this has to stay fairly simple and I cannot ship dangerous goods very easily so things like Mark Lee Rapid Brown or a hot bluing are out. I am open to other suggestions but not paint. Really the goal here is rust prevention, but I kind of want to experiment with a different finish, and this tool lends itself well to such a finish.
I also saw a heat treatment followed by an oil bath that I really liked, but it seems more for color and less for durability. Also I would worry about messing with the temper of the steel, although I do have a kiln to do it in.