Cleaning up a Charles Parker number 474 double-swivel bench vise

[brino]

For anyone that has not tried electrolysis for rust removal, you don't know what you're missing!
It saves so much wire brushing, and is so easy and cheap to use.
In this case it's also working so well on the old paint, that that it's almost dripping off into the electrolysis bucket when I pull the parts out.

I am using a plastic bucket from the hardware store. My current recipe is rain water (since my well water is so hard, and there's so much rain around!), about a 1-1/2 cups of each TSP and "washing soda". My TSP is the real stuff (I've never understood how they can sell phosphate-free trisodium phosphate!). The washing soda is Arm and Hammer "So Clean" super washing soda (aka sodium carbonate). I am using an ancient 12V battery charger as the power supply.

I could even leave the rig powered up and parts in the bucket thru the day and pull them out at night.

Here it is bubbling away:


...and some parts being pulled out:




I'd pull them out, give them a gentle scrape, a light wire brushing and leave them to dry under a heat-lamp.
I've read about problems with "flash rusting" but I've never seen it.
I typically masked and painted them the next day and left them under the lamp again to dry.

-brino

 

[brino]

Some bare, cleaned parts:

 

[brino]

Masked and painted......

 

[brino]

some finished parts:

 

[brino]

Last two shots for the night......I gotta go clean some more parts!

You can see that a previous owner had used the back-end of the movable jaw as an anvil or cut-off block.


...and here you can just make out the top "fat-ends" of the taper pins that hold the jaw on:


-brino

 

[woodchucker]

Looks good. Real good. Nice job. I like the color too.

 

[BrianT]

Wow, looks good...makes me want to restore mine as well now. The double swivel is really nice and somewhat rare, I think the original price could have been realized if it had the right venue to sell it.

 

[f350ca]

Great score brino !! Almost missed your post, your ripping through the restoration so fast. Will have to give electrolysis a go one of these days.

Greg

 

[EmilioG]

Great find. Thanks for documenting. The photos and information will come in handy for anyone doing a resto on this model vise.
I'm still looking for a good CP vise. I'd like to buy one of the larger CP vises. They weigh over 70#'s! Mikey has the beast of CP vises.
Very hard to find the larger vises intact w/o cracks or missing parts with a swivel base, pipe jaws, wrench and in good shape.

Nice work Brino. The vise looks excellent now. You did a great job.

A lot of sellers don't even know if there is a crack somewhere, so I would have to buy in person from CL and do a careful inspection.
You have to get lucky. It's like hitting the lottery.

 

[EmilioG]

The Charles Parker 824 is THE vise I would like to find in good shape. These were the best of the best. Top line models, of which Charles Parker made two.
The superior line is the best they made. Super rare.