Bench Vice Refurb'.

This is my first Instructable, so please bear with me !

Saw this vice in the back workshop at my place of work. It was looking sorry for itself, just sitting there quietly rusting away!. I thought I would take it home and give it a new lease of life, seemed a shame to bin it.

Next was to dismantle it and inspect for any cracks, damage etc. There didn't appear to be any damage, everything worked. The only thing missing was the jaws. a thorough clean in hot soapy water followed by a scrub down with brake cleaner to get rid of the grease and dirt.

I tried to remove the old paint with Nitromors, but to no avail. So, I decided to set about it with a selection of wire brushes. These got the old paint off in no time and I was pleasantly surprised with the result. Another clean off with brake cleaner in preparation for a fresh coat of paint.

Time to mask off wherever you DON'T want the paint to go. I used some Frog tape I had left over from some previous decorating. Take your time at this stage, because the more care you take now saves a load of time trying to get paint off from where you don't want it to be.

I had intended to paint straight onto the bare metal with some Hammerite but decided to prime it with a good quality primer. Belt and braces approach ! Leave this for a couple of days to dry and harden.

Hammerite paint was first choice at this point, it's worth paying a little extra for this. The hardest thing was deciding on a colour......went for dark green in the end. I didn't want black or the usual red. Wait a few days between coats, again so it can dry and more importantly harden. Used 3 coats in total.

Looking good so far. Ready for re-assembly. A little multi purpose grease on the moving parts before it's put back together should keep things moving.

A little Autosol polish on the shiny bits and it looks like new.

Very pleased with the end result. Just waiting for some new magnetic soft jaws I ordered from eBay. The vice now has it's new home on my bench I made from old pallets last year.