On the lookout for a tail vice now. Then i’ll start on my bench, drawing inspiration from your bench, Paul. The vices are Record No 1 and No 2 models and are engineers' vices designed to be mounted onto a workbench or other strong surface. The paint I'm using is hammerite smooth blue, which is less than half the price of the roundel blue I could find online. Thankfully this isn't a Record vice, so feel absolutely no obligation towards what colour I'm painting it. I did a bit of reading and Hampton were the originators of the Record name, they eventually merged with William Ridgeway Ltd to become Ridgeway-Record Tools, later renamed Record Tools and eventually sold off to Irwin Tools. Did you ever consider adding a deadman to your design? For support of long lengths whilst held in the vice? I’m thinking of incorporating one whilst i’m going about building a bench – i’ve always managed without in the past, on my current ‘bench’, but I can see it’s value.

A small model maker's vice I machined out of aluminium when I was an apprentice, which has come in surprisingly useful over the years! I see the weld, definitely fettling post weathering pre machining, standard practice in non stressed areas like that.Two weeks ago I found a woodworking vise in a thriftstore, no brand on it, usual blue paint, in a very good condition. Price was good too – equal to that of a Big Mac. All it said on the front jaw was ‘No. 57’ and ‘Made in England’. I also have 1x Parkinsons Perfect, 1x Paramo 52 and 1x Woden 189B which unfortunately require some real attention and are beyond my knowledge of repair. This leads me to my request: Such a satisfying job, and cost about the same as an import vice of about the same size. This thing will outlast me, my son and probably his son! Before the vices could be primed and painted any remaining dust and dirt had to be removed using isopropyl alcohol and clean rags. The areas which did not need to be painted were covered in masking tape and then sprayed using Red Oxide primer and left for two days to fully dry.

Both vices were very dirty and rusty where they had been kept outside for some time and on the threaded parts and undersides were years of grease and grime. Submerge in the acid bath for a further 12-24 hours then remove, scrub/power wash and also submerge in clean water for a few mins (do this while scrubbing to save time) It’s in good condition really, everything works as it should, clean, jaws close tight – can’t complain at all. No idea how old it is – 50s/60s I would have thought. I do have two metalworking vises, so I expected the #57 to be used only for the occasional woodworking I do. However, it turns out that it has now become the vise I use the most, due to its location on the bench and height. Incidentally, the wooden-liner mounting holes in the rear jaw weren’t threaded, so I cut M6 thread in it myself. Not sure if the factory forgot to cut threads or whether doing so was normally left as ‘an exercise for the new owner’.The larger Record No 2 vice was missing the spring and washer which opens the jaw when unscrewed on the clamping screw and the roll-pin which was supposed to hold the spring and washer in place was sheared off in the shaft and needed to be drilled out. A new spring, washer and pin would be needed for the reassembly. I bought the impact driver for the first vice I did up, a record no.4 with screws in a similar sort of state. Much to my surprise they came out really easily, unlike today! You have got them out now but the way to do it is use the impact driver bit in the screw slot but with the jaws clamped on it then release the screw 1/4 of a turn with a spanner on the flats of the bit.