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.

On the lookout for a tail vice now. Then i’ll start on my bench, drawing inspiration from your bench, Paul. 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! 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!

RECORD HALF NUT (L) , GUIDE (M) , SCREWS (N) FOR FOR T23 RECORD IRWIN VICE IN STOCK

Mix the paint well before you start, especially if it's not a new can, poor mixing/shaking will give spatters. 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. Record vices were made by The Record Tools Factory, Sheffield in the UK and manufactured vices between 1909 to 2000. The business was then taken over by Irwin Tools. For over 40 years we have had a No 1 Record vice in our shed/workshop and it has been well used and abused over the years with the clamping handle being very bent and twisted from using extension bars to increase the clamping force. The plan with the newer vices is to restore them and use the larger No 2 vice to replace our old No 1 model.

I actually have no need for the No3 other than keeping me busy, so I'll probably try and give it away to friends or family when I'm done with it, or keep it till one of my sons grows up and starts tinkering. It'll make a good door stop until then! I really like the suggestion of the kurust passivated finish then oil or maybe varnish, I have just the job in mind for it, if only I could remember what it is 🙁 seriously not long ago I was looking for that sort of finish, a light bulb lit up in my mind when you mentioned it but I have no idea what it was!

RECORD Mainscrew & Handle/Half Nut/Pin/Washer for No.T36 record vice

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. Great vice – would have been nice to have had one with the drop down dog on the jaw, but i’ll live.

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. 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. The two coats of enamel paint were applied using a small brush as we do not have access to spaying equipment and were left to dry for 24 hours between each layer. It was left for several days to fully harden before assembly. Using a spray system would have given a smoother overall finish but as they are being used in our workshop the brushed finish was good enough. Final Assembly I’ve wanted to learn the skills for a long time (it’s in my blood from growing up around it), and your videos have really given me a firm direction in which to begin building them – so thank you for the videos you make and the time you sacrifice to impart your wisdom. You’ve got a love and passion that’s clearly apparent and is completely infectious. 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 No 1 vice was reassembled and a new roll pin was installed to hold the opening spring. We initially tried using a split pin but had clearance issues when turning the vice handle.

Presently, on my personal benches, I have three Woden vises on the two benches at my home workshop and at the Penrhyn Castle workshop, have two personal benches there, I have two Record vises and a Woden vise. 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: That would have looked stunning just lacquered, that way it would have shown traces of all its colourful life (see what i did there).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. I found a business called Paragon Enamel Paints which sells a very wide range of paints in modern and vintage colours. They sell a blue paint which is the same as the original Record vice paint called “BS381C 110 Roundel Blue - Record Vice Blue” https://www.paragonpaints.co.uk/BS381C-110-Roundel-Blue-Record-Vice-Blue.html I’m not sure if anyone is interested in ways to clean up rusty old vices but I’ve done quite a few so I hope the following helps someone: