Emmert Vise finish

[Jack Hoying]

I have a Emmert pattern makers vise that I'm going to clean up and put up for sale in the near future and was wondering about the finish on it. It currently has a couple colors of paint which comes off fairly easily with some stripper. I was wondering what, if any, finish I should apply. I imagine most people would want a "machinery gray", but others might want raw steel?? What is the norm for something like this? Here's a photo of the first peice that I cleaned up.
http://users.adelphia.net/%7Ejmhoying/vise01s.jpg

Thanks in advance for any help.

Jack

[Wes Bischel]

Jack,
I seem to remember most being a semi-gloss black - Ala japanning. I don't have an Emmert so it's just a guess.

As for the clean-up, without resorting to fancy electrolysis set-ups, I've used the purple cleaner (Zep from HD, and Castrol brand). Just soak it overnight, light scrub with a scotchbrite pad, rinse and dry. Voilà! It has been the least time intensive process I've found - though the electrolysis process is supposed to be even better.

FWIW,

Wes - who would love an Emmert!

[Alan Turner]

The Emmert that you show seems to be a turtleback, whcich was an early model. Maybe the Iron Hand website guy could give you a hand with the color/finish issue. The ones I have seen have ranged from the shop color of the dya, to black to gray to rust to a viriety of colors stemming from the brightly colored adhesives that pattenmakers used. Red, blue, and yellow, all quite bright.

[Mike Wenzloff]

Hi Jack,

For all things Emmert:

http://www.mprime.com/emmert/index.htm

The How To page has links to other sites concerning restorations of others as well. It also has tips for shipping, etc.

Take care, Mike

[Jack Hoying]

I ended up leaving the vise unfinished and have it on Ebay at this time (http://cgi.ebay.com/Emmert-patternmakers-vise-patternmaker-pattern-maker_W0QQitemZ6232040903QQcategoryZ104041QQssPage NameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)
Thanks for the replies. (http://cgi.ebay.com/Emmert-patternmakers-vise-patternmaker-pattern-maker_W0QQitemZ6232040903QQcategoryZ104041QQssPage NameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)