record no. 52 vice restoration

i found this rusty old record no. 52 vice on ebay. it is approximately 90 years old and telling by the way it looked after it arrived from the uk, it never got any attention/cleaning/whatsoever. so i took it apart and started derusting it. my dremel did a fantastic job, i used the cleaning & polishing abrasive buffs in different grids. you can clearly see the result!

then i painted the vice in the old record roundel blue. it took me a while to find the closest to the original color, i ordered around 10 different types of blue, but they were all not as i expected. so i was more than happy when i found the humbrol enamel paint 15 midnight blue which in my opinion is a perfect match!

when i was completely finished restoring it, i put all parts back together and experienced a little setback when the spring that operates the quick release mechanism of the vice broke. i was about to burst into tears. so i searched for an exchange spring and guess what? i found one. i paid 80 euros for the vice. i paid 53 euros for the spring🤬😅 oh well... at least it is fully functional now!

the vice still had the most part of the decal sticker and it would have been a shame to paint over that and put on a new sticker. i have these stickers in my workshop, but i painted around the sticker and saved it! looks a lot better that way and adds another "vintage touch" to the vice