I'm wanting to get rid of the rust on the outdoor vise. Yeah it's pretty bad but I'm wanting to use the vise again. Plus I want to make it look good too. I know there is lots of online info out there. I'm just trying to get tips from people who has actually done some hands off rust removal projects?
Any secret tips I should know about? I have a feeling I might have to disassemble the vise and stuff? So much rust on there.
What is an outdoor vice? I have several vices however they are used exclusively indoors.
You are gonna have to take it completely apart and likely soak it in a chemical. Then take a wire wheel to it, then paint it. It as gonna be 100+ hours of work.
For the outside, a grinder with a wire wheel will make short work of the rust.
But getting it apart will be tough.
Two options. Soaking the whole thing in a penetrating oil for a few days. Then take a hammer to it.
Or make yourself an electrolysis tank and see how much you can remove that way.
I don’t think you want to spring for a 5 gallon bucket of evaporrusr. Or whatever the heck it’s called. For a single job. But that wold be the easy solution.
All the Best,
Jeff
I’ve gotten worse looking stuff apart with penetrating oil and brute force.
A while back, I scored a large bench vise in similar condition to yours. I disassembled it and made a DIY electrolysis rig using a ‘dumb’ 12-volt car battery charger, a large plastic tub, and washing soda, AKA sodium carbonate. Most people use a wire brush on a drill or angle grinder after the electrolysis tank.
There are lots of electrolysis tutorials on YouTube. Obviously, be careful while mixing water and electricity, and be sure to provide ventilation because it produces oxygen and hydrogen.
You could probably start electrolysis with the vise still assembled if it’s frozen up. Let it work a bit and then attempt disassembly again for more thorough rust removal.
I think jeff51 is referring to a product called Evaporust. I haven’t used it, but I’ve seen videos of people using it with good results. Apparently it is non-toxic and can even be reused many times.
Outdoor meaning it’s bolted to the table outside. Well okay seems straight forward then. I have all the tools except the chemical which I just found locally.
So steps are…
1. WD40 whole thing and let rest for a day
2. Carefully disassemble each piece being careful not to break fragile pieces.
3. Remove as much rust as possible with tools and sandpaper
4. Soak in chemical
5. Clean and inspect for further hot spots
6. Oil all parts and put back together
Hey it’s pretty straight forward by the looks of it. Damn shouldn’t of even posted this topic. 
WD-40 sucks for what you need to do.
PB Blaster would be good one to start with, Slather it up, repeat, soak.
Then onto other steps.
It will work again!
Later,
Keith
Yeah I figured the hardest part will be the initial removal and stuff. But hey, I love to open things. Thinking about electrolysis too as mentioned. Never ever done it but I remember seeing something it. Actually now that I think about it, I already have the following…
1. Few old car batteries
2. Big old dog pool thingy
3. Carbonate chemicals
4. Gloves and more gloves
5. Half mask respirator
Damn I’m all setup now for some 100+!
Electrolysis takes hours, but you don’t have to sit and watch it. 
Woah torque using WD40 is almost same as dry removal! Well, I do have a half empty plumbers torch. This will be a fun restore project. 
Just checked and for sale at local Canadian Tire for $8.99. It even says on the can “Powerful Rust Penetrating Catalyst”. Will go and pick one up to use.
Be warned, PB Blaster has a very persistent odor. I wouldn’t describe it as noxious, but I find it quite annoying.
Don’t get it on your hands or your clothes! 
I would just take a wire drill attachment and remove as much rust as you can. And then put some (maybe lots of) oil in the threads. Since it’s an outside vice, it seems it needs to be more functional rather than pretty.
My inside vice that I’ve had for over 25 years still looks pretty new:
Woah pretty and shiny! Looks like just out of the box. :-) Sure I'll take an easy when doing project and see how it goes operational wise.
I also noticed the square metal piece with hole in middle sitting on back of vise. I too have the same one. I painted it yellow
and mainly use it for holding down little things when I'm tinkering.
i’ve got an outside vise bolted to a metal work bench with a steel top, use it for welding and general pounding into submission whatever needs work.
Surface rust doesn’t affect anything, but i would hit it with a wire brush or wheel to descale and get rid of the loose rust before adding any liquid, otherwise you just create muddy grit. Then paint it with some used motor oil and let it soak in for awhile. i cover it with a 5 gallon plastic bucket to keep off the rain.
How many vises can a fellow wear out in a lifetime…?
I have soaked rusted metal in muriatic acid mixed with water to remove rust then hit it with a wire brush chucked in a drill. Rinse, prime and paint and lube.
WD40 is a solvent, not a lubricant.
Many videos on youtube how to do this.
Lot of the basics already said but yes, disassemble entirely and you'll do best with some flavor of high speed grinder with a cable-twist wire brush to knock off rust and smooth out pitting as best it can - you'll want more power and speed than what any drill can give, but a drill will work if need be.
Get some "rust converter" cheap from an auto/paint & body shop. It's a dilute phosphoric acid (would not recommend muratic (hydrochloric) acid or electrolysis or soda for stopping rust...may as well just prime over the cleaned metal instead, but the phosphoric acid works great). Last time I bought a quart of it here in the US it was around $9 and a little goes a very long way. Cheap larger art paint brush or a fifty cent chip brush works fine. Get all the dust/powder off and just paint the stuff on, let it sit a half day or more. It will turn the metal a shade of grey (depends on the metal and what rust is left) and actually creates a sort of skin on the surface that will not rust again.
Epoxy paint is probably the most durable, or an automotive wheel lacquer, and the appropriate primer for either. Many of the consumer paints in hardware stores are not very tough even when baked and fully cured, but things like the "Hammerite" type finishes look great (can/brush preferred over aerosol spray).
That broken jaw is a problem, though. If you can find a spare for free or cheap, great, or have one made cheap. I think you'll find that the cost of available replacement jaws (assuming the dimensions and hole spacing and counterbores are compatible with your body) may be prohibitive. If you have a big tool retailer you could ask if they might have any defective returns destined for recycling/disposal and possibly get some free jaws that way. Also be sure that the base plate teeth are in good shape and the shoulder nut thingy in the rear that the feed screw goes into isn't cracked...otherwise this isn't worth the time to refinish. You can chunk the tommy bar and replace it with something else if you don't like the permanent pitting on it.
Side note about rust and exposure. On good steel, no, it's not really a huge deal other than being generally sinful to let good tooling decay. But this is most likely a cheap China vise (the "100" ...millimeter...marking is your best clue there...4" vise). The super cheap sand mold low strength cast iron that is and has been used in those vises for decades now can rot to its core with rust because of porosity and voids that are usually not present in higher quality cast iron. Meaning that if you need to put some muscle into things, deep rust can cause it to fail more easily than when it was in better shape. Some of the Taiwan vises are similar but most from there are a small step up in quality of the iron, and if this happens to be a vise from Japan then those are great (or were...not sure what the state of affairs is like today). So if the vise is worth keeping and the time invested, yes, definitely address the rest thoroughly and personally I'd not rely on just oil. If you want to try oil, do the hot treatment and be careful with that, and then expect to need to redo that frequently...if kept outdoors it's really a waste of effort, though.
Just browsing Amazon Canada to see if I could point you somewhere...jiminy christmas the prices up there are high for stuff like this!! May just be Amazon pricing for chems? Anyway, here's an example of the right stuff: https://www.amazon.ca/Ospho-605-Metal-Treatment/dp/B000C02CDG/
There are a lot of rust products out there now that are safer for the idgits that pour things down the drain and such, but I'm not sure how effective some of those are (I see glycolic acid and various others plus all the chelation products like Evap-o-Rust and similar). If these are all still too expensive for a one-off project then you could try plain old naval jelly - it's phosphoric based but adds sulfuric and does a good job of destroying rust but it's somewhat aggressive and you need to use it carefully, observe its action and clean it off quickly, then treat immediately to prevent flash rust (and boy will it flash rust fast after using this). Looks like naval jelly is still pretty cheap for you guys as it is here. Wear gloves and have fresh air flow. The other phosphoric product I mentioned is easy to work with and not unpleasant.