Dawn’s 4L vices were 4″ “light” pattern vices – I’m looking at one today as a restoration candidate. Here’s how it came to me:

Note the dot between the 4 and the L – not all of the 4Ls I have found have this, I suspect that it is an indicator of how old the vice is but I don’t know more than that yet. Someone had given it an all-over rattlecan paintjob, sliding surfaces included:

A lot of slop in the handle – the spring was either the wrong length or had compressed a great deal over the years:


In the usual Dawn style, simply wind out the dynamic jaw and the two halves of the vice separate:


Something curious about the jaw:

Bondo in the screw hole:

The matching screw was not factory:



The 4L weighs in at 10.2kg – much lighter than the comparable non-L model. After removing the paint from the sliding areas and re-greasing:




It still required some rust removal, paint touch ups and fixing the aberrant screw but unfortunately I don’t have any photos of the rest of the restoration, so that’s it!