I'm not into smithing but my father in law is. I stumbled across a post vise for cheap this summer, and I've been sitting on it to give to him for Christmas, since he doesn't have one in his shop.
This vise was laying on the ground outside this guy's barn and is a little dirty and rusty. He was also using it as a welding vise and it has the odd bit of mig wire stuck to the jaws. I was going to (carefully) grind the mig wire off, disassemble the vise, wire wheel the rust off, oil it (linseet oil is common for this?), clean and grease the threads, and reassemble before gifting.
Is this all the correct way to go about it? Would you rather do any of this yourself if you were getting it as a gift?
ALSO, there's a couple areas of the vise where you can see the forge welds from its construction (see pictures), and they looked a little suspect to me. While I have a welder and rods for cast iron, my understanding is that it's probably been like that for the last century or so and I SHOULD NOT attempt any sort of repair. Is this also correct?
Thanks for any advice you have for me.