Leather on vise jaws

[Trevor Goodwin]

Hi guys,

I've just finished planing some new jaws for a front vise using some very hard tas oak. My last jaws were pine and had slightly out-of-parallel faces which caused whatever I was holding to slip too easily.

I'm considering buying a sheet of leather to cover the faces, just wondering what the opinion here is on that? The rear jaw is offset from the apron so I don't have to worry about stuffing that up.

[john zulu]

Sound a reasonable choice. Benchcrafted does use leather for it's vise.

[Phil Mueller]

Another suggestion is cork. I first saw the idea from Sir Shwartz. I use it on mine. Holds well, and when it gets chewed up some day, easy and cheap to replace.

[glenn bradley]

I have had leather on both faces and on one face. My latest bench/vise has leather on the moveable chop. The main benefit for me is being able to hold thing snugly without a crushing force. 6 to 7 oz seems to be enough to grab without getting spongy.

[David Eisenhauer]

The addition of thin leather to the chops of a face vise I frequently use made all the difference in the world. That caused me to use leather when I built a Moxon vise later on. I got my leather as a "scrap" roll from a Tandy shop and heartily recommend leather on vises.

[Bill White]

Have it on both face and tail vices. Don't know why it took me so long to add it. You'll be pleased.
Bill

[Trevor Goodwin]

Okay I'm gonna do! Just have to buy some leather. There's a lot of cow hide and kangaroo leather on that auction site here in Aus but I'm worried it won't be consistent thickness. The stuff from China looks pretty good though.

[Nick Stokes]

Yep, it works great. Don't over think it. Just slap some on there and get after it. I used double sided carpet tape, works great. If you want it more permanent, wood glue works great.

It's a no brainer, and easy to do.

[steven c newman]

The leather on my leg vise is just an old nail bag, long since retired from hauling nails and such at the jobsites. Might be a bit cheaper to just go to a BORG near you, buy a single nail bag instead of the entire rig. I used to carry two pouches, a tape holder on a wide leather belt, hung from suspenders. Been using leftovers from the belt as strops. Recycle?

[John Gornall]

There's a gasket material which is a composite of rubber and cork which I find better than leather. I think Benchcrafted has switched to this.

[Daniel Rode]

I added leather to the movable jaw of my vices a couple of years ago. I chose leather about 3/16" thick and put the smooth side out. I mounted it with plain yellow glue and it's never come loose. Putting the suede side out would probably give a little more grip and thinner leather would probably work just as well but I like how it works so I have experimented.

I only used it on the movable jaw because my vice was mounted flush to the apron. The vices work exactly like before but with better grip and so need less pressure. Cork seems like it would work, but would deteriorate faster.

[Clay Parrish]

I have a piece on my vise. I bought it on the bay. Search for 'Leather Side Piece Veg Tan Split Medium Weight 12 X 24 Inches 2 Square Feet'

[Rob Luter]

I went with leather on my vises first, but the varied thickness made it problematic on my Veritas twin screw. I changed to adhesive backed sheet cork and it's like night and day. I kept the leather on an 8" Wilton I use as an end vise. It works fine there.

[David Dalzell]

I use automotive gasket cork. It's cheap, works great, and is replaceable when needed.

[Mike Holbrook]

I recently did a redesign on my shaving horse switching from a bodger type to a dumb-head design. There is a great deal of clamping, releasing, clamping in a different position that goes on when using a shaving horse. Since the pressure applied comes from ones foot instead of a twisted screw it is hard to make the amount of pressure the screw makes. Pulling hard against a piece of wood with a drawknife can cause the pieces to slip. I also want to make octagonal chair legs. I was concerned that the more delicate edges might suffer from being clamped in hardwood.

I elected to make the piece the wood being worked sits on out of a hard compressed rubber about 3/16", from car tires I think. The rubber seems to help grip the pieces a little better. I covered the top, clamping piece, with leather from Benchcrafted. It seems to work so far.

click to enlarge:

343215

[Trevor Goodwin]

Very nice Mike! Looks like a good setup. What does the dog do?

[Mike Holbrook]

Hi Trevor,

Haka is a Lancashire Heeler. Mostly he and our two Lancashire Heller bitches herd our German Shepherds. If I don't watch him he will hike a leg on my wood shavings though. He is sleeping in my leather chair at the moment. He has a rough life.