I was just reading an old E.C. Atkins catalog that describes their saw vices. Interesting gizmos. They were used not only to hold a saw blade for jointing and filing, but they also were used setting the teeth. They could be swung down into a horizontal position, and a hammer mounted to the vice was used to hit each tooth to set it. The degree of set was fixed by adjusting the angle at which the tooth was presented to the hammer, which then hit the tooth to bend it back against some sort of anvil stop. Interesting, but what caught my eye was a note that said the jaws of the vice were lined with rubber to cut down on vibration. Which finally brings me around to my question.
I have an old metal saw vice that I bought on eBay a few years ago. No markings at all, so I don't have a clue who made it. I know there are advantages to making your own vice -- not the least of which is that you can make them long enough to fasten against the entire blade at once so you don't have to move it -- but for some reason I want to stick with the old metal vice. Mine has no rubber, leather, or anything else on the inside of the jaws. After I read about the Atkins vice, I checked mine closely, and it doesn't appear that the jaws ever had anything like a rubber or leather lining. The jaws are actually a bit concave so they pinch the blade only at two points at the outside edge of the jaws.
Question: Is my old vice unusual? Did most metal vices actually have rubber-lined jaws? Or maybe the higher quality vices? And questions no. 2, I suppose, is whether it would be beneficial for me to add, say, strips of leather to the jaws of mine (if I can figure out how to glue leather to metal)?