Coveting Gordon's Vice Jaws

[Don Case]

Gordon, if you see this, I've been looking at your yew recurve buildalong and I'm wondering how you attach the leather jaws to your vice. I use a piece of leather but I'm always picking it up off the floor or something. Have you glued the leather to the blocks and then drilled them to match the vice pattern? I thought if you had done that you would have left the original steel jaws off. Are the leather jaws easily removed for heavier work?
Thanks
Don

[osage outlaw]

I glue leather onto a thin piece of hard wood and then drill a hole and epoxy a few rare earth magnets in the holes.  They stay put but can be easily removed and stuck on the back sides of the vice when I don't need them.  I'm not sure how Gordons are made.

[Don Case]

Thanks, I hadn't thought of magnets. Good one!  If I plan it right the magnets could stick on to the jaw mounting screws and help position the leather jaws.

[mikekeswick]

Use a 4 inch jawed engineering vice and then simply glue some suede to the jaw faces. Works a treat. I haven't seen Gordon's so can't comment on that.

[Eric Krewson]

These work really well, easy to make and easy to remove when you don't need them. I copied the padded jaws off a gun makers vice I had that is leaned up against my vice.

[NeolithicMan]

I cut a a 1" diameter pvc pipe in half (length wise) and heated them up until pliable. then layed them in the vice jaws and clamped them until they cooled off. after that I just glued old scraps of buckskin to the pvc jaws. works real nice, buckskin grips well and the pvc has enough give to not hurt the wood.

[Cloudfeather]

I glued two strips of tooling leather together for each side of the vice then epoxied them right to the jaws. They've been holding very well. If I ever redo them, I'm stealing the wood/earth magnet idea.

[osage outlaw]

[Blaflair2]

Wow u guys are way ahead of me. I wrap an old towel around the bow and pinch it in the vice

[Cloudfeather]

Wow u guys are way ahead of me. I wrap an old towel around the bow and pinch it in the vice

I use to use a folded up fender cover that I stole from my brother. lol

[Del the cat]

I just have a length of old woolen carpet about 1' x 5" that I drape over the open jaws. Quick, simple, effective.
Del

[dwardo]

Brilliant idea. I too just stuff some leather in the jaws but its forever falling out. I could make a few different pads using your method and change them as I go.
Excellent.

[Don Case]

I went and copied a picture from one of Gordon's threads. I like the loop of leather, it pads the whole vise. Gordons ears must be burning by now

[bowmo]

I just glued mine to the metal with Goop silicone glue. 8 years later and they are still on there.

[Gordon]

Burning indeed! Yep Don, that picture captures perfectly how I do it.