Hi
Finishing up a long overdue cabinet makers bench.
it has both a face vise and also a Lee Valley twin screw end vise.
I have heard it is common to apply leather to one of the vise faces. so:
is it common to do that?
what weight and type of leather is used? I’ve never done any leatherwork before
how is the leather applied to the vise face? PVA glue or something else?
Hope you can assist
Mike
Replies
I don't do it. I have some add-on vises (Yost and a couple older models) I use soft wood for the faces. And I abuse my vises by clamping bolts and screws in them if I need to cut one off. When the wood gets chewed up I replace it with a fresh piece. I think the soft wood solves the issue of the vise marring your nice wood and the leather wouldn't play well with the bolts and screws.
I don't use leather. I do keep a piece of that rubber shelf liner around in case I need something to hold a little better on the odd piece
I've used leather. Anything that isn't too thin works. I like the rough side showing, and used titebond 1. I do both jaw faces.
Last time I used a product called Crubber. It's a mix of cork and rubber, and I think might be used as gasket material. It still protects workpieces in the vise, and "grabs" better than leather.
I have a Oak leg vise that clamps to a SYP bench. Seems to grip well but I was going to put cork on on chop for a little extra hold. Now I am wondering about leather and the adhesive to attach it. I will follow along.
Just did a search and Benchcrafted Crubber came up https://www.benchcrafted.com/crubber
Sorry not sure how to post a active link here. It goes over glue options too.
I used crubber on the faces of my maple chop on my SYP bench. As usual, I overthought it and also put it on the face of the bench where the chop contacts the bench. Big error since it eliminated the vise back being flush with the bench. I affixed the crabber with contact cement. It came off with a little bit of work.
I looked at the Benchcrafted crubber and thought it was a little dear. Ended up buying mine (1/8 inch) from McMaster-Carr online for a great deal less than what Benchcraft was asking. Quite happy with the result.
Have always used softwood vise faces and consider them replacable as they get used for more than just crisp woodworking. I also cut in V-grooves to make the clamping of irregular shapes easier.
With that being said, I once kept a leather sheet to wrap around finished pieces I thought would be marred by the vise.
Both the face and the end vises of my bench are Veritas twin screw items.
The face vise has two removable leather-clad 3/4" thick inner faces that ensure anything in them is well-gripped but unmarred. These faces sit on the tops of the vises' acme screws via vertical slots that keep them in place. The tops are flush with the vise jaw tops and the bench top.
These two inner faces can be pulled out if I ever want to use the vise with just the bare jaws - and keep the inner jaw face flush with the bench edge.
The end vice is generally used without the jaw liners but those of the face vise fit the end vise too.
The removable jaw faces I have on the face vise are made of 3/4 dense chipboard of the kind used for flooring. It's very dense, stable, waterproof and tough. The leather used to line these pieces is "chrome" leather - about 1/8" thick with a hard shiny skin and only just compressible. I waxed and polished it so glue doesn't stick to it; but it doesn't leave any wax on the work being held.
These inner faces have been in use now for about 12 or 13 years, without degradation. The leather is stuck to the chipboard with PVA glue, which didn't distort the chipboard as its waterproof. Once in a while a corner of the leather starts to come loose from the corner of a face (where putting work in knocks it, usually) but it just sticks down again for another year or four with a lick of glue.
Lataxe
I use leather, glued on scraps from a friends projects. You can find scrap leather pretty cheap on the web. Leather holds great, no marks, but I do not use my vise for metal work.
I have no input on leather v other things on you vice face. Mine in just maple, but if you do go the leather route, 6 oz or greater thickness, vegetable tanned, undyed is what you want. Tandy Leather often has close outs and other small pieces on sale. Most sources recommend against any of the chromium tanned leathers.
i attach leather to all my vise faces. i use (if memory serves) 9 grain leather (very heavy, over 3/16 thick). i use contact cement. trimming it is simplicity itself. a sharp chisel will slice through it like hot knife through butter. hope this helps.
Years ago I was buying leather for 12 Morris chairs I was making.When visiting the vendor I noticed this 1/4 inch grey material that,if memory serves me,has something to do with boots.Neverthe less,he gave me a bunch and I lined 3 vices with it and that was over 15 years ago.It has held up marviously but I still don’t know what it is.Hope that helps
Since I repair musical instruments, I am using wood and leather surfaces at vices. You can easily attach thick leather with rubber adhesive glue.
I put leather on my leg vise and end vise faces. It provides a lot of grip and requires much less pressure to keep a part from shifting. I used hide glue to attach mine about 6 months ago. So far no issues.
Leather on the jaws of a wood working vise will help hold a piece so it can be positioned. I have leather on all my woodworking vises. Any PVA or Yellow glue will work, it just needs to hold it to the wood.
If it gets torn up from abuse just slice it off and replace. If you are using a wood working vise for metal work don’t. Mount a small metal vise on a block of wood and clamp the metal vise in the wood working vise or make a pair wood jaws for the woodworking vise.
A few years ago, I bought a long suede leather skirt from a thrift store for $5 and have use that for all manner of leather projects, from tool rolls, strops to jaw liners. The thinner the better, you want the grip not the cushion.
I have a vise lined with suede leather. Amazing- expensive- applied with hide glue (although I think anything will work as long as you apply plenty right up to the edge). I have another vise is lined with cork-rubber gasket material from the auto store (Autozone in my area). It comes in sheets and you can get a large roll for $6-8. People use it to cut gaskets to whatever size they need- it's a common item. It is every bit as effective as the leather for 10% of the cost.
I have tried leather on the exact same vice and didn’t like it ,l have switched to cork that I bought on Amazon and really prefer it.The glue I used for the cork is 777 spray glue and it works really well with no problems,hope this helps cheers.
I have a large face vice with both sides lined with a product my father used to called 'mason board'. No one I've ever met calls it that. It's a wood composite similar to standard peg board many use to hold tools but this board has one shiny surface.
It is soft enough to prevent marring clamped wood and does a decent job of gripping. If I were to replace it I would go with an inexpensive roll of cork.
Sounds as though you may be talking about what is often called masonite
Yes, masonite. That’s right. Just looked it up. Why does no one else know this name? My dad panelled a couple rooms of his cottage with it. Looked like hell and didn’t stand up well to hockey pucks or my younger brother’s head.
"Tempered hardboard" is the generic name.
Not so tempered, but hardboard as my younger brother would attest.
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