Quote Originally Posted by Eugene's DIY Den View Post
This is a record No. 6 vice, an heirloom from my grandfather. The jaws had become cracked over years of use. I have a collection of lots of old files and reckoned they would be ideal for making replacement jaws. Files are made from hardened and tempered steel, and have slanted, ridged teeth which I reckoned would be excellent for gripping stuff in a vice. I cut out rectangular sections of the correct dimensions using an angle grinder. The steel was too hard to drill, so I had to anneal it by heating to a red heat with a blow torch in the vicinity of the mounting holes and allowed it to cool slowly. Once the holes were drilled, they were countersinked.

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I don't know if that is sacrilege, or genius. I'll go for genius! I don't have any files large enough to do that to either of my large vises. I may have to give it a try with the Panavise and Wilton that's similar to a Panavise, and now I need to start looking for some larger files, too.

Bill