New Jaws for Bench Vise Made From an Old File

[Toolmaker51]

Are you really sure you want vise jaws that are brittle, very difficult to machine and leave marks in anything clamped?

I replaced the jaws on my vise with ordinary steel into which I had milled a variety of V-grooves, both horizontal and vertical. Putting vertical holes to accommodate pins allows clamping odd shapes as is done with jewelers' clamps.

A similar prismatic jaw for the Panavise removes the need to mount and dismount jaws for different jobs...

Prismatic jaw for Panavise

I agree. Serious vises have serrated jaws yes, 2 or 3 times thickness of a typical file. Unless the jaw 'beds' are dang near perfectly flat, and perfectly seated flat-head screws [not actually possible, cone section are rarely concentric with body of screw], brittleness of a file will be on verge of breaking. Not braking, lol. Thicker material and socket heads front or back are common in good vises. I'd guess hardened jaws don't need a Rc above 45 something. A lot of them are coarsely face milled with flat serrations, and satisfactory in my book.