New Jaws for Bench Vise Made From an Old File

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.

Attachment 4131

I reckon that's neater then dang it!! When I seen the post my first thought was how did he get the holes it it??? I like it!!! I like vice's and just picked up a Yost. I bet your granddad would be impressed and proud.. Jonathan

Thanks Jonathan! I saw a tip somewhere about using a metal rod in a pillar drill to press against a workpiece and heat it from friction. This is supposed to do local annealing so holes can be drilled. Haven't tried it though.

I use band saw blades for my power hacksaw. I use a punch and a hole in an anvil to put them in. Wouldn't want to try that with an file.. Jonathan

P.S. My family came from Ireland (Mcclung) on my mom's side.

If you're interested in genealogy, checkout my guide to tracing ancestry on HubPages. Follow the link on my profile:)

I was thinking about how the holes would be made as well. Annealing the whole jaws seems better than just the needed area. Files in normal conditions are fairly brittle, annealed i bet they should work much better. Good work and nice source for the jaws.

It probably would be a better idea, especially if the "rebates" which the jaw inserts sit into aren't perfectly flat. With a couple of tons of pressure, maybe the flexing could lead to a crack. I was more concerned though that if I totally annealed the inserts, the teeth would wear over time or not bite into what they were gripping. Anyway this vise is retired so I don't need to worry about it:)

Thanks Eugene's DIY Den! I've added your Bench Vise Jaws to our Vises category, as well as to your builder page: Eugene's DIY Den's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

<div id="blocks"> <div class="block b1 pngfix"> <div class="bimg"> <div> <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/bench-vise-jaws"><img src="http://www.homemadetools.net/uploads/125184/bench-vise-jaws.jpeg" /></a></div> </div> <div class="head pngfix"></div> <div class="left pngfix"></div> <div class="right pngfix"></div> <div class="blockover b1 pngfix"> <div class="title"> <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/bench-vise-jaws">Bench Vise Jaws</a> <span> by <a href="/builder/Eugenes+DIY+Den">Eugenes DIY Den</a></span> </div> <div class="tags">tags: <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/tag/vise">vise</a>, <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/tag/file">file</a>, <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/tag/jaw">jaw</a></div> </div> </div> </div>

Great idea to use old files for this. :hattip: I see them at the Restore all the time and pick up a few in not too bad shape once in a while for beaters. I kind of agree with Jere about the annealing the whole thing for stress relief and it would allow easier removal of the edge serrations at the top...looks to be a knuckle scrubber. ~¿@ Nice old vice you have there...Gpa would be happy I think! Thanks for sharing your excellent re-purposing idea. ~PJ

Clever idea using old rough files. They are perfect replacement for the jaws. Grip is probably greater than the stock jaws.

Al

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Originally Posted by Eugene's DIY Den

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.

Attachment 4131

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:clapping:

Some forums are elitist; you'll get flack occasionally responding to something 4-5 even 10 years past.
Those clowns think they know everything (including other solutions) worthwhile? We've all seen examples, guys who can't figure out a bandsaw fence or height gauge scriber clamp.......
Meanwhile, here at HMT.net and this instant 26 folks are viewing this 'old' thread and picking up at least 4 bits of useful info. There is very little that isn't evolving around DIY, but choosing old versus new doesn't have to be a guess.

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Originally Posted by Toolmaker51

Some forums are elitist; you'll get flack occasionally responding to something 4-5 even 10 years past.
Those clowns think they know everything (including other solutions) worthwhile? We've all seen examples, guys who can't figure out a bandsaw fence or height gauge scriber clamp.......
Meanwhile, here at HMT.net and this instant 26 folks are viewing this 'old' thread and picking up at least 4 bits of useful info. There is very little that isn't evolving around DIY, but choosing old versus new doesn't have to be a guess.

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I started collecting old machine shop and mechanical engineering books when I first started in the trade.
I couldn't count how many times a paragraph or two from a fifty year old book came in handy.
Just because the info is old, doesn't mean it's not useful.
I have a few vises that could use some nice file jaws.
Thanks for bring this idea to the top.

It's a VISE, guys, a VISE! VICE is what you go to Las Vegas for!
Now that I have that off my chest, here's something I believe I saw in Home Shop Machinist magazine; take a standard masonry drill, with those carbide chips in the front, and sharpen the tips up a bit (you DO have a diamond wheel, of course...?), then have at it!
The guy who wrote that little "How-To" had a photo of a file with a few nice round 1/8" or 3/16" holes through it!
I haven't tried it on a file, but I have done it with some steel of unknown composition which wreaked havoc on my standard bits.
I have even picked up some masonry bits I ran across, which appear to have good sharp edges to start with, but I haven't tried them out yet.

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Originally Posted by renllawkram

It's a VISE, guys, a VISE! VICE is what you go to Las Vegas for! ...

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"Vice" is the British English spelling of the tool Americans spell as "vise". Check any British English dictionary, e.g...

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dic...y/english/vice

Now, if you want to get upset about persistent spelling errors, turn your attention to the near ubiquitous "loose" for "lose" problem.

The opposite of 'win' is 'lose', not 'loose'.
The opposite of 'find' is 'lose', not 'loose'.
The opposite of 'tight' is 'loose'.
'Loose' rhymes with 'moose', 'noose', and 'goose'

Well, I'll be doggone! I get so used to seeing atrocious spelling and grammar that I guess I just jump to conclusions. (Are you familiar with the oars used in rowing shells, known as sculls? You should try finding a pair on ebay. There's tons of "scull" jewelry, T-shirts, posters, etc, etc, etc., all referring to the head-bone rather than oars. Or is that another English-cisim?) Anyway, my humble apologies for having dissed you! Mark

Some things are hard to understand...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWzYaZDK6Is

Brian Regan, a decent young comedian, lol.
One hand of Thread hack poker.
I'll see your "Some things hard to understand", and raise you....(trump card)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mfz3kFNVopk

A comment really caps this.
Pretzelbomb
3 years ago
English: One of the shortest alphabets on the planet and so we decided to make half of our words mean several things. What could go wrong?

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Originally Posted by renllawkram

Well, I'll be doggone! I get so used to seeing atrocious spelling and grammar that I guess I just jump to conclusions. (Are you familiar with the oars used in rowing shells, known as sculls? You should try finding a pair on ebay. There's tons of "scull" jewelry, T-shirts, posters, etc, etc, etc., all referring to the head-bone rather than oars. Or is that another English-cisim?) Anyway, my humble apologies for having dissed you! Mark

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Relax, Mark; you didn't "diss" me. In reality, I'm fairly difficult to offend; at my age I lack the time to devote to being offended. :-)

It's funny that you chose to use "scull" as an example. It's a word with which I have a real connection. I worked on developing the strapdown abort guidance system for the lunar lander. I discovered a previously undocumented error source that involved a combination of linear and rotary vibrations affecting the accelerometers. It reminded me of the process in a boat where an oar off the stern is "rowed" side to side to move the boat forward - a procedure termed "sculling". Since I had discovered the error I got to name it. So "sculling error" is now a thing in the world of strapdown IMUs.

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Originally Posted by Eugene's DIY Den

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.

Attachment 4131

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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

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Originally Posted by WmRMeyers

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.

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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...

https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...panavise-55615

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Originally Posted by mklotz

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...

https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...panavise-55615

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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.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mklotz

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...

https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...panavise-55615

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For some things, yes. Not for everything, of course. I have soft plastic jaws with magnets to hold them on like the prismatic jaws in your link. I have bent aluminum sheet jaws, and wood jaws. Hard jaws can be good for hard and very hard materials. Which I sometimes have had to deal with. And I have material here for various other kinds and types of jaws. I also have multiple vises, in sizes from 1" to 6", and also made of several materials. Variety requires and includes versatility.

Bill

Best thing about this entire discussion, and typical throughout our site;
a] truths are evident,
b] each of us have different parameters,
c] a few mere sentences usually dilute the features we try to expound.

YMMV

This forum is the best, for that reason. Truly. Practical Machinist has a lot of good info, but it's just as you described: lots of elitist forum-nazis, so I don't bother interacting there. Life's too short for that nonsense.