Removing the diamond pattern from 5" vise jaws.

[Paul Alciatore]

Nice idea, but I think I would have just made a second set of jaws so I would have had the option of using both.

Or, make a steel version of my magnetically attached secondary jaws. I have three sets of those already; aluminum, oak, and silicone rubber. All of them are smooth, not serrated. I use them all the time and they go on and off in seconds.

Put the grinder to use today.(http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/s...9982#post71647) I had previously removed the hardened steel diamond pattern jaws and replaced them with aluminum soft jaws. Soft indeed. For most of my needs the steel works fine as long as that diamond pattern would disappear. So I made the diamond pattern disappear and now I have a nice flat hardened steel jaws. It only took about 30 minutes on each jaw and I was fine with that. This is an old import vise that has been in my shop for about 40 years. Still in fair shape! One more issue was that the vise would not close by about 1/4 inch. I guess I removed quite a bit of metal with my grinder. A little bit of 80 grit emery on that shaft and the vise now closes enough to remove that gap. Still saving the old aluminum ones for delicate work.

The magnetic block is new and this was it's first use. Seems to hold quite well but the surface is quite soft. Scratches very easily but that should not harm it's functionality.

Cheers, JR