Need advice on "vice"

Good day all. I have a question concerning an old Stanley No. 700 bench vice that has soft pads. I bought it at a yard sale and for 5 bills it was worth it after a little elbow grease , however the soft pads, that resemble a type of brownish material about 1/4" thick similar to peg board material seems to be worn. Would anyone know what type material it is or what would be a good substitute. If necessary I'll supply a picture. Thanks and have a safe day... Ray

Reply to
R.M.R
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Can't tell you what the material is, but should you not be able to replace it, you might try a pair of these:

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Reply to
Upscale

Upscale wrote:#Can't tell you what the material is, but should you not be able to replace it, you might try a pair of these:

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bud, if I can't find something similar I'll try those. Below is a picture of the ones I described... Ray,
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Reply to
R.M.R

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what I can make out, it looks like a type of chipboard. I don't think you have to worry as much about what it is, rather find something that is likely softer than the wood you'd be working with. Even some slabs of hard rubber should be able to fill you needs.

Reply to
Upscale

It looks like it's just glued on hardboard (the stuff pegboard is made of). You should be able to get a piece at your local "home center" that you can cut replacements out of. I can't tell by the pics how thick yours is. The stuff available locally is 1/8 and 1/4 inch. I think you'd have to move into fiberboard to get any thicker (or do 2 layers of 1/4 inch).

Ed

Reply to
Ed Edelenbos

You could use cork, Homasote or fiberboard. Homasote might be my first choice as it's cheap enough. You can get it at any local art/ craft store.

R
Reply to
RicodJour

Five bills??? No vice is worth $500 :)

Use hardboard (Masonite).

Reply to
dadiOH

Sheesh, youse guys. Vise. VISE. A $500 VISE is over the top. A $5 VICE is inconvenient, but hardly debilitating.

Reply to
MikeWhy

I've spent $500 or more on many of my vices. Booze, sports, even gambling.

It is an expensive amount to spend on a vise, but a good Wilton will run up in that neighborhood.

Reply to
DanG

Will you be able to use one of those white cutting boards made of hard plastic? It is widely available, cheap, and you should be able to cut and shape it easily.

Reply to
andy.tenka

How about using one of those white cutting boards made of hard plastic? They are widely available, cheaper than wood, and easy to work with.

Andy Tenka

Reply to
andy.tenka

be called now? What you have looks like chip board, or wafer board, whatever you call it. Pine is soft, cheap and 10 times better than chip board.

Reply to
Jack Stein

Interesting. Traditionally, at least in the UK, a hardwood such as beech would be used for this purpose. It would extend about 1/2" beyond the metal, all round, and the metal recessed into it so that there is no risk of edge tools coming in contact with the metal. It should be 1/2" thick, not including the recess, and the grain should be vertical.

Reply to
Stuart

Why vertical grain? I can see reason to prefer end grain, butcher block style, for the compressive load between the vise faces. I installed thick horizontal grain faces to extend the vise width. Racking so far isn't a problem. Why vertical grain?

Reply to
MikeWhy

It is the recommendation I read recently in some photocopies I made years ago of some pages from a book which, I think, must have been published by Record tools. (Now part of Irwin). The book has a lot of information about planes, vices, and building work benches etc.

However, if your vice cheeks extend above the metal work (as I described in my post) and you have to hold something like a piece of 2x1 flat, to work on it's broad face, it is held largely by the wood with little metal support behind it. If your grain is horizontal and you put a lot of pressure on, the vice cheeks themselves can split along the grain.

It happened to me a while back and it was only recently when I was looking at these pages, when they turned up in a draw I was going through, I realised why the grain should be vertical.

I can see your reasoning too if you are trying to increase the effective width of the vice and might possibly have something to hold that is held just by the wood.

On the new bench I am working on, the vice cheeks are of substantial plywood, for strength in both directions, faced with hardwood so the hardwood is fully supported.

Reply to
Stuart

"Stuart" wrote

Vertical grain, (i.e., "rift", "edge-grain", or "quarter sawn") is more dimensionally stable across the face, and is less like to warp or cup since most of dimensional instability is in thickness, important in a vise.

Reply to
Swingman

Oh. *That* vertical grain. Makes sense now.

Reply to
MikeWhy

Most old timers considered "grain" as the most important attribute when choosing wood for a particular purpose. You see evidence of this in most of the older, 19th/early 20th century, literature on woodworking and carpentry.

While not exactly a lost art, or rocket science, most folks today, when faced with choosing fence posts from a stack, would be hard pressed to pick the ideal ones for the job by just looking at the ends, or when siding a house, which grain direction would hold a paint job longer. :)

Reply to
Swingman

Are you kidding? They don't about grain anymore on finish carpentry. How many times have I walked through the Lowes or HD cabinet section and seen doors on which the rails and stiles look like different species?

Reply to
-MIKE-

Moot point. They'll all look the same... from the center of the log.

Reply to
Dave Balderstone

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