Bench Vise Work Protector

Whenever I work with my bench vise there is always the chance I'll become over zealous and mess up the finish of the piece I'm working on. Most of the time this is no big deal. However, for those times that it is, the only solution I had seen was wrapping a piece of leather around the piece. And invariabley the piece would slip. So in brainstorming for a gift for my Dad for his birthday I hit upon a solution: rubber. I decided to coat something in rubber that could be applied to the vise as needed. This should keep the piece in place and protect the finish at the same time.

Step 1 Tools & Materials

You'll need the following materials:

• Rubber grip in a can.
• Base material to be coated (I choose an L-shaped piece of aluminum stock)
• Twine, fishing line or some other way to hang drying pieces

Update

• Magnetic tape (or magnets)
• E6000 (or other glue)

You'll need the following tools:

• Dremel, hacksaw or other metal cutting implement
• Bench Vise
• Ruler
• Marking pen
• Clamps
• Razor blades or knife (not pictured)

Comments

[The Ideanator]

An elegant solution to an annoying problem, bravo sir. I do think I'll make a set of these soon.

[Babfab]

I used those thick rubber pot holders that are on sale at all houseware stores, cut to size. Glued them to the inside edges of my vices with liquid nails.

[rredmon]

at the shop where I work ...we frequently use masking tape to cover the vise jaw when vising up anything that has a finish or paint on it...its simple and quick...Yours is a good Idea though...be a lot quicker to remove than tape.

[W6LSN]

Thanks! I'm still doing it the "before"way. This will be a great addition to the workshop. I have some of the rare-earth magnets on the fridge I'll use.

[subnc]

Thats a really nice and simple way to solve a problem all wood workers have with using a vise.. Thanks for sharing.

[RadBear]

Hope they work out for you. I've found them very useful.

[dontno]

I use discarded mouse pads to cover the vise jaws. Conforms to any shape and are found everywhere.

[Phil B]

I just found this Instructable by searching under Random. I have a number of old leaking bicycle tubes. I would like to try slipping a piece of strap iron into a length of old tube. I could either bend the strap iron over at the ends to grasp the sides of the vice jaws, or wrap wire around it and run a strong current through the wire for a few seconds to magnetize it.

[RadBear]

That would be a good use for those inner tubes. I know very little about electricity other than it can hurt you if you're not careful...so don't fry yourself!!! :) Post pictures if you get it to work.

[LasVegas]

Nice instructable! I suggest you add your final picture to the Intro step as well so it shows the final project at the description and Insructables list.

[RadBear]

Thanks for the kind words. I added the pic like you suggested.