Leather for Vise Chops
2010.07.10
Especially with metal vises, leather is often applied to the vise chops to increase the grip and protect the workpiece. Although my vise chops are wood, and the large wood screws provide considerable holding power, I decided to add leather anyway.
I went to Oregon Leather Company downtown to find something suitable. After about five minutes of rummaging through their row of scrap barrels, I grew tired of the scavenging approach and bought a piece from their regular stock. I believe this is called a belly strip, pretty self-explanatory, and is about 1/8″ thick. The outer surface is smooth, the inside suede. Cost was about $18.
I decided the suede side would provide a better grip, and the smooth side would be easier to glue to the wood. I cut out two square pads for the vise chops with a utility knife and straightedge. I used a cutting mat to protect the workbench. Then I applied contact cement to the leather and the wood, let it dry, carefully placed each piece, then screwed the vises shut onto a couple flat scraps of wood to make sure the adhesive made full contact. By the way, that contact cement is awful stuff, I recommend a respirator with vapor cartridges. I have read that regular yellow woodworking glue will also work.
Before gluing I went over the suede side with a coarse sanding block to even out the shaggy nap texture. Probably not necessary but I thought it looked better.
Ebonizing