Leather for vise jaws

[Peter Pedisich]

Hi, I'm almost done with my hand tool bench build, and when it comes to the vise jaws, I'd planned on using an old briefcase my wife used years ago. The leather is thick, but the suede on the inside is very dirty with ink and pencil stains, too bad. In addition, it was only going to get me enough to do the end vise.

Anybody have a good source for suede or leather pcs suitable for vise jaws? say 24"l x 5"w.

Also, is it better to put the suede or smooth side facing the workpiece ?

Thanks for any help!

-Pete

Ill be posting pics when done, but it's a very basic down and dirty bench.

[Bill Haumann]

You might want to see if benchcrafted still has the 1 pound suede remnants.

[Jeff Hamilton Jr.]

I have a Tandy leather in my town; that's where I got my vise leather. Works like a charm, was fairly priced and ive got leftovers for the future! Already made a trop from some of it!

There all over; perhaps there's one close to you.

[Paul Saffold]

I've gotten my leather from Hobby Lobby and from Amazon. You may have other craft or fabric stores in your area. I pick up belts at garage sales for the small amount needed for clamps.

[John Coloccia]

Definitely Tandy Leather would be a good bet. You can just trudge through their scrap bin and get leather very cheaply. There's none near you in NY, but if you're ever up in the Hartford area of CT, there's a Tandy in East Hartford.

[George Beck]

I bought the leather for my vise here http://www.brettunsvillage.com/leather/
You can get un tanned leather for a pretty good price. Fast turn around too!

[Andrae Covington]

As others have said, there's bound to be a leather supplier in your area similar to Tandy. My local source was Oregon Leather Company.

Rummaging through their scraps is good advice, though at OLC they had an entire row of bins and barrels to go through... was a little overwhelming. So I ended up buying what I believe is called a "belly strip" for under $20. It is about 1/8" thick, which is overkill for this application but works fine. It was more than enough for two squares for my leg vises. You will want to inspect whatever piece(s) you consider buying to make sure there's enough clear area without major defects for the shapes you want to cut out. For some reason, they don't make rectilinear cows.

I put the suede side towards the workpiece, but I think either way works. In the beginning, I went over it with a sanding block to even out the shaggy nap, but it tends to compress as you use the vise.

slide-leg-vise-6.jpg

[Peter Pedisich]

Thanks very much to all you guys ho have replied - very helpful ideas and links - I've started looking at them already.
Andrae, that's a super nice piece.

[Richard Francis]

if you are in the city Kauffman's on Bleecker just above Houston is a shoe repair supplier and has good scraps and horse belly for strops.

[Johnny Kleso]

http://stores.ebay.com/Dangerous-Threads?_rdc=1

[Mike Holbrook]

I just got a "Bag O' Suede" from Benchcrafted for $20, shipping incl.. There was also a nice piece in the box with my Glide Leg Vise.

[Rob Luter]

I used leather at first (sourced from a local saddle/tack shop), but had issues with lack of uniform thickness causing uneven clamping pressure, especially on my Veritas Twin Screw. I took it off and saved it for screw clamp jaw liners, etc. I wound up getting adhesive backed sheet cork from a local hobby store and used that instead. It works like a million bucks.