Record vise jaws not parallel.

[ken masoumi]

I just bought a Record# 52 woodworking vise in near mint condition, installed it on the front corner of my workbench, everything went smoothly until I put in the jaw liners and found the jaws don't close parallel! when fully clamped, the jaws touch on the top first and leave a 1/8" gap at the bottom. searched Google for this "toe-in issue", apparently most Record WW vises are designed that way.

I ended up sanding the front jaw liner at that 2° angle to compensate for the gap, now the jaws are parallel when closed tightly, my question is, why are these vises designed this way? what is the advantage of that gap? why not all other woodworking vises followed the same design if it was such a great design ? I spent a good hour of sanding & fitting the front jaw liner to make it tapered and finally got it to close evenly/parallel, is that something all owners of Record vises with this toe-in design have to go through or should I have left it the way it was with the 1/8" gap?
I appreciate your comments .
Here's an image I found from another site:

[Howard Acheson]

That's the way woodworking vises are designed and manufactured. If the top of the outer jaw was parallel to the back jaw, the vise would not apply even pressure top to bottom when a board was tightly gripped. It's because the vise pressure is applied at the bottom of the jaw. So you want the vise to apply even pressure when tightly closed. If it does not apply even pressure. the vise will not grip the clamped item as tightly.

Eliminating the uneven tightening was not a good idea. But, it probably won't make much difference in use. If you make up some wood jaw faces for the vise, you can probably move the faces so that the non-parallelism is re-established.

[David Nelson1]

Or line the wood with leather and call it good.

[ken masoumi]

Thanks for the replies.so it sounds like the gap is supposed to disapear once the clamping fully applied.
I understand the logic behind the gap (since the clamping pressure is applied at the bottom of the vise) but my problem was, the gap was still there even after the two jaw liners were tightly clamped against each other.
I couldn't clamp anything tightly enough b/c only the top 1" or 1.5" of the 4" jaws was engaging. I've read some owners complained that some record vises have too much of a gap,mine could be one of them.
The leather lining is my next improvement .

[pat warner]

The wedge is a lever, pinches the heck out of things.
Does your work, whilst squeezed in the vise, move under the normal forces of sanding, chiseling etc?

[ken masoumi]

Does your work, whilst squeezed in the vise, move under the normal forces of sanding, chiseling etc?

The way it was I couldn't clamp anything tight enough ,stock would move when chiselling or planing,it would also cause vibration when sawing, now that I shaved the wooden liner for the front jaw to a taper, it's all good, clamps like it should.

[Terry Beadle]

I planed my jaw pads mounted on my Record vice so that the mating surfaces near mid jaw point matched. That took care of the "grab and lock" of the work piece.

You might also consider what some do by adding a leather face to the out side jaw face. That cushions the "grab and lock" ability, saves work face dents, and will work for
walnuts too ( just kiddin' )

[ken masoumi]

I planed my jaw pads mounted on my Record vice so that the mating surfaces near mid jaw point matched. That took care of the "grab and lock" of the work piece.

You might also consider what some do by adding a leather face to the out side jaw face. That cushions the "grab and lock" ability, saves work face dents, and will work for
walnuts too ( just kiddin' )

,Leather lining is a good adea, I have been trying to find a leather shop around where I live but so far no luck, if I find a few scrap pieces I would make a strop as well.

[pat warner]

Cut some car chamois add PSA and pinch.

[ken masoumi]

Cut some car chamois add PSA and pinch.

Never thought about using a car chamois, Thanks.