As most of you know I am building a traditional maple woodworking bench (actually it is made from maple and beech and it has my adjustable legs).
Anyway, while unsuccessfully trying to sleep in this morning I started thinking about the vise jaw faces. The bench will have three vises- face vise, sliding tail vise (no shoulder) and a dual screw tail vise.
I am not a big fan of contrasting colors on benches, except maybe tenon pins and wedges, but I am thinking about using Ipe jaw faces. The Ipe would only be 1/4" - 1/2" thick and be glued to the faces (after cleaning with acetone). I would put Ipe on both front and rear jaws, except for the front vise where the rear jaw face is the long side bench skirt.
Facts, considerations, and questions-
Anyway, while unsuccessfully trying to sleep in this morning I started thinking about the vise jaw faces. The bench will have three vises- face vise, sliding tail vise (no shoulder) and a dual screw tail vise.
I am not a big fan of contrasting colors on benches, except maybe tenon pins and wedges, but I am thinking about using Ipe jaw faces. The Ipe would only be 1/4" - 1/2" thick and be glued to the faces (after cleaning with acetone). I would put Ipe on both front and rear jaws, except for the front vise where the rear jaw face is the long side bench skirt.
Facts, considerations, and questions-
- Ipe, one of the hardest woods, is over 2 1/2 times as hard as maple (Janka 3680 vs 1450)
- Will it mar the surface of the maple skirt (rear jaw) on the front vise?
- Should I go the other direction and face the vises with leather or rubberized cork like Dino?
- How well will the Ipe bond with TB-III to the male?
- Should I make the Ipe faces removable (attach with rare earth magnets)?
- Will I ever remove them?
- Contrasting colors how will that look?
- With contrasting colors, will the wedge shape of the moving jaw look funny (it is normal to bevel the face of the moving jaw 2-3 deg so the tops of the faces meet first)?