One of the very first projects I ever made as a woodworker was vise jaw pads.  I made my first set for a vise I was gifted when I was around 10 years old.  It was my first vise and it was a smaller mechanics vise.  At that time I made the soft jaws from pine and balsa wood.  They worked out really nice and served me well for many years.  Why make soft pads for a machinist or mechanics vise?  Simply for versatility.  If you have something soft that needs to be held in place and you don’t have a dedicated woodworking vise, then this helps make a mechanics vise act as two different kinds of vises.  Or in my case, add a v groove with a router bit, and it’s perfect for holding dowels and round stock.  And adding leather pads helps ensure whatever you are working on (in my case some polished brass rod) doesn’t get scratched or marred.  I would like to note, this is my first time routing leather.  It really didn’t turn out too band for this application, but if this were on a finished project, I’d want to do some more experimenting.  I think with a little practice I could get the routing of leather to have a much better finish.  Most of the materials I used in this project are listed below, and you can find an extensive list of my tools and equipment here.  ENJOY!

Contact Cement For Leather

Rare Earth Magnets

Veg Tan Leather

CA Glue

Vise

Magnetic Featherboard

V Groove Router Bit