Why My Vise Stopped Eating Bike Parts

Bench vise jaws are steel, and most of them are serrated. Great for holding a chunk of angle iron. Terrible for a carbon crank arm, an anodized hub tool, or a fork steerer you would prefer not to crush. For years I did what everyone does. Rag in the vise. Scraps of aluminum angle. Those cheap plastic magnetic clip-on pads that fall on the floor every single time you open the vise.

So I designed my own.

What they are

A flat pair of jaws that replace the stock steel ones. Two screws per side, same holes, no shims, no magnets. Carbon fiber polyamide, made here in Austin. Stiff enough to lean on a wrench against. Soft enough that nothing comes out marked. Grease, chain lube, brake cleaner, none of it bothers them.

What I use them for

• Hub tools. Clamp the lockring tool or hub tool in the vise and turn the wheel onto it instead of chasing the tool around the bench. Two hands on the wheel, and the tool cannot walk off the splines. That is what the photo below is.
• Cutting steerer tubes. Clamp the saw guide and it stays square. A clean cut starts with a guide that does not move.
• Crank arms. Flat on the jaw, no marks, for pulling pedals, chasing pedal threads, or holding the cranks so I can get the fiddly crank bolts on using both hands.
• Pressing shock bushings. The vise is a press. Flat jaws seat square on the eyelet and push bushings and reducers in and out without scarring the shock body.
• The rest of the bench. Calipers, derailleurs, dropper posts, fork lowers. Anything I would rather not clamp in bare steel.

Flat on purpose

No V-groove, no texture, no rubber. Flat is what makes them good for pressing and for holding tools square. If you want to hold a wheel by its axle, that is a different pair with grooves cut for it, the thru-axle jaws. I keep both and swap in a minute.

Fit

Each pair is drawn around a specific vise. I measure the real jaw plates, so the holes line up and there is no slop. Solid face jaws for the Orange Bench Vise, the Craftsman Pro 4.5" (951888), the Craftsman 51865, the Craftsman 51854, the Wilton Super Junior SBV-65 and the Yost 750-DI. Made to order here in Austin, usually out the door in two business days. If your vise is not on the list, send me the make and model.