I've wanted a good set of vise soft jaws for a while, but I've had trouble finding large lead plates to cover my vise at a reasonable cost. I looked for others who had made their own, but found little info. Here is what I did:

Bought a 5" square Lodge cast iron skillet from my local outdoor shop. Filled it with old decoy anchors and put it over a camp stove:


Melted it in about 5-10 minutes. Maybe less. Skimmed off the gras-du that came to the top.


Let it cool and dumped it out on a piece of sheet metal:


Scrubbed off some residue on the bottom / skillet side and put them in the vise. Pounded the whole thing to shape and the edges smooth.




Ran out of time to put them to the test, but they are nice and thick and should do just right.

Good pictorial, Jim. Lead vise jaws are one of those "must haves" for action/barrel holding.

Never saw a cast iron pan that small. Good idea. Thanks.

SRH

There's a guy selling 5" pairs of lead jaws on eBay, which he makes himself. Last set I bought were $20 shipped.

I was shooting for something like the ones Jack Rowe uses and shows in the Midway and Brownell videos. The ones on ebay looked like they would only just cover the jaws, although I'm sure they do the trick. These are the ones, right?


My skillet, which I just happened upon while killing time at the local shop, was about $15. Wal Mart sells it for less than $10 online. The decoy weights were ones I don't use anymore, so 'free'. I figured it was worth a shot.

The nice thing is that they cover all the hard surfaces with overlap, and I can throw them back on the stove when they get overly misshapen.

Woodreaux I see you are a person who has the mind set of if I cant purchase the thing I want I will make it. Back in my apprenticeship days lets say some fifty years back in time it was my job to make the lead vice jaw covers, just like the ones Jack Rowe used and those two in that photograph. I had to cast about ten pairs over a couple of days, the jaw forms where made of 1/4" ply wood to suit the vices. The method of making them was simple, one tin can big enough to hold the form standing on end then pour in the can enough Plaster of Paris to obtain the depth of lead needed leaving enough form to enable you to get hold of for removal when the plaster is set. Now the tips on how to do it right. While the plaster is liquid bang the tin down on a hard surface to get the air bubbles to come to the plaster surface. Wax the wooden form well brushing on Paraffin wax makes the surface smooth so the plaster will not stick to it. Push the wooden form very slowly into the plaster this stops air bubbles clinging to it. Just as the plaster sets tap the form and lift it out of the plaster. Most important before you pour in the Lead make sure the mould is completely dry and hot, half an hour in a domestic oven at the hottest setting. Sometimes you can pull the lead casting out of the plaster if you let the lead cool over night because of the amount of lead shrinkage, though sometimes you do have to break the plaster mould.

Or.. You can make a mold from two pieces of angle iron with appropriate blocks welded onto the ends and one long side. Hold it together with C clamps. Will last the rest of your life.
Mike

I'm envious of your experience as an apprentice Damascus. It's fun to figure things out for myself, but it sometimes feels like groping in the dark.

And speaking of envious, welding is not yet in my skill set, Mike. But it's in the list of things to learn.

Just for completeness sake, here's a side view of the soft jaws.

A great source for sheet lead is the lead flashing used by commercial roofers. I bought several 3 ft.x 3 ft. sheets at a local farm auction for about scrap price. It is very easily cut and formed to cover vise jaws. I also made some non-marring vise jaws from soft sheet copper.

A couple other sources for scrap, pure lead is (1) sheathing that was used by telephone companies to protect junctions of the old underground 'phone cables, and (2) hospital or medical clinic destruction of old X-ray rooms, which were (are?) lined with thin, sheet lead.

I've got enough stashed away from these two sources to likely last my lifetime.

SRH

Woodreaux,
One look at my welding and you will see it is not my skill set either. Thank goodness for grinders.
Mike

Woodreaux I must congratulate you on how tidy you keep your work shop. All my working life before retirement tidiness was a thing I always aspired to but missed by a mile. Even my apprentices called my work bench "the Phoenix nest" though in my defence what came off it was always correct. And things have not changed even after I retired. Just one point about making moulds for casting metal out of metal the one major drawback is the metal mould must be the same temperature or a little hotter than the liquid metal you pour in, not doing this the mould becomes a chill with the resulting casting being distorted and having parts missing. Plaster and sand moulds work well and that is why they are still in use today because they do not take heat out of the casting metal to cause a problem, the use of metal moulds is another world of skill in its self.

Are bronze/copper jaws too hard for action holding?

That's a slight of camera! If you could see it in real life, you'd see that it's a complete mess. I've got another project going at the moment, then I'm hoping to get the shop into sustainable order. The vise Jaws were a diversion from a mother in law remodel that is taking all my time at the moment.

I see what you mean about the metal molds acting as a heat sink. Am I correct in thinking that shouldn't be a problem with my frying pan method since the cast iron is both crucible and mold?

Should be ok in terms of marring steel, I would think. I don't know enough about holding power to comment, except that the traditional method seems to have been lead jaws for both holding power and non marring.

Woodreaux your method of casting the lead is perfect for the outcome you want. Though Lead vice jaw covers do look the part though if the truth be known I prefer to use Red fibre jaw covers my self because they are quick to change and take a lot more rough treatment than Lead. And when the fibre gives up and starts to disintegrate you can replace it with wood or cork, cork versions are particularly good for holding plastic without marking it and if the cork layer is thick enough you can hold a gun stock without marking it.