How to Make a Set of Guards for Your Vise

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On Guard!

Stop the unintentional marring of jewelry metals in your vise

By Helen I. Driggs

It’s inevitable that every tool you own will eventually need to be modified. Pliers, anvils, blocks, dies, punches, and hammers—basically anything steel—will at some point produce unintended marks on jewelry metal that will need to be removed, and you’ll hate the wasted time spent removing them. There are so many ways to prevent unintentional marks on metal, and a little time spent doing that beforehand always pays off in the long run. The obvious way is to sand off those sharp steel corners, but with a little bit of scrap leather and copper sheet, you can easily make a set of guards to cover the edges of both hand and shop tools.