Vise jaw with work piece support surface

A jaw for attachment to a vise having a fixed plate and a sliding plate with said sliding plate adapted to move toward and away from said fixed plate, the jaw comprising in combination:

• a primary mass of rigid material having a substantially flat front surface;
• means to attach said primary mass of said jaw to one of the plates with said front surface of said primary mass facing the plate said jaw is not attached to;
• a secondary mass adjacent to said front surface of said primary mass;
• said secondary mass including at least one sloping surface, said at least one sloping surface oriented perpendicular to said front surface of said primary mass;
• said sloping surface maintaining a fixed orientation relative to said primary mass;
• wherein said primary mass and said secondary mass are provided as a single unitary mass of material;
• and
• wherein a work piece stop is coupled to one of said masses with said work piece stop oriented above a portion of said sloping surface.

A jaw for attachment to a vise having a fixed plate and a sliding plate with said sliding plate adapted to move toward and away from said fixed plate, the jaw comprising in combination:

• a primary mass of rigid material having a substantially flat front surface;
• means to attach said primary mass of said jaw to one of the plates with said front surface of said primary mass facing the plate said jaw is not attached to;
• a secondary mass adjacent to said front surface of said primary mass;
• said secondary mass including at least one sloping surface, said at least one sloping surface oriented perpendicular to said front surface of said primary mass;
• said sloping surface maintaining a fixed orientation relative to said primary mass;
• wherein said primary mass and said secondary mass are two separate masses of material, said primary mass and said secondary mass each adapted to be removably coupled to each other;
• wherein said sloping surface of said secondary mass includes a lower end below an upper end;
• and
• wherein a work piece stop is coupled to one of said masses, said work piece stop located closer to said lower end of said sloping surface than to said upper end of said sloping surface, such that a work piece resting upon said sloping surface is prevented from sliding off of said sloping surface by abutting said work piece stop.

A set of vise jaws for supporting a work piece at various different angles, the set of vise jaws comprising in combination:

• a primary mass of rigid material having a substantially planar front surface, said primary mass adapted to be coupled to the vise with said front surface oriented to engage a vertically oriented surface of the work piece to be held;
• a plurality of secondary masses, each said secondary mass including a back surface adapted to abut said front surface of said primary mass and at least one slope adapted to be oriented perpendicular to said front surface of said primary mass when said back of said secondary mass abuts said primary mass, each said secondary mass having a sloping surface which slopes at a different angle, said secondary masses adapted to be removably attached to said primary mass and to said vise with said sloping surfaces having a lower end below an upper end, such that a work piece resting upon the sloping surface is oriented at an angle matching that of said sloping surface;
• wherein each said secondary mass includes at least one bolt hole passing there through and said primary mass includes a bolt hole passing there through, with said bolt holes in said secondary masses and said bolt hole in said primary mass alignable together with said back of said secondary mass adjacent said front surface of said primary mass;
• a bolt adapted to removably attach at least one of said secondary masses to said primary mass through said bolt holes in said masses;
• and
• wherein one of said secondary masses includes a single sloping surface having an upper end and a lower end, said sloping surface including a pin extending perpendicularly up from a portion of said sloping surface closer to said lower end than to said upper end.

A method for securely holding a work piece within a vise with the work piece held at an angle such that at least one surface of the work piece is held non-horizontally, the vise having a base with a fixed plate extending up from the base and a sliding plate slidably coupled to the base, with the sliding plate facing the fixed plate and the sliding plate adapted to move toward and away from the fixed plate, the fixed plate having a pair of threaded bores extending into a surface of the fixed plate facing the sliding plate, the method including the steps of:

• providing a jaw with a primary mass having a rear surface adapted to abut one of said plates of said vise and a front surface opposite said rear surface, said front surface facing the plate of the vise which the primary mass is not abutting;
• configuring the jaw to include a secondary mass adjacent the front surface of the primary mass, the secondary mass including at least one sloping surface oriented perpendicular to the front surface of the primary mass, the sloping surface having a lower end below an upper end, and to include at least one bolt hole passing substantially horizontally entirely through both the primary mass and the secondary mass, the bolt hole having a size at least as large as a diameter of a bolt adapted to be threaded into one of the plates of the vise, the bolt hole positioned to be alienable with one of the threaded bores of the fixed plate;
• resting a lower surface of the work piece adjacent the slope of the secondary mass;
• and
• closing the vise until the front surface of the primary mass abuts the work piece.

A method for securely holding a work piece within a vise with the work piece held at an angle such that at least one surface of the work piece is held non-horizontally, the vise having a base with a fixed plate extending up from the base and a sliding plate slidably coupled to the base, with the sliding plate facing the fixed plate and the sliding plate adapted to move toward and away from the fixed plate, the fixed plate having a pair of threaded bores extending into a surface of the fixed plate facing the sliding plate, the method including the steps of:

• providing a jaw with a primary mass having a rear surface adapted to abut one of said plates of said vise and a front surface opposite said rear surface, said front surface facing the plate of the vise which the primary mass is not abutting;
• configuring the jaw to include a secondary mass adjacent the front surface of the primary mass, the secondary mass including at least one sloping surface oriented perpendicular to the front surface of the primary mass, the sloping surface having a lower end below an upper end;
• resting a lower surface of the work piece adjacent the slope of the secondary mass;
• closing the vise until the front surface of the primary mass abuts the work piece;
• including the further steps of adapting the secondary mass and the primary mass to be removably attachable to each other;
• selecting the secondary mass to have a sloping surface having an angle matching a desired angle for a surface of the work piece;
• attaching the secondary mass selected in said selecting step to the primary mass;
• and
• closing the plates of the vise together until the front surface of the primary mass abuts the work piece;
• and
• removing the secondary mass from the primary mass, selecting a different secondary mass having a different sloping surface with a different angle matching a different desired angle for a surface of the work piece, attaching the different secondary mass to the primary mass, and closing the plates of the vise together until the front surface of the primary mass abuts the work piece.

A jaw for attachment to a vise having a fixed plate and a sliding plate with said sliding plate adapted to move toward and away from said fixed plate, the jaw comprising in combination:

• a primary mass of rigid material having a substantially flat front surface;
• a secondary mass adjacent to said front surface of said primary mass;
• said secondary mass including at least one sloping surface, said at least one sloping surface oriented perpendicular to said front surface of said primary mass;
• said sloping surface maintaining a fixed orientation relative to said primary mass;
• at least one bolt hole passing substantially entirely through both said primary mass and said secondary mass, the bolt hole having a size at least as large as a diameter of a bolt adapted to be threaded into one of the plates of the vise, said bolt hole positioned to be aligned with at least one threaded bore in one of the plates of the vise;
• and
• at least one bolt oriented horizontally passing through said at least one bolt hole.