After reading posts on the forum I decided to make a vise out of mild steel. If I succeed I may use the A2 as suggested by Josh. So, after some thought and using my WE as a guide, I decided to make two triangles with a 1 1/8 square base and a height of 6 5/8. The tip would be ground to a final height of 6 1/4 so the tip of the vise would be 1/16 thick.
So, how to precisely cut the triangles. I got a piece of flat bar 9 X 12 X 1/4. I welded a stop on the end so I could pull it against the back of the band saw vise. I then cut it off. This made the cut edge exactly parallel to the blade, and exactly against the inside teeth of the blade.
I then got two pieced of 5/8 square bar and made machined one 6 5/8 long (the height of the vise). A second piece was machined 1 3/4 long (the length of the base of the vise plus the width of the bar).
These were clamped to the plate so the edge of each piece was exactly level with the cut edge of the plate. I welded them in place
To determine the length of the cold role 1 1/8 X 1 1/8 square bar I used a little math as shown on the drawing.
The bar was clamped in the jig and the cut started very slowly so there would be no blade deflection.
It worked well. The width of the base of the two triangles were within about 3 thousands.
I remember reading that cold roll steel is stressed. The two halves had a slight bow, fortunately concave, on the face. This may be a positive occurrence as tightening the vise will tend to straighten the bow.
I will let you know how it turns out when I finish it and use it a few times.
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