I guess different folks are concerned about different things. Until this thread, I never even looked at the moveable jaw in my setup. It works fine and I can’t even see any marring unless I take the vise apart.
I said I would take some pictures, so I did. This first one is from the newest jaw set that I have. I have been using it for maybe 8 months, at least a couple of hundred knives. I didn’t measure, but I am guessing that the depth is under a tenth of an inch. The biggest cause of the marring is the fact that the screw is cupped with a pretty sharp ridge around the circumference of the tip. You can see the results in the photo below. More on that in a bit
With the total thickness of the jaw at that point and the amount of wear distributed of the number of knives sharpened, I am sure that for most people this would not end up being an issue for a very long time.
I took some pictures of my old moveable jaw as well. This one was in use for over two years and probably was used in sharpening at least to 500 knives… or more. As it looks to have about three times the depth to the wear and was used for around three times the number of knives, it does look like the wear is pretty consistent over each knife… at least on average. Note that the reason I changed the jaws out was because I got some that did not have the proper heat treat. Meaning that they were softer than they should have been. No doubt this could have contributed to the larger amount of marring in this set.
BTW, as soon as I told Clay about the problems, he replaced them…no questions asked.. :cheer:
About that screw, if some are concerned about the marring of the moveable jaw, the best thing they can do is to take that ridge around the tip of the screw off, making it as flat as possible. I took about 5 minutes with a medium file and this is the results:
BTW, Curtis, I put some candle wax on the tip of the screw when I reassembled it… 
BUT, just the tip, not on the threads…
:evil:
Darrell, I guess that it really is inevitable that there will be some marring when tightening a steel screw against an aluminum surface. I guess that my point should have been that with judicious application of torque, it is not significant… from my perspective anyway. It in no way impairs the function of the system, you can’t see it unless you expend some effort, and at the rate of wear should last for more knives than the average person will ever sharpen with it.
Of course, the steel insert is just evidence of the continuing product improvement that we see from the WEPS team on a regular basis. If I ever get to the point that I think my ability to sharpen with the system is being impaired… I will just have to buy a moveable jaw with the insert.
BTW, I can see drilling out the vise and either press fitting or gluing a piece of stainless ROD in there where the screw contacts it. It should not be too difficult with a drill press, hacksaw and a decent file. All you need to do is get it reasonably flush. Not too sure about JB Weld… as I have no clue about the actual hardness when cured. I would rather have a piece of steel in there.
