Yoga Mats

I was looking for something to make soft jaws for my carpenter’s type vise, that I planned to use for clamping the stocks of rifles in when working on them. In a dollar kind of store, I came across yoga mats for sale. They were inexpensive. Less than ten bucks, maybe only six or seven. I forget. I cut out two small rectangles and contact cemented them in the vise. It worked great.

My new workbench is fur 2x10s bolted to a steel frame, that is bolted to the concrete slab. I put a couple of coats of sealer on it, but expected it to get worn with use. The other day I was taking apart a gun and wanted to keep it from getting scratched or marred. I was looking for a heavy cloth when I remembered about the leftover yoga mat. I cut myself a nice rectangle a little bigger than a place mat at a dinner table. It worked great protecting the gun as well as the bench top. It’s non slip and cushioning properties were a plus too.

I can take it off and shake it clean and don’t have to worry when using an Exacto knife, or excess glue etc. When it gets worn, I can replace it.

The other day I cut up the rest to use as liners in the bottom of a steel drawer tool box.
It’s great for a lot of stuff and the best part is it’s inexpensive, as long as it’s not coming from an expensive sporting goods store.

My wife and I both practice yoga, and the mats wear out after about a year. I’ve used leftover pieces for foot mats in the shop and to line tool boxes, but never considered vise liners - good idea!

And I’m going to take this opportunity to plug yoga as exercise for everyone, especially older folks. It’s really helped my mobility in every day situations.

Good find! Can think of lots more uses for that slab of foam.

Another good fix is the foam garden kneeling pads from the dollar store.

I used my old yoga mat to cover the cement tables at my range. Just cut it in half.

I use rubber cement to glue pieces of carpet to inserts made from 3/8" plywood to make soft jaws for my bigger vise. I've used this to hold half a dozen stocks as I carve them. It's muy cheap, and works really good.

I make vise inserts from 3/4" plywood and glue 4" nylon webbing on the inside. I had 4" nylon but if you keep a eye along the highway you could find some laying along the road, or at a truck stop trash. Most flat bed straps are 4" wide. Just make sure nothing is embedded in the nylon to scratch the finish.

Lots of good ideas here.

Long, long ago I bought a Black & Decker "Workmate" carpenters' vise. The kind that clamps to a bench-top. (They don't sell that version anymore.) This became my gun vise, for cleaning or what-have-you tasks. I fold a tag-end of indoor-outdoor carpet into it to protect the gun's finish, or a hand towel, or a couple of shop rags, anything handy. Haven't used foam, but I ordered a yoga mat off Amazon this afternoon, so that's next.

If you are going to the range or shooting varmints take that workmate with you. Use a 2x6 or 2x8 between the jaws and long enough

to extend over on both ends. The best portable shooting bench I have used .

I have a yoga mat or order from EBay for $7 delivered!