I recently bought a new 3" toolmakers vise and the jaw depth is larger than the old vise I had. I have a set of 3" parallels that I've used for years but the largest one is 7/8" tall. Since I often mill pretty small parts I really need a pair of taller parallels. I could buy a full set of 6" ones but I couldn't use about a third of them because they're taller than the vise jaws. Seems like a waste of money.
I've searched around and people talk about making their own but I don't have access to all of the processes outlined (hardening, surface grinder, etc). But I did see a couple of people talking about just buying ground stock and cutting it into pieces.
Here's a piece of O1 ground steel in 1/8" x 1".
https://www.mcmaster.com/9516K47-9516K213
Would this work, would these be easy to cut with a bandsaw or Dremel cutoff wheel? I'm not sure I really need them to be hardened but I would like them to at least be as accurate as the parallels I currently have.
I've searched around and people talk about making their own but I don't have access to all of the processes outlined (hardening, surface grinder, etc). But I did see a couple of people talking about just buying ground stock and cutting it into pieces.
Here's a piece of O1 ground steel in 1/8" x 1".
https://www.mcmaster.com/9516K47-9516K213
Would this work, would these be easy to cut with a bandsaw or Dremel cutoff wheel? I'm not sure I really need them to be hardened but I would like them to at least be as accurate as the parallels I currently have.