Don't throw away old work boots. The leather works great for pads on your vise jaws when you clamp guns, large reels, anything that must be held firmly but can't be marred. A small piece epoxied onto vise grip pliers works great for securing small parts.
Great idea,
A few years back I was on a building project at a local middle school.
I watched a guy push a big great debris cart up to a dumpster and watched him tools Jorgensen clamps into the dumpster.
I head over and couldn't believe my eyes, about thirty clamps and dozens of bench vises. While salvaging them I pulled up a box full of magnetic jaw protectors, there were wood, leather and felt mounted on a piece of 6" aluminum angle with magnets glued into them, they are fantastic to prevent marring and hold stock.