Some years ago I found a Workmate 225 at a garage sale. It was unassembled and still in its original box. The price was right, so I bought it. Not needing it immediatedly, I put it in our back yard shed. Looking back on the event, that was a mistake.

Our shed had a leak in the roof, right above where I put the Workmate. There were quite a few rainy days before I remembered the Workmate and decided to look at it. The box was soaked. Inside, the frame was fine, as were the small parts in their plastic bags. However, the jaws, made from some sort of termite barf, were ruined beyond repair:

I decided to replace them with red oak. I bought some 3/4″ and 1/4″ thick pieces at Home Depot and glued them together to match the 1″ thickness of the jaws from the box. I then drilled holes to match as well. This was not as easy as it sounds given the waterlogged condition of the originals. I then put the project aside for some months, but this past week I came back and put it all together. This took a little fiddling, but I got it done:

I am a little puzzled by the orange plastic bench dogs that came with the Workmate. They do not fit into the 3/4″ dog holes in the jaws, either the original jaws or the ones I made. I may try to sand them down to fit. Meanwhile I have my homemade dogs. I made these from 3/4″ wooden dowels and rings cut from a length of 3/4″ (insde diameter) plastic hose. These have worked well for me on my other Workmate and my main woodworking workbench.