Lift the height of a board when sawing. It should not vibrate if thick enough ..
Mods for the Moxon
I
am a big fan of the Benchcrafted hardware, and this includes the
Moxon screws, and a big fan of anything that comes out of the Tools
For Working Wood stable. Both companies are offering Moxon dovetail
vise designs that include an integrated table behind the chop. The
Moxon is such a simple and easy to build tool that I believe you
cannot go wrong whatever you do - buy or build your own. When it
comes to design, however, I have some ideas that conflict with these
...
I
have cut a LOT of dovetails in the past 6 months especially, and this
has provided the opportunity to clarify some ideas about the Moxon.
Here are a couple of design considerations.
First
off, I think it is a big mistake bevelling the Moxon chop. I struggle
to see the reasoning in doing so. It is a bad move.
I
think that it is to make space to hold the saw more vertically (so as
to follow two lines at once). But if you need to do this it says that
your board is probably too low in the vise, or the vise is too low
for your bench.
The
flat edge of the front chop is a valuable guide when clearing out
waste with a chisel. If you bevel it, you will lose the reference
surface.
I
use my chop this way ..
Lift
the height of a board when sawing. It should not vibrate if thick
enough ..
Nice
clean, level floors ..
Secondly,
I think that you may add a problem if you add a bench behind the
Moxon vise, as popularised in the BC plan.
In
addition to sawing, the Moxon is used for transferring the tails to
the pin board. To avoid slicing up the chop with a marking knife, the
pin board needs to be raised up at least 1/2" above the chop. A
bench behind the chop will place the boards in line with the top of
the chop. Eventually it will be goodbye chop ...
To
make raising the board easier and secure, the tail board needs to be
supported at this height. One of the fixtures I introduced some while
ago was the "I-beam", which has sandpaper as non-slip on
both sides...
To
set the pin board at the ideal height, one needs a suitable spacer
(of, say, 1/2") ...
I
got tired of putting the spacer in a safe place, so I attached it
with hingers ..
It
folds out of the way when not in use ...
Regards
from Perth
Derek
April 2012