twin screw ad-vice

[condeesteso]

I'd quite like to get to the bottom (or close) regarding the 'Moxon' vice. I am currently making two - one for now and one for 'ron (a.k.a. Jim). Twin wood screws, 8" between screws, max capacity 100mm (metro-imperial again). Fixes in the main vice and lifts the workpiece higher which can be handy for cutting dovetails etc.
But what interests me is the re-incarnation over in the States - Chris Schwarz writing about them, Benchcrafted making kits etc. But as far as I can see Moxon was British, 17th C, and probably his 'vice' was for printing.
I did find this which is quite interesting: http://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/2011/1 ... ble-screw/
and there is a brief Wiki entry re Moxon.
I'm fairly sure the origin belongs over here, but would be interested to know more of the history.

Jim lent me an old Record branded twin screw sub-vice recently (now modified #-o ) but it lacked any garter to the front jaw, so a very large part of its capability is lost - odd that they would do that as it is all-beech and has nice wood screws. It's just very limited in use.

Anyway, any info on the Moxon history and the origins of add-on vices (ad-vice then) would be welcome. Andy - into that library, now :wink:

p.s. He was English 1627 - 91. It's more the evolution as a craftsman's / woodworker's tool i was interested in. I also noticed he produced the first dictionary of mathematics... he sounds interesting indeed.

 

[AndyT]

Well, the first thing to do is to read his books!

This link leads to a page where you can read Mechanick Exercises online, or download a pdf for reading on PC/Kindle/iPad etc: http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015028306002

Joinery starts at section 2. Page 65 for the description of the 'double screw' and page 68 for the illustration.

(Many digitised books seem to be poorly catalogued - Mechanick Exercises went through several editions and changed coverage - you don't want one of those versions that just covers printing, if it's woodwork you want to read about. This seems to be particularly annoying at Google Books.)

 

[condeesteso]

Thanks Andy - promise I'll do more research next time!
As far as I can see it has a single screw and 2 guides - not sure though. (The frame saw item M looks very interesting too.)
Anyway, the twin-screw incarnation is on the way - I'll do a few pics. By the way the Axminster thread cutting set 1 1/2" is quite impressive - I steered away from trying to make my own mainly because of the need for the taps, and time. Very good value at about £40. Just soaking the beech stock for the screws at the moment. A Moxon thread due then!

 

[AndyT]

Douglas,

I think you are onto the period publications and the modern commentary if you are already following Peter Follansbee, Chris Schwartz, Joel Moskowitz etc. There really isn't much 17th century written material on woodworking, which I think is what makes the practical investigations of someone like Peter Follansbee so interesting. By using the old tools and equipment, and looking intelligently at old pieces of work, he is making sense of the frustratingly short written descriptions. It's the nearest we will get to travelling back in time and being apprenticed to someone who knows all this stuff and will (over seven years or so) explain it all to us a bit at a time.
I look forward to seeing the results of your experiments! If you need any small scale screw threads on things, I have a 3/4 inch size tap and box of the same sort as Axi sell. I found it excellent for making some wooden handscrews. I found that beech and holly worked well; ash was ok but a bit coarse. I imagine the 1 1/2" would take a lot more effort, especially in tapping the internal threads, where it's not so easy to make successively deeper cuts.