OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

274589 Thomas Conroy 2021‑09‑20 Re: Wood tap and die
Chuck Taylor wrote:
"...I have a local friend who is an amateur bookbinder. Several years ago he
showed me a finishing press he had purchased, made of fine hardwood. It looked
great, but the threads were seized. He was about to throw it in the fireplace,
even though he had paid something like $300 for it. The threads were 1-1/2 by 6
tpi, so I figured it was made from one of the Taiwanese threading kits of that
size.

"We made a deal:  If I could repair it, he would pay for the threading kit
(about $50 IIRC) and bind a book for me. I managed to unstick the threads slowly
and re-cut the threads. The results weren't as pretty as I would have liked, but
he was happy with the result because he now has a usable finishing press. I was
happy because I now have a 1-1/2" threading kit and a very nicely rebound copy
of my 1896 edition of "Norie's Navigation:  A Complete Epitome of Practical
Navigation and Nautical Astronomy".

Good story, Chuck.


I've had in four or five presses, maybe more than that, to repair because of
sticking screws. The modern screwboxes are made for metal-type tolerances, and
don't allow for wood movement; so when they are shipped across country, or just
with age if the wood was too wet, they sieze up. Attempts are frequently made to
lubricate them by rubbing beeswax on the screws; but beeswax is a sticky wax,
not a slippery wax, and the beeswaax sticks things together and pills up in the
threads, jamming the press worse than ever. I carved out the screws with a sharp
chisel, one chip at a time, one after the next. I carved only the side of the
thread that pushes the press open, not the side that puts on the pressure when
closing. I faired down with a file or my "screw float" after cutting it looser.
The point is to get a bit of playl to allow for wood movement. A well-made wood-
screw press should have a bit of rattle right down to the last moment, when the
pressure comes on; the pressure should pull everything into line as well as
tight.

I'd say given the Taiwanese sizes, a "moxon vise" should be 1-1/4" without
doubt. I made several dozen presses with a 1" screwbox before I got my first
1-1/4". The 1" size tends to be fragile, not in the screws but at the groove cut
in the unthreaded area as part of the garter mechanism (or the peg equivalent in
finishing presses); with a 1" screw the groove leaves an wasp-waist area in the
screw that is only 1/2" in diameter. I made measured drawings of many old
finishing presses when I was making presses, and found that the screw diameter
was normally 1-1/4" and 4 t.p.i. The range was maybe 1-1/9" to 1-3/8" and 3.5 to
5 t.p.i. but the smallest diameter didn't necessarily have the finest pitch.  Of
course this is for holding books, not holding wood, but I don't see any reason
books and wood would need different size screws. Generally finishing presses are
about 12" between screws up to 16" or 18" between screws, but there were some
monster finishing presses up to about three feet long overall, still meant to
sit loose on the bench top, still with handles for tightening, and with roughly
11-1/4" screws.
Binders' lying presses are another matter. They are designed to put on a lot of
pressure, to really squish things flat, so they are big (usually 3'-4' overall)
and live permanently on a special-purpose frame called a "tub" though it isn't
very tublike. Their screws are typically 2-1/4" or 2-1/2"diameter, two of them,
and 2 t.p.i. or 3 t.p.i. They don't have handles, they have (essentially) tommy
bars (a "press pin" of steel that is moved from screw to screw).  But none of
that is really pertinent to "moxon vises," which are closely analogous to
finishing presses.

Recent Bios FAQ