In praise of the Mitre Jack

[RobNichols]

I've been using a Mitre Jack for a couple of months. Particularly for cutting 45 degree mitres for the sides of small boxes. I've found it so useful I even bought a second which has been faced with aluminium plates. It makes the cutting of mitred corners with hand tools far easier and more accurate than other methods I've tried.

I mainly use a Melbourne Low Angle Smoothing Plane and a Philly Skew Miter Plane with the Mitre Jack. Of the two the Philly works the better - the large block being convenient to move across the face of the Mitre Jack. However, I like using the Melbourne to start the cut off and get most of the waste off, and then switch to the Philly for the finer cuts. I'll also trim with a chisel on occassions.

I quite fancy make a Mitre Jack and notice Benchcrafted have a kit of the hardware needed. Though I can't find it available this side of the pond. It's also worth a visit to the Benchcrafted site to see a nice video of how to use a Mitre Jack.

Here is another video on how to use the Mitre Jack which I think is worth a watch:



Do we have any other Mitre Jack aficionados on the site?

 

[johnnyb]

Whilst I've had one it always swelled in winter. It seemed to take that guy an eternity to complete what looks to be a tiny mitre....

 

[johnnyb]

I pondered on the use of accoya to add stability to these(and any precision jig/bench affected by change of season/damp) after getting large chunks cheaply.

 

[johnnyb]

Anyone ever made a bench from accoya(it is soft)

 

[ColinDeVelen]

I have always fancied building one, but never got around to it. The one I was looking at is:

This guy also shows how he uses it in a different video.

 

[johnnyb]

I always thought Bob Wearings jig for mitring boards was a much better contrivance tbh. With formica running strips it had lasting accuracy to. Quite why mitre jacks were made so deep I'm not sure as well. No one was mitring at there full capacity in a hurry.

 

[Fitzroy]

Anyone ever made a bench from accoya(it is soft)

The benefit of reduced movement is not sufficient to overcome the detriments of softness, lack of mass, and expense. The other benefit of rot resistance is irrelevant for a interior environment.

 

[Trafalgar]

Love 'em in theory. Every old one I've ever seen was beaten and scarred up and no longer accurate. They're probably not for ham-fisted hacks like me.

 

[deema]

I’ve made a donkey ear board but never a mitre jack. I never worked out how the plane doesn’t mess up the mitre jack when in use.

 

[johnnyb]

Accoyya is not superlight. Its biggest issue is its brittleness. Probably be great for jigs. Joiners often throw large chunks.