Dear all,

A quick question for anyone in the know (this seems to be the right sub-forum).

Does anyone have any tips on the thickness of the jaw and chop in a moxon vice, using the benchcrafted hardware?

The reason I ask if going through the instructions they provide and planning I've noticed they call for 1 3/4" inch stock (I calculate as ~45mm), which would arrive at 3.5" or ~90mm for the jaws together.

I am planning on using some "mystery meat" Australian hardwood that is quite dense. I am really feeling like, having hefted it up, it is going to be both really heavy and perhaps unnecessarily so. 45mm also seems by eye to seem much thicker than one sees in photos such as the one on Derek Cohen's website that I've seen. But I've read and re-read the instructions.

Although the coving and decorations (sorry, hardware) might make it seem less bulky than a big slab of 90mm wood (combined faces).

So is 45mm really necessary? Or unnecessary for dense eucalypt?