Birdsmouth

[mklotz]

... I never heard the bench pin called a birds mouth. Jewelers benches normally have a mortise cut into the front of the top surface - a wide rectangle - and the tenon on the back of bench pin is cut so the top of the pin is level with the top of the bench. They are normally thick at the back, over an inch usually, tapered up toward the front. It is used, of course, for sawing in the center vee cut but it used as a support for many other manual operations like filing, to support a hand held ring for stone setting, etc.

AFAIK, "birdsmouth" is not another name for a "bench pin" as used by jewelers. A bench pin is a handy tool for a jeweler but I have no need of one. What I did need was a platform for handsawing small, precise shapes from thin wood and light brass. From what little I know of woodworking, that's called a birdsmouth and hence the name of this thread.

A good technique for fora such as this is to concentrate on the tool, its utility for the purpose built, and its possible applications to other jobs. Contrasting it with what it wasn't meant to be isn't particularly rewarding.