Moxon M Series Available In Our Store and Hand Forged Holdfasts Too

Yesterday we spent a gorgeous spring day holed up in our packing room just because we love our customers so much. The result? We've got Moxon M Series vises packed, photographed, digitized, virtualized and webified so you can buy one. To order, see our store page.

Since many of you will wonder what's different about these, and why the price is so much higher than our standard Moxon vises, here's the low down. Over the past several years we've had many requests to offer a Moxon kit with fully machined cast iron wheels, to match the M series of vises we offer in the Glide and Tail Vise. We finally got around to making a small run. We can't promise we'll do more once these are sold out. Functionally these are identical to our standard Moxon vise. The feel of the wheel in your hand is obviously a bit different. But aside from that, no difference other than the look. The price reflects exactly the increase in machine process and labor required to take these from a sand casting to what you see above (obviously a huge amount of precision machine work, below is what we start with!) We're not upcharging these simply because they are fancier or a limited run.

We've also added our hand forged holdfasts to the store page, so you can order these more conveniently.

What We're Working on in 2016

Its been a couple years since we came out with a new product. Here's everything we're working on, and hoping to produce in 2016. We're a small company, but we've got lots of ideas for new tools. Cranking out new stuff isn't difficult. But nailing it is. And we won't make something unless we've put our guts into it, and make sure its something we'd be delighted with in our own shop.

First up, the Etau.

Funny name, great vise. Here's why. The etau (which simply means "vise" in French) is a bit like the carver's vise we produced as a limited run in 2013, but is more versatile and handy since it can be clamped to almost any bench or table in just a few seconds. It's a great high vise, and a great portable vise. We wrote about the vise almost three years ago when we produced a one-off for the Handworks event in Amana. Since then, that prototype has seen a fair amount of use in the Benchcrafted test shop, and for the past year it's been mounted on one corner of planemaker Ron Brese's shop, where he uses the etau to shape plane totes and accomplish lots of other close work that the etau is well-suited for. If you've never used a vise the raises work to chest height, you will love the etau.

Right now we're working out a few minor bugs and tweaking the design to make this vise really sweet. It will incorporate some features from the carver's vise, and some from our Classic Leg Vise. The etau will be a regular item, not a limited run like the carver's vise. We think it's just about the perfect auxiliary vise for doing close work that requires more control. Let's not forget the cool factor. This thing looks great hanging out at the back corner of your bench.

One thing we're not 100% on. The name. "Etau" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. We'll get this sorted eventually.

The Benchcrafted Planing Stop

This is something that's been cooking on the back burner for a while. But our upcoming set of Classic Workbench Plans forced us to kick this little guy to the front of the line.

The Benchcrafted planing stop is a dirt simple thing. Could you make one in your own shop during an episode of Magnum P.I.? Of course. But we're hoping to make this one cheap enough that you can spend that hour making the wood parts and chopping a big mortise in your bench instead. Right now the only commercial planing stops available are made by blacksmiths. Those are quite nice (and we recommend them) but we needed one of our design for the Classic workbench. Obviously it will work with other benches too.

Figuring out a way hold a planing stop securely to the wood block without it eventually wiggling loose or rotating was pretty easy. We borrowed the idea from our own barrel nuts. Doubling up the bolts prevents the stop from rotating, and keeps it securely cinched down.

These are just about to go into production and should be ready to purchase by the time the tulips start emerging.

M Series Moxon Vise

Sorry, we don't have any pictures of these yet, since we haven't made any. We've long wanted to do a run of fully machined Moxon vises, not only because they would look outstanding, but also because we've have a few requests for them. These will use the same fully machined handwheel as our Tail Vise M vise, only machined to run on the acme screws of the Moxon vise. We can imagine a Moxon M made with rosewood or richly finished mahogany. Maybe a little overkill, but we can't resist. These won't be cheap since our M series handwheels take forever and a day to machine to a high level. And there are two of them. Expect these to be a little less than double the price of a standard Moxon.

These won't be a regular item, but only a one-time run. And this will likely be the first item we make where we take pre-orders before we do the run. If you're interested, drop a note in the comments section. It will help us gauge how many we produce.

Classic Workbench Plans

Read about these here.

Visit England, Build A Moxon Vise

This fall you can join Derek Jones at West Dean College in West Sussex England for a class in building a set of bench appliances, with our Moxon Vise as the center of the course.

You'll build a rebated bench hook, a shooting board and dovetail alignment board, in addition to building a beautifully dovetailed Moxon Vise.

The hardware for the course is being provided through our friends at the only Benchcrafted dealership in the U.K., Classic Hand Tools.

For futher details on the course, click here.

Cut The Dovetails In The Deutschland

For a double dose of dovetailing delight, we highly recommend the following video. We never tire of seeing our products in use in our homeland. Ironically, we don't speak German, but this video has subtitles.

We would also subtitle our videos in German, but the only phrase that our grandmother taught us growing up was "ist das nicht ein fine malt brew?"




The video features David Barron's dovetail guides (we like them) and our Moxon vise, although the latter is not talked about specifically (we like this too.)

David will be at Handworks next May.

Cut A Giant Lamb's Tongue And Out Pops A Moxon Vise

Customer Luke Addington sent us a link (with the nice note below) for his sequence on how he built his Benchcrafted Moxon Vise, including his steps on cutting his dead crisp lamb's tongues. Until I looked myself, I swore he uploaded himself and his maple blank into the Sketchup master program and cut those curves using "intersect with model". Incredible work Flynn, er, um, Luke.

The full sequence here.
______________

Hi Mr. Abraham,

I just completed my Moxon vise and I cannot tell you how happy I am with it. Thank you very much for providing such incredible hardware. It works like a dream. I opted to carve the stopped chamfer & Lamb's Tongue and made a little step-by-step tutorial. I don't know if this would be useful to anyone but here it is just in case (with pictures of the completed vise):

Thank you again, I am looking forward to a lifetime of dovetails with this vise.

-Luke Addington

 

 

Tuck's Benchtop Moxon

Tuck of Spaghetti, California sent in these pictures and description of his Moxon benchtop joinery vise. Tuck's Moxon came out quite nice. His bench ain't too shabby either.

Here's Tuck's description.
-----
This is a Joinery bench. It is designed as such utilizing the hardware from Benchcrafted for the double-screw vise based on Joseph Moxon. Why a bench on a bench? The behemoth upon which it sits is perfectly-situated for planing and a host of other activities. However, to cut and chop out material at a comfortable height it’s simply too low. It quickly gets uncomfortable hunching over to measure, mark, and make a saw cut. Worse, it doesn’t allow me to comfortably grasp the saw with the delicacy of holding the hand of a toddler; a much-needed technique for myself for smooth sawing. Ditto for chiseling.
I’ve seen some great solutions to this problem. One of the simplest (and best, having tried it) is Jim Tolpin’s clamping support shown here and here. However, there are a lot of other operations that are made easier with a raised platform. Sketching, carving, anything that needs closer examination. Too many to mention.
This version was designed with some consideration. The pinch-points for the support of the bench were specifically sized so that they would be squeezed into place between two dogs. Further, a small pad was added to sit just in front of the dogs, pushing the plane of the fixed jaw surface flush with the front of the bench surface upon which it sits – thereby supporting the work at the front of the stationary bench. Adding work between the jaws is aided here because that work is also pushed into the front of the larger bench’s 4-inch top. When putting the bench in place, a slight tap with the palm lines it up perfectly flush. No holdfasts needed.
Both jaws were lined with suede for gripping and to protect against marring the work – though one alone would’ve been fine there. The movable chop was made thicker – to deal with any possibility of racking – and laminated so that the strength of the grain direction would aid in this endeavor. Its component stock is turned perpendicular. Finally, the benchtop and fixed chop were also laminated for added strength and rigidity. The entire thing was made from leftover parts from the planing bench.
-----

Narayan's Vises

 

No, this is not going to be a post about high-end photography equipment, Chicago-style beef, or Bollywood movies on VHS. 

This post is about Narayan Nayar's Moxon bench. 

We get a lot of emails about how to mount our Moxon vise in a permanent bench. We don't recommend it. The Moxon is best utilized when you need it, and stored out of the way in the meantime. 

That is, unless you have room for a dedicated joinery bench. 

And we can't think of a better pairing of a permanently-mounted Moxon than what Narayan has done here: mounted it on a compact slab on a Noden Adjust-A-Bench. 

The Noden allows quick, easy, and rigid height adjustment for dialing in the perfect position for sawing dovetails.

That would be an easy thing to accomplish with a fixed-height bench. But what makes the Noden quite useful in this case is its ability to double as a bench for kids.

I have an old benchtop in my personal shop with a Noden base, and it is just perfect for growing kids.

Another advantage of the Noden base in this application is for dovetailing long boards. If you're building the Jefferson bookcases the 48" case width will mean the end of your board is too tall even for an auxiliary Moxon on your main bench--the board will be up past the jaws too far. You'll need to raise the Moxon up even more, and with a Noden this is easy. It's not every day you're dovetailing such long boards, but it does happen. You may need to rig up some scaffolding to get your body up higher too. I lay a couple 8/4 boards on the ground in front of the bench.

To read more about Narayan's joinery bench, click here.


We try to keep Moxon vises in stock at all times. Right now, they are in stock.

Original-Style Moxons for $129

SOLD OUT

We still have a few hardware-only Moxon vises (with our original handwheel design) in stock. If you'd like to save a few bucks, we're offering these at a discount off our normal price of $149. We have them boxed up and ready for delivery. These are the very last ones, and after these are gone, we won't have them again with this style handwheel.

You can of course purchase our Moxon vise with our current handwheels anytime for $149.

These are brand-new vises. The price is $129 plus shipping. To order one, send an email to us and we'll send you an invoice.

Moxon Update

Some of you may have noticed a long lead time for Moxon Vises. We apologize for that.

Earlier this year we retooled our Moxon handwheel and created a new foundry pattern so the handwheels on the Moxon vise feature the same design as our Tail vise and Glide leg vise.

We thought we'd planned well in advance of the change, and didn't expect any delays. But then we experienced a perfect storm of hiccups. The patternmaker made a mistake. Then we poured a test mould. The draft on the center hub needed tweeking, so back to the patternmaker. Then due to another goof, the pattern sat in limbo for a week. During that week one of the foundry's furnaces went down. And parts had to be manufactured to fix it. By the time the pattern finally found its way to the foundry, the other furnace had broken down! If I wasn't already bald, I would have pulled all my hair out.

Here's the good news. Yesterday I personally drove a ton (literally) of Moxon handwheel castings from our foundry to our machine shop. And by the end of next week we should be boxing up our new Moxon vises with the updated handwheels. That is, if another perfect storm doesn't blow in.

Have a good weekend! And thanks for your patience.

Moxon Vise As A Twin Screw

We get lots of emails asking about using the Benchcrafted Moxon Vise hardware as a twin screw face vise.

We've addressed this idea in the past. Follow the link to read that post.

But English cabinetmaker David Barron has every reason to mount one of our Moxon's as a twin screw face vise. You see, David doesn't need to raise up his Moxon vise for comfortable sawing because David sits down when he saws dovetails.

And this is the beauty of David's Moxon install. He gets the best of both world's: a Moxon vise for sawing dovetails, and the speed of the Benchcrafted Moxon as a twin screw vise.

Now, this setup isn't for everyone. I was skeptical at first since I cut all my dovetails standing up, using a western backsaw. I've tried sitting, and it just doesn't work for me. But when you consider that David uses a dozuki saw to cut his dovetails it makes sense.  Lots of Japanese woodwork is executed from a sitting position.

So I'm updating our opinion on mounting a Benchcrafted Moxon as a twin screw face vise. If you sit down as David does, it works.

Oh, if you're looking to get a Moxon, you should order now. For some reason there has been a run on these the past week and we are currently backordered. Lead time is about 1-2 weeks right now.

To read more about David's install, visit his blog.

Contact Cement For Suede

What glue should I use to glue the suede to the jaws of my Glide/Tail/Moxon vise?

The answer is: contact cement.

Why? The suede will eventually wear out with use. It will take a while, but it will happen. And if you use yellow glue, the suede could be difficult to remove. Contact cement forms a rubbery film on the smooth wood, and to remove the suede you simply lift a corner and peel it off. Then rub the remaining rubbery spots off with your finger. Contact cement is more than strong enough to hold suede.

We like to use the DAP brand nonflammable cement. We buy ours at Menards, but Home Depot and other such stores should carry it. It doesn't melt your brain like the flammable stuff. In fact, you don't even need a respirator to use it. It has about the same amount of odor as latex paint. 

Jefferson Cases-Done

Last night I finished up the final, smallest case to top off my set of Thomas Jefferson book boxes.

This has been the largest single dovetailing project I've ever done. Well over 120 individual joints. All were cut by hand using the Lie-Nielsen thin plate dovetail saw. I'll say one thing. "Cut nail" joinery is looking mighty attractive right now.

Material is steamed beech, with three coats of Minwax Antique Oil. All surfaces are hand planed, followed up with paper to smooth the ends of the pins and tails.

The backs of the cases are 1/2" beech, with a beaded shiplap, just like in the article. I fastened the backs with clout nails. I imagine this case will be around for several hundred years.

I made a few changes to the design on the cases. First, on the base (plinth) I designed a cyma reversa with fillet profile instead of using the profile from Chris' cases. I thought the base needed a little beefing up, and this profile seemed to fit a little better to my eye. Next, I changed the dimensions of the cases slightly. The bottom case is the largest, with the case above a tad shorter. The rest of the cases are all from the plans. Thirdly, I changed the depth of the cases for two reason: to better fit the books I have, and so I could layout the dovetails so the spacing is consistent from case to case. I think this helps to unify the look of the piece, while still keeping the separate "book box" theme.

Here's what I like about this project.

1. The cases are all the same. Same layout, same marking gauge settings. I could get setup to build one, and then finish the rest without mental effort.

2. The 48" wide cases work well for wide uninterrupted spans. And this works because each shelf is in effect 1-1/2" thick, especially when the cases are assembled and screwed together from underneath each "shelf" pair. Couple this with the solid back nailed to the back of each horizontal member and you end up with a very rigid structure.

3. The cases do not dominate the shop. I milled all the wood for the entire project in one shot, then stickered it in the corner of the shop as I built each box one at a time. First I built the plinth and lowest case, finished it, took it in the house, and then moved onto the next box. I never had more than one box taking up shop space at a time.

4. Our Moxon vise was indispensable for this project. There are a few commercial versions of the Moxon vise available on the market now. And I've used a few of them, including a couple shop-made versions. I am absoltely spoiled on the handwheels. Their mass and virtually friction-free movement meant I could focus entirely on precision sawing. Frustrating workholding really disrupts my concentration. The Moxon has been wonderful.

Here are some more pics of the piece, in my office.

Holey Cow

Here's a little blog post (tongue-in-cheek warning) about some of the suede we include with vises.

Suede leather was once the protective covering of that double-bacon-cheeseburger you had for lunch last week. Americans eat a lot of hamburger. A lot. That means there's a lot of cow skin out there (that doesn't make it cheap, though, curiously. Not nearly as cheap as say, a  Jr. Whopper–which has about as much protein as a Moxon vise.) And we make that cow skin into lots of useful things. Peel it off and run it through a big sander and you get suede – that wonderfully grippy stuff that we like to line our vises with. But there's a problem with it, especially with the larger pieces that our Moxon vise requires.

And the problem is: cows have holes.

We all know the typical holes. The one where food gets it, and the one where food gets out. The two where the eyes go. Those are big holes, and easy to cut around.

But when we we're ready to eat what's inside the sack-o-suede, then humans start to really mess things up. Like these clowns in the picture above. That's a perfectly good area of unblemished suedeness that this guy is going to put a hole in with his arrow. Thanks for that, Ndugu.

Here's another perfectly awesome expanse of potential Moxon gripiness violated by some kid's practice arrow. Does that say "Hasbro" on it?

Then there are completely natural holes, like the cluster of holes between this cows legs. That's where the YooHoo comes from. Love that stuff. By the way, why doesn't the milk in the utter turn into butter when the cow waddles back to the barn? Weird.

Speaking of weird, here's a gorgeous piece of rich brown suede still attached to the meat, but some brainless human has actually installed an access hole of some sort right in the side of this cow. That must be where you squirt the chocolate syrup.

Once in a while we get some pieces with a little fuzzy edge. Those pieces must have come from this bruiser.


In all seriousness, some of the suede pieces we cut up for Moxon vises have an occasional small hole, usually no larger than a coin. We are not tree-huggers, but to waste a piece that large seems quite wasteful, and expensive. We could cut them up into smaller bits, but with the dies we use, this is not practical. You'll be cutting two holes in the suede anyway for the screws to pass through. So if you get a Moxon with holey suede, glue it to your jaw and get on with making furniture. A little hole ain't going to matter a whip, unless of course you've just finished a triple enchilada burrito chimichanga with habanero chipotle buffalo sauce and you're feeling a bit duodenally challenged.

Romanian Moxon Bench-on-bench

Last week we received a nice email from one of our customers in Romania, Camil Milincu.

Camil is an avid follower of the American hand tool woodworking tradition. He's a hobbyist woodworker, and is a professional architect. He holds a master's degree in urban planning. His great-grandfather worked for the Ford motor company here in America during its formative years, and he credits him for passing along the interest in things hand-crafted. Coach work at Ford in the early days likely included lots of wood. But Romania also has a strong woodworking tradition, especially in carving. Camil is working on his architectural doctorate on the field of wooden architectural elements, which Romania is replete with.

Camil's Moxon bench-on-bench (in beech) is filled with nice details both aesthetic and functional. But aside from the large chamfer (with gorgeous bold lamb's tongues) for cutting half-blind dovetails (Camil claims "The Schwarz" beat him to the punch!) our favorite detail stems from a shipping mishap.

Earlier this year Camil ordered a Tail Vise for his Roubo bench project and it arrived with a broken hand wheel (it got replaced.) So in the interest of guaranteeing his Moxon wheels stay put, Camil added a snap ring to the end of each of his screws. They are practically invisible (see below, click to enlarge)

We've never had a problem with renegade hand wheels, but we think Camil's idea is a good one. If you have a concrete floor, and like to spin your wheels, you may want to implement this idea as well. Thanks Camil for the email and great idea.

 

Foot Longs Discontinued

Shortly after we released our Moxon vise we began to get requests for a longer pair of acme screws to increase the capacity of the vise. At first, we hesitated. Why? Because you don't need them. We designed the vise with sufficient capacity (and then some) to accomplish its intended use. If you'd like to read more behind the reasoning, see this.

But we're suckers for sweet talk. We had a few requests for longer screws, so we decided to offer them. But the special requests have gotten out of hand. Even though we've stated pretty plainly on our ordering page (sold as an accessory only), we're answering numerous emails everyday asking for Moxon vises with 12" screws only, with both 12" and 8" and requests for an extra set of hex nuts to get some extra use out of the original 8" screw.

So here's the deal. We're discontinuing the 12" screws. Yes, its partly the crazy requests thing (call it a pet peeve), but much more importantly its because offering the 12" screws is misleading. We  know that seeing the 12" screws on the ordering page makes one think "gee, they must offer those for a reason, I should have those too". But its not true. You don't need them. Period. They bring nothing to the party that the stock screws don't already bring. We want everyone to be as excited about getting their Moxon vise as we are (and I personally have used the heck out of mine this week, cutting almost 100 dovetails in 3/4" beech--I would have been in pain without it.) The Moxon vise will be 100% completely awesome and wonderful as-is. Promise. If you don't believe me, listen to Chris Schwarz, who recently built his Benchcrafted Moxon (and Chris didn't order the 12" screws).

"This tiny company in Iowa makes the best wagon/tail vise I’ve ever used and the best leg vise I’ve ever used. Now they make the best double-screw vise I’ve ever used. They make three vises, and all of them are 100 percent crazy over-the-top winners." - The Chris Schwarz Blog

We have a few pairs in stock if you must have them. But after those are gone, they are gone.

Mod Your Moxon For Half Laps

Schwarz's Tongue

If you have a Moxon vise, whether it be with Benchcrafted hardware, or the wood screw version, or the F-clamp version, or the pipe-clamp version, or the T-nut and donut version, etc. you'll want to follow Chris Schwarz's lead and cut a big fat chamfer on the front of your chop. This gives you clearance for tilting your saw down (or is it up?) for cutting half-lap dovetails. The vise will work without it, but in our opinion the chamfer looks nice, especially with the lamb's tongue, and thats reason enough to add it. In case you were wondering, it does not weaken the vise, or make you crank down on the wheels to hold your work.

If you're like me, when you see a lamb's tongue and wonder how to do it, you think about how to cut that flowing curve smoothly. Well, that's really the easy part. It's the chamfer you don't think about, since it seems straightforward. But since its stopped it creates some problems. You cant simply tilt your plane and have at it. Chris has his own method, which he illustrates in this Lee Valley Newsletter. But its for a smaller chamfer. Cutting one of this size calls for some heavier work.

Here's how I did it. When I tested the idea last week I cut the chamfer by sawing a series of saw kerfs about 5/8" apart, across the corner of the chop, stopping just short of my layout lines. I then broke these pieces off with a chisel to get rid of most the waste. I followed up with a drawknife to clean up the remnants of the saw kerfs and to smooth the chamfer. In dry, hard maple this is tough work. Then I refined the chamfer with a rabbeting block plane, working across the grain (up the hill) to get the chamfer flat. Finally I drawfiled the flat and finished up with a card scraper. The lambs tongue (mine is slightly different, below) I shaped with drawknife and scraper, followed by a few swipes of 220 going downhill.

Those boards in the vise are part of my Jefferson Bookcases in beech that I started last week. The Moxon vise has been indispensable for this project.

12" Screw For Moxon Vises Now Available

Shortly after we released our Moxon Vise we received numerous requests for longer screws for the vise. If you plane drawer sides after assembly, or boxes, you'll appreciate these longer screws. Using these screws you can clamp up to 6 1/4 (and a smidgen more) between jaws/chops. And when you're through using them for the wide stuff, back off the rear nut and advance the screws so the extra length falls behind the fixed chop.

The pair of screws is $39, including domestic shipping. They are listed only on our ordering page, right under the Moxon Vise.