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.

 

For Sale: L'Art Du Menuisier

A few weeks ago I located and purchased a copy of L'Art du Menuisier. This was a purchase that took a lot of thought, consideration, and frankly, money.

I've been itching to lay my hands on a copy of this work since I first saw Roubo's Plate 11 in Scott Landis' "The Workbench Book." But it's not exactly the type of book they have at Barnes and Noble. And my public library could not get a copy by inter-library loan. One event nailed the lid in the coffin for me to search out a copy of this book: Don William's presentation at this year's meeting of the "Roubo Society" at Woodworking In America.

But I have to back up a little bit more to complete the story. A couple nights before Don's presentation I was at a gathering at a friend's house with Louis Bois (the expert draftsman who does all of our bench plans), who had acquired a set of the modern, small format, softbound Roubo volumes. As we were struggling with carrying the books (and some others Louis had in tow) I mentioned to Louis that we needed to get together and peruse the books before the end of the weekend and all of us parted ways.

The next night Louis and I met in his hotel room, cracked open some Creemore Springs Premium Lager that Louis had brought from Canada, and proceeded to plunder the pages of Roubo into the wee hours of the night.

Louis is a native French speaker, so sitting down with Roubo was a unique experience for a monoglot like me.

I took volume four (L'Art du Menuisier Ebeniste) and opened a random page, plate 289 appeared. I had never seen this plate before. But something about it clicked. I started looking at the different processes presented in the engravings, the various workpieces, the jigs and tools. And it hit me. They were making furniture-scale parquetry. Something I am quite into. In fact, just last year I wrote an article for Popular Woodoworking Magazine on the subject.

As I turned the page and examined plate 290, my interest peaked. There in the engraving was a parquetry pattern quite reminiscent of a design I made about six years ago (above.) I turned to Louis, who was looking through his own volume, and asked him to translate the text for both plates. What a fascinating moment.

I returned to my room and thought about getting myself a copy of L'Art du Menuisier. But what really clinched the deal happened two days later at Don's presentation at the "Roubo dinner." As the meal was finishing up I was leaning back listening to Roy Underhill go over his speech (in French) with Louis, who were both sitting directly to my left. Don Williams, who was my host for the evening, (thanks again Don) began to speak softly and more seriously. I could tell he had switched gears and was mentally preparing for his presentation. I decided to make myself as invisible as possible and let Don concentrate on his presentation while I concentrated on my dessert.

Don began his presentation on the latest progress of the Lost Art Press Roubo translation, and as he moved further into the detailed (and funny) presentation he brought up a plate from Roubo on the slide projector. It was plate 289! It was at that very moment that I knew I had to have a copy of L'Art du Menuisier. After Don's presentation I mentioned to him what an amazing coincidence had taken place. It was an evening to remember.

So after returning home from WIA I spent the next couple weeks searching out a copy of the three huge volumes of L'Art du Menuisier. Some of you may know that a more modern version of these volumes is currently available in five separate softbound books. These are the volumes that Louis and I had read from at WIA. But these are a far cry from the original large format reprint that I found in a Paris bookstore in October. The large format volumes are rare (I was fortunate when I found mine), plus, they are positively Roubo-esque in size: 17" x 12" and over 10" thick over the three volumes, which together weigh almost 40 pounds. The large format volumes also feature numerous gatefolds: pages which fold out to two or three times normal size to reveal large, beautiful full-page engravings. They are simply magical to look at. I am inspired every time I open these volumes.

So here's the amazing part. When I found my set, I found another one too, in great condition. In the interest of making this set available to other Roubo fans here in America, I took a risk and bought it. Who knows how long these will be available? It shipped from France and arrived at my doorstep just a few days after my set. This is the original Paris reprint from 1976 (as is my copy), and not an original 1775 first edition. The latter goes for upwards of five figures. The 1976 version is decidedly less expensive.  If you are interested in owning not only a piece of history, but a source of unending creative inspiration, please drop me an email (jameel at benchcrafted dot com) and we can discuss the particulars.

These books are sold. 

Immobilize Your Bench With Suede

This week FJ and I worked a bit on the Jefferson bookcases. The lower cases have been glued up, and we both took to trimming the many end grain tails and pins flush with the case sides. This is demanding work. We placed the cases on sawbenches, then shoved those up against the front of our two Roubo benches, planing in towards the front of the bench, directly across the ends of the cases. A bench has to either be very heavy (around 400 pounds) to resist this action without moving across the shop floor, or up against a wall or other immovable object. The second Roubo we have in the shop is a short bench, only 18" wide. It's made of massive elements, and is heavy. But not heavy enough for this type of work. The bench was inching its way across our wood floor (which is not slick) on every stroke.

So FJ suggested placing a rectangle of suede under each leg. In about 3 minutes I grabbed some suede offcuts and cut four 3x5 rectangles, then slipped them under each leg. I leaned into the bench from both the front and the end. Nothing. No movement. And I wasn't just leaning my 250-pound fat layered body into the bench, I was pushing with my legs too. The thing was rock solid.

One trick I've used in the shop before was to tack a beefy nail behind the legs of the bench to keep it still, but that's a pain, especially when you move the bench and forget the nail sticking up out of the floor. Ouch.

But now that we've learned the suede trick I won't be using the nails anymore. I debated about gluing the suede to the bottom of the legs, but sometimes you want the bench to slide across the floor. The suede would get torn up pretty rapidly if it was glued on. So I'm leaving the suede unattached.

If you have a problem of a slippery bench, you should really try this.

If you need some suede, we will be offering rather goodly-sized offcuts in the coming weeks on the Benchcrafted website.

Make A Parallel Guide Pin Handle

We've been wanting to do this video for a long time.

Once in a while we'll get a customer request for a handle for their parallel guide pin, to match the Glide's rosewood knob. There's a reason we don't supply a finished pin with the Glide. People leg's are different widths (and not just at Wal-Mart) and their parallel guides are positioned differently. So it would be impossible for us to supply a finished pin-and-handle that would fit everyone's bench properly. So we supply a raw steel pin for you to make a finished pin from. It's a quick and fun project that will greatly improve simply using a naked steel pin, which is difficult to grab.

The first handles we made for our own benches, and for custom benches we built were turned from rosewood to match our vise handles. But since then we've changed our opinion of the best handle style for the pin. Turned rosewood looks pretty sweet, with that little brass ferrule and a nice finish, but it doesn't perform as well as it could. Here's why. When you do need to move the pin you want to move it quickly and get back to work. A slick, round handle does not provide for the best grip. What you want is a handle that's easy to grab, easy to pull out and replace with a minimum of effort. A handle you don't really have to grip all that much. And for us that handle is octagonal and tapered narrower towards the pin. Rosewood handles are too slick.

So yesterday I took a few minutes and made a pin for the small Roubo bench we took to WIA this year. It was fun because I actually used the bench itself to make the handle. I wasn't too finicky on this one. Just knocked it out quick. It works great.             

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.

For Matt Bickford

I am doing it, Matt. Anyone else?

Happy Thanksgiving!

At Long Last: Updated Tail Vise Instructions

Providing our customers with accurate, easy to follow installation instructions has been extremely important to us. We want you all to get the absolute best performance from our vises.

Over a year ago we made some significant improvements to the Benchcrafted Tail Vise. Making these improvements and adding to our existing instructions (which covered both our original vise and subsequent improvements) they became a bit cobbled. We didn't like them, and neither did a few customers. So this week we've been spending time correcting this shortfall.

We've prepared some 3-d drawings for the new version of our Tail Vise installation instructions. Photographs of the installation procedure are quite useful, but the clarity of a good 3-d drawing (and we hope they are good) can be extremely efficient at transmitting information. The updated plans also include numerous photos (in black and white, which in our opinion is a clearer presentation) to illustrate the process. We've also rewritten a large portion of the text to be more clear and concise. As a result the instructions are not only cleaner in appearance, but also shorter. We trimmed seven pages, but also added some new techniques, as counter intuitive as that sounds!

Hopefully the new version will make the process of installing this vise a better experience.

You can download the new instructions directly from our Downloads page.
(the new file may not be immediately available as we upload it, make sure you refresh your browser)

As always, we're happy to answer technical questions by email, which allows us to be more exact in our responses, and it also means you don't have to remember the details of a phone conversation.  

Shoot From The Hip

In the past decade I've done a lot of selfish woodworking. When I was in my late 20's I received an oud as a birthday present from my entire family, and when I found out how much they paid (and they overpaid) I set out immediately to do what any woodworker would do: make one myself, sell the gift, and use the money to buy lutherie tools.

And that's exactly what I did. Trouble is, I got bit by the lutherie bug. And it totally consumed every bit of my freelance woodworking. So much so that I even started taking commissions for instruments and working many late nights in the shop trying to get these instruments done, so I could get to bed in order to get enough sleep to do my real job during the day. It finally caught up with me. In 2008 I built my last oud. I also burned out a little bit. Making delicate instruments is demanding work. The same way that building benches is demanding, only at the opposite end of the spectrum.

I did build a few other projects during this time. But on the whole the stuff that should have been built was postponed to satisfy the lutherie urge. So now its payback time. I'm building furniture for my home and my family's homes, and I'm rather enjoying it. When I started building instruments I had never done anything remotely as fine as lutherie. I just build basic furniture. The closest I got was carving, but that's a different skill, and one that's rather forgiving compared to planing a soundboard that can be ruined with one extra pass of the plane. Especially when the soundboard contains lots of sub-1mm thick inlay that has taken days to make. So to move from such work back to rudimentary, workaday stuff like cutting through dovetails carries with it a very unique feeling. Once one has the skills to make things, the mind tends to relax and enjoy the process, focusing more on the anticipation of completion (one of my favorite aspects of making things) rather than on the minutiae of the project itself.

Last week I started one of these long-overdue projects: a large bookcase. My parents have used a bookcase built by my brother (back in our college days) that has long ago grown too small. I had sketched out a set of drawings some months ago, but when Chris Schwarz wrote an article earlier this year about Thomas Jefferson's bookcases, the design caught my eye. So I picked up some beech and started the project last week. Yes, I'm using beech. Chris' cases are pine. And after having cut the first round of dovetails for the base in 1" thick beech, I'm admiring Chris' decision to use pine. But not entirely. I have grown quite fond of beech, and its lack of chatoyance, character and figure. It's a great wood for exhibiting form with a clear finish, as opposed to exhibiting form by means of a painted finish. That's probably why the lines of so many classic beech-made woodworking tools are so appealing. This set of cases is actually for my office, but when I finish them I'll see how the folks like them. I may be building another set of these right away in cherry.

Earlier this evening I was fitting the mitered frame to the inside of the plinth when I discovered a new (to me) technique for shooting. This 1" beech is demanding work for a shooting board and plane (I'm using a Lie-Nielsen #7) Normally I would use my miter jack for this sort of work, since I can clamp the entire piece and use both hands to control the plane, but when you have an extra bench around with a shooting board setup, its hard to get the miter jack out. So moving the plane through 1" of beech takes some effort, even with a sharp iron and light cut. So as I was shooting the miter on the ends of the short pieces I discovered that the heel of the plane landed squarely on my belt, just over my hip bone. So all I had to do was keep the plane in the cut, plant the heel of the #7 on my belt and more or less lean forward. No foot movement required. It felt a lot like planing a long board by simply walking along the bench, arms held rigid. I had complete control of the plane and it allowed me to take a thicker shaving than usual. Another way of using body mass (I have plenty) to your advantage. Below is a short video to illustrate.

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.