Moxon style tail vise?

[Brian Holcombe]

I was recently gifted a workbench, by a fellow woodworker, who unfortunately can no longer work. It’s a wonderfully made piece of equipment and so it gives me a chance to revisit how I utilize my shop.

When dovetailing, I previously used the side of the bench, however often times I’m working on a long case which is better suited to the length of the bench.

I recently bought the bench crafted leg vise, and a few Lee valley stops, so that covers all those areas and leaves me wondering if I can make use of the end of the bench.

Have any of you made an undermount Moxon vise which could be mounted to the end of the bench?

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[mike stenson]

Undermount? No. But I've often clamped my wide moxon to the end of the bench. I think it could be an interesting area to explore.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Following a recent article in FWW, I purchased the hardware kit from Woodcraft, bought some hard maple and built a Moxon vice. I don't have a traditional woodworking bench. I have an assembly table and a large outfeed table for my TS. I clamp my Moxon vice wherever I want on either of them. I have never had a vice in my standalone ww shop and love it! What a difference it has made hand planing wood!

[Joshua Lucas]

That's a beautiful loooooong bench.

An undermount Moxon seems like an odd choice. You wouldn't be able to use it for short boards and because the support for the board would be further from the point where you're sawing you'd be at higher risk for vibration.

I would probably go with either a typical benchtop-mounted Moxon or a permanently installed twin-screw end vise à la the Holzapffel bench or James Wright's bench.

[mike stenson]

I didn't really have vibration issues here. The clamped boards are simply to ensure that the case side was back into a straight line.. as there was a slight bow.

[Jimmy Harris]

I thought about putting a Veritas Twin Screw vise on the end of my bench. My thinking with a Moxon vise is, its main advantage is its simplicity, portability, and weight. It's not designed to be user friendly. Turning two screws is kind of a pain. That, and it's designed to raise your work to a more comfortable level. If you're going to mount it under your table, that kind of defeats the purposes of a Moxon, in my opinion. I would think you'd be better served with either a Twin Screw or a quick release vise on the end. I'd just make sure to have it align with the corner of the vise. My biggest complaint with most leg vises is they're not in the corner. And I find it really handy to have a quick and easy way to lock something down so that it gives me plenty of overhang for stuff like sawing small dowels to length, using a spokeshave or whatever. It's not a deal breaker, as there are always ways around it (holdfasts or clamps to the top). But I've found if you have one, you'll use it a lot more than you'd think. Or at least I have.

But it's up to you. Everyone does things differently, and only you know what works best for you.

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks, gents. Yeah the Holzapffel looks about right, mounted on the end.

The Veritas one is probably ideal, but I’m having trouble reconciling the modern look.

[Jason Meinholz]

Hovarter makes a traditional looking face vise that could just as easily be mounted on the end of your bench.

https://hovartercustomvise.com/produ...e-hardware-kit

[Brian Holcombe]

Nice looking setup, I think that might be the one. Little on the expensive side, but seems good.

[Jason Meinholz]

I have their wagon vise and couldn't be happier with it.

[Brian Holcombe]

That mechanism he designed is pretty incredible, no threads on the shaft at all just slide it into place and tighten.

[Jason Meinholz]

That's the beauty of it. No more cranking and spinning wheels all day to move the jaw, just slide it and tighten. Super quick, and Super strong.

[Brian Holcombe]

I like that vise, went ahead and ordered it. Thanks for the recommendation.

While I’m going overboard I decided to pickup a metal vise so that I can stop ruining my woodworking vises with metal work. Awaiting a ground angle block which I will mount this to so that I can clamp it with the leg vise. I’ll most likely make a set of aluminum or plastic soft jaws for it.

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[mike stenson]

Very nice Gressel

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks, Mike!

Making some progress on the leg vise. I have a few chops around, but none fit particularly well so I plan instead to make one from some type of hardwood. That I’ll mortise out mainly with the hollow chisel, then touch up by hand and with a router.

This I chopped out mainly by hand after wasting the majority of it with a forstner bit, after which I flushed things up with a router to ensure a consistent depth.

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