The Last Moxon Dovetail Vise

Many of my projects involve bow fronts, which result in compound angle dovetails ...

I do enjoy building furniture with dovetailing challenges.

Between furniture pieces, I find time to build a new tool. This time it is the Moxon dovetail vise I have been promising myself for a while. My first and only one was built in early 2011, after Chris Schwarz helped put it on the map. I immediately modified this design, and have been making modifications since. (Link: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMad...etailVise.html). This new Moxon incorporates the best ideas.

Ironically, this design is not geared for compound angles. I decided to heed my own advice and keep it as simple as possible, and cater for the 90% of the dovetailing that is likely to be done.

The width of the vise is narrower than my previous one, but capable of 450mm (17 3/4") between the screws and 585mm (23”) in width altogether. Most cases I built are between 350 - 450mm deep. My previous Moxon could do 560mm (22") between the screws. This is unnecessary, and just makes for a very large fixture.

Where the old Moxon used wooden screws, which I turned, this uses steel Acme screws and iron wheels ala BenchCrafted ... except that these came via Tom Bussey (thanks Tom), which amounted to a large savings. The wheels are 5" in diameter on a 3/4" Acme screw.

The front chop is 5 1/2" high, and the Moxon is built in Jarrah, the strength and stiffness of which allows for the wood to be a little thinner. I went a little OTT in this build, but it was fun, and I admit I did become a little carried away

Brass inlay ...

The chop runs on bronze bushings ...

Bushings need to be a little wider than the screws. A slip fit will lock the chop, which needs to be capable of racking owing to the screws being locked down independently.

Lining the inside of the vise is rubberised cork. This makes a great non-slip (not my idea - this comes from BenchCrafted, who call it "crubber". Simply search eBay for "cork rubber").

This vise is a good height for sawing ...

There are a few innovations. The rear of the vise ...

This is a spacer, and it can be locked into the up position ...

The spacer has the principal function of lifting the pin board (10mm) above the chop to prevent scoring the chop when transferring tails to pins with a knife (this is more of a danger with through dovetails). One of the concerns I have for Moxon vises with attached rear tables is that the workpiece is coplanar with the chop. These Moxon designs are also essentially small workbenches, and require more space. The design offered here is hefty, but it is as compact as can be made with all the accessories which are built in.

The crubber also makes a great non-slip.

The second use of the spacer is that it has a sliding dovetail at the top, and this allows for the use of MicroJig clamps. This would be especially useful for holding wide boards, or tail board which have developed a slight bow ...

Note that the rear support is not needed for the average drawer-sized board, but becomes useful for wide and heavy case panels.

For narrow case sides, the clamps are all that is needed …

Aiding the travel of the chop is a conical spring …

The idea for these came from David Baron, however he used straight springs, and these required the chop being morticed to allow space for the spring to collapse, and the chop to close. The conical springs collapse onto themselves, and a mortice is not required.

Closed up …

Loosening the wheels unlocks the springs, which force the front chop away from the rear …

Using the Moxon vise

Transferring marks

Alignment is extremely important, and can make-or-break whether a drawer rides smoothly in a drawer case, or whether it will rack.

Joining drawer sides to a half-blind drawer front requires that the lower, reference edges are square before transferring markings…

When joining a drawer side (pin board) with a drawer back (tail board), it is typical that the drawer back lies above the groove.

In this situation, the alignment is made by both the back of the parts, as well as the lower reference sides …

Sawing

Thick case sides resist vibration and may be raised an inch or more above the chop for sawing. However, thin boards, such this more typical of drawer sides, which may average ¼” thick, need to be held as low in the chop as possible.

The spacer needs to be dropped out of the way for this.

The front cove allows the saw to be angle upwards for half-blind dovetails ...

And that’s it ... my last moxon dovetail vise ...

Regards from Perth

Derek

September 2019