To Build A Moxing Bird

I do not have a good workbench. That's a hard confession to make. I've been telling myself I'll build my Roubo soon for three years now. Because I don't have a good bench I haven't taken the time or money to install good vises. The Moxon vise solves a lot of my problems. It provides solid workholding for most of my joinery needs and it's portable. That's a big deal for me. Here's how I made mine:

I used Benchcrafted hardware and their plans for the vise as well.

I milled my hard maple stock to Benchcrafted's specifications: 1 3/4" thick, 36" x 5 1/2" for the fixed jaw, 32" x 5 5/8" for the movable jaw, and 22 1/4" x 2" for the stabilizer block. All I had to do was mark out my layout lines, drill a few holes with a 3/4" forstner bit, and chop a couple mortises. Then glue the stabilizer block to the back of the fixed jaw. That's it. You're done. Apply the suede included with your hardware and you can start working.

If you'd like to carve the stopped chamfer and Lamb's Tongues that adorn either side of the vise there are a few more steps. But nothing that will take more than an afternoon to accomplish. The first thing I did was download this template from Chris Schwarz's article on the Lee Valley page and resized it to 1 3/8" wide. I printed it on cardstock so I could trace it easily.

To layout the Lamb's Tongue, mark a point (mine was about 5 inches in, but go with whatever you think looks good) and trace your template. Then flip it over and trace it on the other face of the chop. Then use your marking gauge to scribe a line from the top of one end of the template to the other, then repeat on the opposite face. Keep the same setting so things remain even.

I used my handsaw to cut right down to the corner of the template. This will help out a lot later. Repeat on the opposite end.

Then (still using the handsaw) I made a cut every half inch, making sure not to go past my scribe lines.

After that I used a 3/8" mortise chisel to pop the waste out. Be careful not to go too deep. You don't want to rip out a big chunk. Take it slow and you'll be fine.

After chopping out the waste I used a spokeshave set for a heavy cut to take out the bulk of the material. A drawknife would be ideal here, but I don't have one. As I got close to my scribe lines I set the spokeshave for a light cut and eased up to the lines. Then I used a rabbeting block plane to get into the corners, planing across the grain.

Now it's time to work on the Lamb's Tongue. I used my fret saw to saw out most of the waste. On a smaller Lamb's Tongue you can use a bench chisel for the whole process, but I did not want to remove this much waste in hard maple with a chisel alone. Keep your saw at a consistent angle and change the pitch of the blade to follow the outline. It's ok to stay away from the line. Clean up after this doesn't take too long.

It should look something like this after the fret saw.

I used a 1/2" bench chisel to pare close to the line. I kept the chisel skewed and worked across the grain taking light cuts. It doesn't seem to matter if you go up or downhill here. It was more comfortable for me to go up.

To carve the tip of the Lamb's Tongue I used a #6, 14mm gouge. I think any gouge #3-#6 would do fine here. Use a scooping action to remove the waste.

I used a medium file (use push strokes in a diagonal direction) & followed the curve to refine the shape.

You should have a nice flowing line on both faces. If it's off, lightly use the file to refine the curve. Now you can sand. I used a dowel wrapped in paper, again following the curve, and went through 0000 steel wool.

All that's left to do is apply your suede with contact cement and finish with whatever you'd like. I just went with a few coats of Tung oil. This vise has become a close friend in my shop.