I really need to sharpen my hand tool skills, including chisels and hand plane work. I’ve never had a very good vise to use and kept putting it off until I build my dream workbench. Well over the past few weeks, I’ve decided to build a Moxon vise. I’ve done a lot of research and settled on plans from Jonathan Katz-Moses (If you don’t follow him, you should).
Here is the finished product. I have used it a couple of times, and I think I’m really going to like it. It’s portable, but also has the benefit of using a small bench top with dogs. It is build from Maple and Mahogany, has 15 dig-holes for holding various shapes. The two sides are independent, which helps to hold odd-shaped pieces. It would be nice on square stock to have them syncronized, but I really like the flexibility it offers.
Since I have an Avid CNC in the shop, I decided to carve my name in the front, and filled it with black epoxy.
Ok, so who needs such a fancy vise? It’s a shop too. Ok, well maybe nobody really needs it so fancy, but why not make it both beautiful and functional.
Most of the hardware came from McMaster Carr and Amazon. All in, I think this was about $200.
What do you think?
