If there is one shop accessory with a better return on build investment than the Moxon vise, we haven’t found it. Two pieces of hardwood, two threaded inserts, two wooden screws, maybe 30 minutes to build. The result is a twin-screw face vise that clamps to the front edge of any workbench and raises your work surface by 3 to 4 inches – exactly the right height for sawing dovetails, cutting joinery, or any task where you need to be slightly elevated over the work.
The design hasn’t changed meaningfully since 1812, when Joseph Moxon described it in Mechanick Exercises. Two vertical jaws – a fixed back jaw and a moveable front jaw – joined by two screws that tighten simultaneously so the jaws stay parallel. The keys to a good Moxon are the screw quality and the jaw material. For screws, the commercial wooden-screw kits from Benchcrafted, Lake Erie Toolworks, or a kit from your local woodworking supply store all work well. For jaw material, anything hard and stable: maple, oak, cherry, even a good grade of Baltic birch.
Reader submissions this month included 14 different Moxon builds, ranging from a 10-minute rough pine version (“I just needed something to work on right now”) to an elaborate walnut-and-brass model that took a full weekend. All of them report the same experience: the first time you use a Moxon for dovetail layout, you wonder how you were doing it before.
Build notes: make the jaws at least 3 inches tall for maximum clamping area. Space the screws as wide as your bench allows. Don’t underestimate the value of rubber pads on the clamping faces – they prevent work from slipping without marring the surface. Share your Moxon build in the comments – we want to see the good, the bad, and the 10-minute pine versions.