Official Luthiers Forum!

The itch to do some more traditional woodworking hit me in December; my resolution for the year has been to learn to cut dovetails by hand, put a box together for my wife, make a cedar chest, etc. I've been acquiring a few new things to help out, but I'd love to put together a proper vise. I need a proper bench to be honest, but things come in time.

The Moxon vise looks perfect for cutting dovetails, but I've been trying to think of the other uses before jumping in and ordering a hardware kit. It seems good for any vertically held work---planing the scarf to glue-up a headstock and things like that. I'd love to know the types of uses you can see?

I realize that my comments won't really apply to this particular vise but I'll add to the discussion nonetheless as it may spark an idea in your head. The Moxon two screw is similar in concept to what I use in place of a troji. I have two pipe clamps imbedded in the style of my workbench and can put foam padded "jaws" between them and on the edge of the bench to hold guitar bodies. Pretty much just like the Moxon but wider and opens further. I use it to level sides and bindings, when working on the tail graft and (without the pads) working on the neck heel surface. I hadn't thought of using it to work on the scarf joint until you mentioned it, I'll give that a try!

The vise as pictured would certainly work for doing your neck heel surface (dove tail, or relieving the surface for a butt joint. If you were to do a v joint peg head it would be great for that end of the neck too. I'm sure once you have it, you will find uses for it. In fact, just answering this post has given me a couple ways to adapt and use my set up. I am now thinking it would work to clamp up side purflings to binding logs before the are sawn into binding strips.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

You're right, Bryan. I went ahead and decided to get the lumber this morning. Now comes the decision between the swanky Benchcrafted hardware or the budget-friendly Tools For Working Wood seen above.

Well, if you put a little longer threaded rod on it it would make a great guitar vise with a bit of padding. This would be much nicer than what I use. (ashamed to say just use my bench vise)

In reference to Bryan's first paragraph, check out the link below to the Wells pipe clamp guitar holder. It will explain how it works and how to make one. I made one and it works great. Cheap, easy to build, and you can put it away when not using it.

http://wellsguitars.com/Articles/Guitar_Holder.php

On mine, I have holes in the style of my bench and the sliding end of the pipe clamps are mounted on the inside of the style (I drilled little holes in them so I could screw then in). When not in use you just release the little lock thing and slide the pipe into the bench. I still have the screw handles sticking out but they really don't get in the way. If they ever do, I can easily slide the pipes out and store them.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

My guitar holder is based on 2 x 12" quick clamps, an off-cut of 3/4" ply and a couple of off-cuts of 1/4" ply lined with left-over foam cut from interlocking play-mats.
Screws to the apron of my bench and lives under it when not in use.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I do a lot of non-guitar woodworking and made a Moxon Vice a few years ago. For those of you unfamiliar, it is a vice first pictured by James Moxon. He was a late 17th c writer who did all sorts of stuff, one being he drew pictures and descriptions of various trades' workshops, and they are some of the earliest detailed depictions we have of workbenches and tools. This specialized vice was a way to get more delicate work up to a height that you can see it better and to get better ergonomics.

Here is one I made and just a couple of days ago I had a light bulb moment about using it for guitars:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/ ... 0103892998

I am sure there are many guitar jobs that it will work for. Note that this would not be a good guitar body holding vice because it is too high. Mine is a larger twin screw woodworking vice on the end of my bench and I have a couple of pieces of padded 3/8" plywood with end uprights that grip the instrument perfectly. - it is the last picture in the group.

Ed

Very nice, Ed! Looks versatile. Is it just clamped in the vise when you need it?

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

I use the quick-clamp vise from the Ausie luthier board but I found that working on the tail-wedge kept pushing the instrument through the vise so I added an adjustable stop which works fine.

Bob

Thanks for sharing, Ed. Is your bench made of fir? Do you find the softwood holds up?

Alex

Yes - I made the stationery jaw a little extra length on the left and it clamps in the vice

James

The bench is Southern Yellow Pine, which is a harder softwood and it works just fine for a bench. I have had to flatten it once in 6 years since the original flattening, I had to go to Ohio from Maryland to find a Home Depot or Lowes that offered SYP as their framing lumber, then tie it on the roof to get it home (I was visiting in Ohio). Chris Schwarz (woodworking guru) mentioned that if you buy the longest and widest board you can find you end with much better wood, and I found this to be true. I bought 16 foot 2X12's and cut them down from there. I have added a couple of shots of the bench to the original slides. It is 3-1/4" thick, and 7 feet long and is a great bench. The legs are a Douglas Fir 4X4. I highoy recommend a bench in the middle of the room if you have the space. And the wood for the Moxon was left over from the bench - just built 4 years apart.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/ ... 103892998/

Ed

Thanks, Ed. Great tip about the wider boards, too.

I just priced out a few options yesterday. Even though 2x12 (x16' long) pine is about the same price as 2x4's from Home Depot, the Home Depot convenience was tipping the balance in that direction. Maybe I should start problem solving the transportation of 16' long boards.

If a Home Depot is close by, rent one of their vans for 45min. I did that for 16' decking once. Pretty cheap if I recall. I've got a truck, but I have any wood over 175bf and 10' in length delivered from my lumber yard.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Ed - Delaware County Supply in Chichester, PA., a few moments from I-95 exit 1 after crossing the Delaware line. Great source for construction lumber in many species that is better than construction grade. The tightest, most even grain Western Red Cedar that I have acquired is from 1 by 12's from there. They have yellow pine, and they stock QS, very tight grain Doug Fir at the request of a Philly mandolin builder. Best softwood lumberyard I've seen. They have hardwoods too but it's not like Hearne's or places like that. I do still kick myself for not buying a board of Wenge that I saw there one time that was 8/4, 9" wide, pretty well quartered with 1/2" of sapwood on one edge, straightgrained all the way down the length of the 14' board. Yep, still kick myself.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Jim

I have bought hardwood there for years but did not know about the softwood. They have 8/4 Basswood (Linden) that is the best for chair seats.

Ee