Several months ago the folks at Lake Erie Toolworks sent me a “Moxon Vise” to try out. I use their other high-end workbench vise screws in my workshop, so I was eager to see how their Moxon Vise would perform. They are offering a brand new Moxon Vise as a giveaway for my readers, which you can enter to win at the bottom of this article. The giveaway is open world wide, so make sure you enter!

Woodworking Workbench With Sliding Deadman And Lake Erie Moxon Vise

What is a Moxon Vise?

So what is a Moxon Vise? A Moxon Vise is a portable workbench vise that can be clamped to any workbench surface. It’s double wood screws offer a very wide opening for clamping wide boards & panels, and is especially popular for dovetailing.

Lake Erie Moxon Vise Clamped To Woodworking Workbench Holding Panel

A lot of woodworkers also like moxon vises because they offer a way to raise their work up a bit higher. “Moxon Vise” isn’t the official name for this type of vise, but it was a name coined by author Christopher Schwarz as he was reading about a portable unnamed vise that he saw in Joseph Moxon’s 17th century book “Mechanick Exercises or, The Doctrine of Handy-Works“. You can read more about Schwarz’s discovery of the Moxon Vise here.

First Page Of Joseph Monxon'S Book Mechanick Exercises Or The Doctrine Of Handy-Works

The Lake Erie Moxon Vise is made of hard maple and can accept boards up to 24-inches wide. The wood screws are exceptionally well-made and smooth, and offer incredible clamping power. You can purchase the Moxon Vise and see all the specs and product video here on Lake Erie’s website.

Lake Erie Moxon Vise Screw On A Woodworking Workbench

The below workbench is still under construction, so this Moxon Vise has been a great addition while I’m working on building the leg vise. I first learned about Lake Erie Toolworks from Will Myers (the presenter of  the popular “Building the Portable Moravian Workbench with Will Myers” DVD). Will has built scores of workbenches in his workbench classes and outfits all the student’s Moravian Workbenches with Lake Erie’s wood vise screw kits (here). They have always been the highest quality wood turnings and will last a lifetime. A couple of my own workbenches also have these wood vise screw kits and they’ve worked wonderfully.

Lake Erie Moxon Vise Clamped To Woodworking Workbench Cutting Dovetails With Dovetail Hand Saw

Lake Erie’s moxon vises come machine-smoothed, but they suggest that you go over them with some fine grit sandpaper (220 or 320) and then finish everything (minus the screws) with Danish Oil. This was only about 15 minutes of prep work, which was no problem. I’ve been very pleased with the convenience of being able to easily hold my panels in one vise rather than using half of a normal face vise with “creative” clamping techniques. Over the past few months I’ve also gained an appreciation for the extra 6-vertical-inches or so that I don’t have to bend over. I have a friend who even adds extra blocks under his Moxon Vise to further reduce back fatigue.

~ Lake Erie Moxon Vise + DVD Giveaway (ENDED) ~

Lake Erie Toolworks Moxon Vise On A Woodworking Workbench

Lake Erie Toolworks is giving away a maple screw arm Moxon Vise to the winner of this giveaway ($210 value). I will also be giving away a woodworking DVD to the three runners up (choose from our selection of 34 DVDs here)!

So what do you have to do to win this incredible Moxon Vise or the woodworking DVDs? This giveaway is open to any WoodAndShop.com subscriber world wide (click here to subscribe for free), and you just need to fill out this Google form for each entry that you want to complete. More entries means a better chance of winning. You can enter up to 10 times with these fun options:

  • Option A (1-3 possible Entries): Submit at least one of your recent woodworking projects for our new viewer project section (here). If we like it, we’ll publish it on WoodAndShop! You can enter up to 3 projects for this giveaway.
  • Option B (1 possible Entry): Submit a photo tour & description of your workshop for our new viewer workshop section (here). If we like it, we’ll publish it on WoodAndShop!
  • Option C (1-3 possible Entries): Visit my traditional woodworking forum (here) and start a new, well thought out forum topic or question with at least one photo.
  • Option D (1-3 possible Entries): Respond to another person’s forum topic that interests you (here).

That’s it! The contest will end September 25th, whereupon a winner will randomly be chosen. Then Lake Erie Toolworks will ship your Moxon Vise to you. Must be 18+ years old to enter. As part of this entry you agree to be added to Lake Erie Toolwork’s newsletter. Cheers!

UPDATE:

The winners of the “Lake Erie Moxon Vise + DVD Giveaway” have been randomly selected! The winner of the Moxon Vise is Rud Faden. The runner up winners, who will be receiving a DVD of their choice are:

• Kieran Buchanan: “Making a Custom Ogee Moulding Plane with Tod Herrli”

• Jon Zehnder: “The Art of Spoon Carving” with Jarrod Stone Dahl

• Paul Sidener: “Building the Historic Howarth Bow Saw with Bill Anderson”

If you didn’t win, you can still purchase the Lake Erie Moxon Vise here or here, and you can see our selection of 34 traditional woodworking DVDs here.