Last week, I built a tall workbench and made a wooden Moxon vise for it. This piece of wormy maple seemed perfect for the front jaw so I squared off the ends.
I elongated the holes in the front jaw to allow it to skew to hold uneven workpieces. This was the most that the jaw could skew.
I used the Beall 1″ Wood Threading Kit to make all the threaded parts. I first tapped the nuts, then used them to test the threading of the rods. I wanted the fit to be on the loose side so that I could easily open and close the vise.
I filmed this short video to show how freely the nuts spin. (Duration: 0:16)
Sculptural Woodwork by Chris Wong 
Nice! Any tips on getting the nuts to spin that easily? Diameter of wood, finish, etc? My only complaint about my Moxon vise is how slowly the handles turn. I’m going to put cross-handles in them.
Hi Steve,
How easily the nuts spin is all about the looseness between the two threaded components. The Beall Wood Threading Kit dictates the size and shape of the female threads, but you can control the size of the male threads. If you sand or file your male threads a little, the fit will become looser and the nuts will spin more freely.
Chris
Ah, I did the same thing with one of my screws, chasing the threads with a file while it was mounted on the lathe. That allowed it to turn smoothly. But using fixed screws with movable nuts as you have here looks even better, giving that nice fast action.
Steve,
Fixed screws and travelling nuts does make adjustments quicker, but the trade-off is that the screws protrude forwards (instead of under the bench).
Chris