Moxomless dovetailing
Bill Tindall, E.Tn.
Recently, as a result of the continuing discussion of the benefits of Moxom vises and the joy of building them in an increasingly refined form, I built a narrow one for doing drawers. I'll get to use it eventually, but first I had a job to assemble two dovetailed cases for bed side dressers. My vise- 9". Case sides- 15 1/2".
My point is not to disparage building a large vise that will accommodate case sides, but rather to offer an alternative that works just fine, illustrated in the picture. The panel is held securely, the edge is elevated for easier sawing and fixing and unfixing the panel is quick and easy. For me a large vise would not offer any benefit.
Once the tails are done their pattern is transferred to the pin board as shown in PIC 2. There was recent discussion of this operation with the aid of clamps. I did not think them necessary at that time and having done it 8 times yesterday, I maintain that the friction of the arrangement shown is so great than clamping becomes an unnecessary inconvenience. If for some unforeseen reason I did not what to use my left hand for holding the tail board down I would put a bag of lead shot on it.