Moxon Springs (pair)

Have you ever forgetten to pull the jaws apart on your Moxon Vise loosening the hand wheels. Or taken the time to carefully line up your tail boards for gang cutting only to realize you haven't opened the jaws far enough. These Moxon Springs make that one-handed operation of openening up the vise a little less awkward by pushing the chop out for you when you back the wheels off.
 
The idea for these springs originaly comes from this blog post by David Barron, but when I went out to my local hardware store to pick up a pair I was unable to find anything that would work. After some research I was able to find a spring made from a lighter gauge wire the provides a good deal of travel, but still compresses down to a small size.
 
The ends of these compression springs are ground flat to reduce wear on the wood and will work on threads up to 3/4" in diameter. Simply remove the front chop, slide them over the threads and reassemble the vise. If you regularly work with materials thinner than 1/2" you may want to drill an inset into the back of the front chop to allow you to completely close the vise. The Moxon Screws will provide just enough force to open the vise through 2-1/2" of travel without making it difficult to close.