The Art

Of Joinery

Published by Lost Art Press LLC in 2013

26 Greenbriar Ave., Fort Mitchell, KY 41017, USA
Web: http://lostartpress.com
Title: The Art of Joinery
Authors: Joseph Moxon, commentary by Christopher Schwarz
Publisher: Christopher Schwarz
Distribution: John Hoffman
Editor: Megan Fitzpatrick
Design & Layout: Linda Watts
Index: Suzanne Ellison
Cover: Christopher Schwarz
Copyright 2013 by Lost Art Press LLC
ISBN: 978-0-9850777-7-8
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
any electronic or mechanical means including information
storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing
from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote
brief passages in a review.

Printed and bound in the United States of America.

The Art Of Joinery

By Joseph Moxon
with commentary by Christopher Schwarz

z
Second Edition

iv

Table of Contents
Introduction to the Second Edition.........................v
The Art of Joinery, Edited with Commentary........ 1
The Plates..............................................................93
The Art of Joinery, Unedited................................ 98
Select Plates from Andr Flibien........................141
Index................................................................... 153

Introduction to the Second Edition

Joseph Moxons Mechanick Exercises is more than just a curiosity for historians of the craft of woodworking. The woodworking tools that Moxon
describes and the processes he explains have remained remarkably unchanged
during the intervening centuries. To be sure, we might now use fancier materials for some of our tools investment-cast bronze, ductile iron, A2 steel.
But a fore plane is still a fore plane, and it is still used in the same manner
to make rough boards into smooth ones.
In fact, I consider Moxon to be an excellent introduction to many handtool aspects of woodworking. That is, if you can decipher his 17th-century
English spellings and sentence structure that are odd to our 21st-century eyes.
The Mechanick Exercises or the Doctrine of Handy-Works was originally published in serial form beginning in 1678 in England. Moxon was a
printer, cartographer, globe maker and maker of mathematical instruments.
In addition to the art of joinery, the Mechanick Exercises included pamphlets on blacksmithing, house carpentry, bricklaying and drawing a sundial.
Moxon (1627-1691) is perhaps best known for his treatise on the Whole
Art of Printing, which features a long biography of his dealings, mostly as
they relate to the world of printing. The version of The Art of Joinery in
this book is adapted from the 1703 edition of Mechanick Exercises, which
was the first complete edition, and it has been reprinted by both the Early
American Industries Association and The Astragal Press. Both of those editions are currently out of print and unavailable. The plates in this edition
appear courtesy of the Early American Industries Association.
So I took the Astragal version and had the original text entered into a
computer (the text is in the public domain). I then adapted Moxons work
into the text you have here. This slim book is an attempt to acquaint the
modern woodworker with the earliest English-language text on woodworking, to update its language and spellings just enough so theyre not distracting, and to provide some modern commentary and illustrations that will
help amplify some of the processes Moxon describes.
Its important to mention that I am not an academic, and this book
is not an attempt to provide a proper and scholarly annotated version of
Moxon, a form of writing that many of us will remember from our days of

vi
reading William Shakespeare in middle school. Instead, this book is a working woodworkers attempt to illustrate and explain Moxons groundbreaking
work in a way that you (who are also a woodworker, I hope) might be able
to learn something useful for your own workshop practice.
As a result, I shortened Moxons run-on sentences without (I hope) erasing their meaning. Usually this was accomplished not by removing words,
but by adding semicolons or periods. Ive added photographs and text to
attempt to illustrate Moxons words, so you can actually see a dawk or the
risings that bear against the tongue and know instantly that they are a
gouge in the work or a high spot that needs to be removed.
Ive also added a few words and phrases throughout Moxons text. My
words are in square brackets and Moxons asides are in parentheses. After
each of Moxons 37 sections (actually 38, but more on that later), I have
included my own commentary in sections titled Analysis.
Since I published the first edition of this book in 2008, my research into
early woodworking has continued, and so many of the analysis sections have
been enlarged or revised, especially in the case of the workbench.
One of the criticisms of my first edition was that I didnt include the
pure 17th-century text in the book so that the reader could analyze the
original. And so we have reprinted the original text at the end of this volume
with all the long s characters, italics and punctuation. We reset the text in
a typeface named Fell, which is adapted from early typefaces but has been
cleaned up for lack of a better word. In essence, the makers of Fell sought
only to correct damage that had occurred to the individual pieces of type as
they were set and reset in a press.
Finally, at the end of the book, I have added an appendix: A selection
of plates from Andr Flibiens Principes de Larchitecture (1676), so you
can see the similarities (and differences and omissions) between these two
important works.
What you wont find anywhere in Moxon (or this book) are the socalled secrets to the craft that allow you to make a highboy in a week or
sharpen your handplanes to razor sharpness with primitive and coarse abrasive technology. Those things arent in Moxon.
Instead, what youll find are the things you would find if you walked
into a joiners shop in 17th-century England and watched the joiners at work
for a few weeks and got to ask them some questions over a small beer (just
remember not to dump your drink in the glue pot).

vii

Moxons unusual workbench. The face vise is typically on the left end
of the bench for right-handers (and Moxon wrote for right-handers). What gives?
Read on.

But that information is more than useful enough and is surprisingly

fresh in the 21st century. Thats because so much of the modern way of
teaching woodworking is based on machine work or on idiosyncratic ways
of working with hand tools that have little to do with proper historical trade
practice.
Another important thing to note: Moxon wasnt a woodworker, blacksmith or a turner (as far as we know), but his accounts of early workshop
practice are what we have as a beginning point. And though I will point out
a few modern improvements that have arrived in the last 330 years (metalbodied planes, plow planes with several irons), this book is where how-to
woodworking began.

Christopher Schwarz

z The Art of JOINERY.

Definition.
Joinery is an art manual, whereby several pieces of wood are so fitted and
joined together by straight line, squares, miters or any bevel, that they
shall seem one entire piece.

Explanation.
By straight lines I mean that which in joiners language is called a joint.
That is, two pieces of wood are shot {that is, planed} or else they are
pared; that is, the irregularities that hinder the closing of the two pieces
are cut off with a paring chisel. They are shot or pared {as I said} to
exactly straight, [so] that when they are set upon one another, light shall
not be discerned betwixt them. This they call shooting of a joint or paring to a joint, because these two pieces are with glue commonly joined
together, either to make a board broad enough for their purpose, or to
clamp one piece of wood to the end of another piece of wood to keep it
from casting or warping.
By squares, I mean the making of frames, for door cases or such like
which is the framing of two pieces of wood, so as the four angles of the
frame may comply with the square marked D [in Plate 4].
By miters are meant the joining of two pieces of wood, so as the joint
makes half a square, and does comply with the miter square marked E [in
Plate 4]. By bevel is meant any other angle: As frames that may be made
of [a] pentagon, hexagon, octagon [and other] figures.

S.1. The Names of joiners tools described in Plate 4.

A. A Workbench. b. The hook in it, to lay boards or other stuff flat against,
whilst [you] are trying or planing [them]. c. The bench screw {on its hither
[left] side} to screw boards in while the edges of them are planed or shot.

The Art of Joinery

And then the other edge of the board is set upon a pin or pins {if the board
be so long as to reach the other leg} put into the holes marked aaaa
down the legs of the bench. [These] pins may be removed into the higher
or lower holes as the breadth of the board shall require. So then, the
bench screw keeps the board close to the edge of the bench, and the pins in
the leg keep it to its height, that it may stand steady whilst the other edge
is worked upon. For in the shooting of a joint, if the board keeps not its
exact position, but shakes or trembles under the plane, your joint will very
hardly be truly straight. d. The holdfast, let pretty loose into round holes
marked bbbbbb, in the bench. Its office is to keep the work fast upon the
bench whilst you either saw, tenon, mortise, or sometimes plane upon it.
It performs this office with the knock of a hammer or mallet upon the
head of it. [Heres how it functions]: [T]he beak of it being made crooked
downwards [with] the end of the beak falling upon the flat of the bench,
keeps the head of the holdfast above the flat of the bench. The hole in
the bench [that] the shank is let into [is] bored straight down and [is] wide
enough to let the holdfast play. The head of the holdfast being knocked,
the point of the beak throws the shank aslope in the hole in the bench and
presses its backside hard against the edge of the hole on the upper surfaces
of the bench, and its fore-side hard against the opposite side of the under
surfaces of the bench. And so [because of] the point of the beak, the shank
of the holdfast is wedged between the upper edge and its opposite edge
of the round hole in the bench. Sometimes a double screw is fixed to the
side of the bench as at g; or sometimes its farther cheek [rear jaw] is laid
on edge upon the flat [top] of the bench and fastened with a holdfast, or,
sometimes, two [holdfasts] on the bench. c A mallet.

z Analysis
Lets talk about Moxons workbench because it seems a confusing and
muddled drawing. It certainly looks like it was borrowed from Andr Flibiens Principes de Larchitecture (1676) and then modified with the addition of an unusual double-screw vise on the right side of the bench.
Moxons entire book is written for right-handers, yet he shows a bench
that seems more suited for a left-hander at first glance. (He also later shows
a plow plane drawn in reverse, so it might be easy to think that this bench is

Joseph Moxon

moxons workbench. From plate 4.

also drawn in reverse and that this is typical and no big deal for the period.)
However, I think that when you look closely at the illustration and the text
together, things start to make sense.
First, lets discuss Moxons bench screw. It is a single screw on the left
side of the bench (look close, its in shadow). This screw appears to pierce a
typical French crochet or hook attached to the front edge of the benchtop.
This vise works much like a small shoulder vise, typical on modern Scandinavian workbenches. The screw presses the work against the front edge of
the benchtop. If the board is long and/or wide, the bottom edge rests on pins
inserted into holes in the legs.
While that seems straightforward once you decipher the murky drawing the so-called double screw is more vexing. Here is Moxons original text:

Sometimes a double Screw is fixed to the ide of the Bench, as at g; or

ometimes its farther Cheek is laid an edge upon the flat of the Bench and
fatned with a Hold-Fat, or, ometimes, two on the Bench.
What is confusing about the text is how the double screw is attached to
the front edge of the bench, as shown in the drawing. To do this as Moxon
shows you likely would need two tapped holes in the benchtop, a feature I
have seen on some early workbenches. But installing this double Screw
into the bench while the rear jaw was still attached to the front jaw would
be cumbersome (the two jaws would lock the screws). First removing the rear
jaw would make the vise simple to install in the benchtop. (This sort of vise

The Art of Joinery

Metal Moxon. Several manufacturers now make double-screw vises with

wood or metal screws. If you have a tap and threadbox, these vises are easy to
make yourself.

is shown in a detail drawing in A.-J. Roubos LArt du menuisier, which

appears 100 years after Moxon.) Yet Moxon shows both jaws in the plate.
What is more straightforward about Moxons discussion of the doublescrew is how it sometimes sits on the benchtop and is sometimes secured
with a holdfast or two. Woodworking researchers Jennie Alexander and Peter
Follansbee have long used a small double-screw on the bench much like a
modern handscrew clamp. It holds work to be tenoned, or to be moulded
or planed on edge (when the work is pushed against a metal bench hook or
stop). Several years ago I began using this double-screw as a vise for dovetailing by fixing the rear jaw to the benchtop with holdfasts, just as Moxon
advised. It works brilliantly.
Other aspects of the Moxon bench are typical of what you would find on
an early workbench in a somewhat-French style. There is a metal planing stop
emerging from the benchtop. Moxon calls this a bench hook. And though it
indeed has a hook-like shape, the modern woodworker wouldnt call it a bench
hook. That term is reserved for a wooden accessory used for handsawing.
These metal-made planing stops have become rare in modern shops.
While one manufacturer still makes some in aluminum (which arent worth
fooling with), most woodworkers fashion their planing stops from wood. There

Joseph Moxon

are two obvious downsides to the metal stops: They will damage your tools if
they strike the metal stop, and the stops will mark the end grain of your work.
Those marks arent a big deal if you build 17th-century furniture where this
tool mark is found, or 18th-century furniture where the end grain is covered
by moulding. But if you like exposed joinery, a metal stop can be trouble.
Ive used a couple variants of metal stops: A beautiful one made by a
blacksmith and a serviceable one made by a second blacksmith who fashioned it out of a railroad spike. I couldnt much see the advantage of a metal
stop compared to a wooden stop until I sharpened the teeth with a file. Both
of them seemed to work fine when dealing with stock that is less than 6"
wide. Both of them were tricky to use with wider stock.
Some early versions of this workbench accessory are actually made using
nails that are driven through the wooden planing stop at a slight angle so
only the tips of the nails rise above the benchtop, not the heads of the nails.
These stops can have a lot of bite and hold your work in place.
And then there are the holdfasts. Moxons description of the holdfasts
is excellent. Clearly, this little metal wedge with a beak was just as curious
to observers in the 17th century as it is today. The earliest image I have of a
holdfast is from the 16th century in a painting titled Le Raboteur by the
Italian artist Annibale Carracci (1560-1609). I would not be surprised if the
holdfast is even older.

S.2. BBBBBBB Planes of several sorts: as,

B1. A. Fore plane
a. The tote. b. The mouth. c. The wedge. d. The iron. e. The sole. f. The
fore-end g. The britch. f g h The stock. All together a plane. It is called
the fore plane because it is used before you come to work either with
the smooth plane or with the jointer. The edge of its iron is not ground
straight, as the smooth plane and the jointer are, but rises with a convex
arch in the middle of it; for its [ job is] to prepare the stuff for either the
smoothing plane or the jointer. Workmen set the edge of it ranker than
the edge either of the smoothing plane or the jointer. And should the
iron of the plane be ground to a straight edge, and it be set ever so little
ranker on one end of the edge than on the other, the ranker end would
{bearing as then upon a point} in working, dig gutters on the surface of
the stuff. But this iron {being ground to a convex arch} though it should

The Art of Joinery

be set a little ranker on one end of its edge than on the other, would not
make gutters on the surface of the stuff, but {at the most} little dawks
[hollows] on the stuff, and that more or less, according [to how] the
plane is ground, more or less arching. Nor is it the office of this plane to
smooth the stuff, but only {as I said} to prepare it. That is, to take off the
irregular risings, whether on the sides or in the middle. And therefore it
is set somewhat ranker, that it may take the irregularities [more quickly]
off the stuff [so] that the smoothing plane or the jointer may afterwards
the easier work it try [flat]. The manner of trying shall be taught when I
come to [discuss] the use of the rule.
You must note, that as I told you in smithing {Num. I. page 14, 15, 16}
that it was the office of the coarse-toothed file to take off the prominent
irregularities the hammer made in the forging, and that you were not to
file them more away than you need. So the same caution is to be given you
in the using of this fore plane in joinery, for the reason there alleged in
smithing, whether, to avoid repetition, I refer you. Only with this consideration, that in smithing, iron or steel was the matter wrought upon, and
there a coarse file the tool; but now wood is the matter, and a coarse, or
fore plane, the tool.

z Analysis
When it comes to the handplane illustrations in Moxon, I wouldnt rely
on them as being accurate representations of typical 17th-century English
planes. They show typical French planes. The text, however, is quite useful.
Moxon spills more ink on fore planes than he does on any other form. These
tools are the equivalent of the modern electric surface planer or powered
jointer. The fore plane is the tool that removes a lot of wood in a hurry thanks
to its curved iron and the fact that it is set to take quite a bite. And as a plane
user, I find my fore plane to be one of the most useful tools I own. Whether
the plane is made of wood or iron, the fore plane is able to quickly remove
wood (its almost shocking at first how fast it works). And I have found it
is one of the tools that helps a beginning hand-tool user understand that a
correctly set tool makes handwork easy.
The term fore plane has almost vanished from the modern vocabulary
and has been replaced by the term jack plane, a word from the carpenters
lexicon. Stanley Works labeled its No. 6 plane a fore plane, though the jobs

Joseph Moxon

Moxon's fore plane . It's shorter than the jointer and longer than a smooth-

ing plane.

of the fore are easily picked up by Stanleys No. 5 jack plane. So if youre
looking for a plane that will serve as a fore, buy one thats 14" to 18" long
(wood or metal), grind the iron so it is curved (an 8"-radius curve is typical)
and set the mouth wide open to pass thick shavings.
In reading Moxon, its easy to think that the fore plane is actually what
Stanley calls a scrub plane a tool still manufactured today. However, the
metal scrub plane is actually a modern version of a wooden European plane
for rough work. The scrub is similar to the fore, but the scrubs sole is both
shorter and narrower, and the iron has an even more pronounced curve.
Both tools work and get material out of your way. But I prefer the longer
sole of the fore plane. The longer sole makes it easier to get the board flat than
with a scrub, though the extra weight of a fore plane can be tiring.
The other important aspect of Moxons entry on fore planes is that it
discusses a philosophy that Moxon developed in his pamphlets on blacksmithing. That is: Use the coarsest tool possible to make the work with the
finer-set tools quick. One stroke with a fore plane saves many strokes with
a jointer plane. This is one of the core principles of hand work that is sometimes forgotten today. Many woodworkers are quick to grab their smooth
plane when they should be grabbing the fore.

S.3 Of setting the iron

When you set the iron of the fore plane, consider the stuff you are to
work upon. That is to say, whether it be hard or soft, or curling, as joiners
call cross-grained stuff. If it be hard or curling, you must not set the iron
very rank because a mans strength will not cut deep into hard wood. And
if it be not hard wood, but curling or knotty, and the iron is rank-set, you
may indeed work with it until you come to some knot or curl, but then
you may either tear your stuff, or break the edge of your iron. Therefore
you may perceive a reason to set the iron fine for curling and knotty stuff.

The Art of Joinery

But if you ask me how rank your iron ought to be set? I answer, if your
wood be soft, and your stuff free and soft, that is, evenly tempered all the
way, you may set the iron to take a shaving off [that is] the thickness of an
old coined shilling [likely a Commonwealth shilling, or approximately
.0394", or a fat 1/32"] but scarcely thicker. Whereas if your stuff be hard
or curling or knotty, you shall scarcely be able to take a shaving off the
thickness of an old groat [likely a Charles II groat, which would be .0236"
thick, or less than 1/32"]. Therefore you must examine the temper of your
stuff by easy trials [to determine] how the plane will work upon it, and set
your iron accordingly. And observe this as a general rule: That the iron of
the fore plane is, for the first working with it, to be set as rank as you can
make good work with; and that [is] for speed sake.
If your iron be set too rank, knock with a hammer upon the britch
[rear] of the stock, and afterwards upon the wedge. For this knocking
upon the britch, if you knock hard enough, will raise [retract] the iron a
little and set it fine. If you knock not hard enough, you must knock again
until the iron does rise. But if you knock too hard, it will raise the iron so
much that its edge will rise above the sole into the mouth of the stock and
consequently not touch the stuff. Therefore you must knock softly at first
until, by trials, you find the iron rises to a convenient fineness. But as this
knocking on the britch raises the iron, so it also raises and loosens the
wedge. Therefore {as said before}, whenever you knock upon the britch,
you must also knock upon the wedge to fasten the iron again.
If you have raised the edge of the iron too fine, you must knock softly
upon the head of the iron and then again upon the wedge. And this you may
sometimes do several times until you fit your iron to a convenient fineness.
When you have occasion to take your iron out of the stock to rub it,
that is, to whet [sharpen] it, you may knock pretty smart blows upon the
stock, between the mouth and the fore-end [to loosen the wedge and consequently the iron].
These ways of setting are used with all other planes, as well as fore planes.
In the using of this, and indeed, all other planes, you must begin at
the hinder end of the stuff, [with] the grain of the wood lying along the
length of the bench, and plane forward until you come to the fore-end,

Joseph Moxon

Shilling shaving . Moxons instructions used coinage to explain how thick

your shavings should be. For softer woods, Moxon specified an old coined shilling. This shaving is just about that thickness or .04" thick.

unless the stuff [is to be] proved cross-grained in any part of its length.
For then you must turn your stuff to plane it the contrary way, so far as
it runs cross-grained. And in [any] planing, you must, at once, lean pretty
hard upon the plane and also thrust it very hard forwards, not letting the
plane totter to or from you-wards, until you have made a stroke the whole
length of the stuff. And this sometimes, if your stuff be long, will require
your making two or three steps forward before you come to the fore-end
of the stuff. But if you do this, you must come back and begin again at the
farther end, by the side of the last planed stroke, and so continue planing
until the whole upside [surface] of the stuff be planed.
And if the stuff be broad that you are to plane upon, and it has warped
a little with the grain [cupped], or be any ways crooked in its breadth, you
must then turn the grain so it is across the workbench, and plane crossgrain. For if your work be hollow in the middle, you must plane both the
bearing sides [the high edges] thinner until they are in the same plane as
the middle. Then turn the other side of your work [flip the board over],
and working still cross-grained, work away the middle until it is in the
same plane as the sides or edges.

10

The Art of Joinery

This way of cross-grained working is, by workmen, called traversing.

Thus have you, in general, the use of all the other planes. But the use
of those planes are designed for other particular purposes. I shall show
[them] as they come in order.

z Analysis
Wooden planes work the same way they did in the 17th century, so
Moxons description of the process of adjusting one should seem familiar.
However, what is interesting (to history dweebs especially) is when he discusses the sort of shavings you should get from a fore plane. Having no
digital dial caliper, Moxon used the thickness of common coins to discuss
the thickness of shavings.
After consulting with a couple coin collectors of British coinage and
measuring some examples (which were surprisingly consistent) heres how to
interpret Moxons instructions. For wood that is easy to plane, Moxon recommends a shaving that is an old coined shilling. The coin collectors said
that judging from the time period and language, that Moxon was discussing
a Commonwealth shilling. The Commonwealth shillings that werent too
worn were about .04" thick, or a fat 1 32".
For the harder, curly or knotty woods, Moxon recommends the shaving be the thickness of old groat likely a Charles II groat. That would be

Other English planes. Randle Holmes drawing of a fore and jack plane
for the 1688 The Academy of Armory look more like English planes to me than
the Moxon drawings.

Joseph Moxon

11

A groat in your throat. For difficult woods, Moxon recommends a shaving that is as thick as an old groat or .024" thick.

about .024" thick or a bit less than 1 32". Then Moxon gives a rule that is
golden (in my book): Take the thickest shaving you can that will produce
good work, which is for speed sake.
So how do you adjust the plane? Moxons explanation is classic. One of
the few innovations in wooden planes since Moxon is the strike or start
button on the top of some wooden planes. This is a small circle of wood that
protrudes like (surprise) a button between the toe of the tool and the escapement. You strike the button hard to release the iron. Moxons instructions
tell you to rap the plane there to release the iron. The strike button prevents
you from denting your planes body.
Moxons instruction for applying a plane to the wood are straightforward: Begin at the hinder end (for right-handers, this is the right end). Plane
to the fore-end (the left end). Plane the entire length of the board (walking as
you push the plane if necessary). Work the entire length of the board. Come
back, overlap your strokes and repeat.
What might be curious for moderns is Moxons description of planing
wide, crooked or cupped stock. In these cases, Moxon says you should work
directly across the grain what he calls traversing. This strategy works well
and is typically under-utilized by modern woodworkers. Traversing flattens
high spots with little tear-out. When you plane across the grain, the long
fibers that make up the wood grain are sliced across by the planes iron. Its

12

The Art of Joinery

The cup is up. Traversing is most effective when you are working the cupped
face of the board. The planes sole rides the high spots and the iron cuts them
back until you hit the low spots.

Make a cup without a lathe . Plane out the middle by working with the
grain. Then youve made a cup. Now plane across the grain to remove the cup.

Joseph Moxon

13

like a crosscut with a plane instead of a rip. Traversing is easy work you
can take a big bite when you work across the grain. It doesnt leave a pretty
surface (think: wooly worm), but it is one of the most powerful fore plane
techniques Ive found.
My personal experience with traversing has been that it works best on
the cupped face of the board because you have two high spots touching the
planes sole.
When you work the face that is bowed, you tend to just copy that bow
when you are traversing. So what do you do? Moxon says to plane out the
middle first. I do this using strokes with the grain until I reach the final
thickness of my board. This creates a cupped board. Then I traverse across
the cup. When my iron just nicks the bottom of the cup, I stop. Im done.
Thats not the gospel according to Joe, however.

S.4. Of the Jointer. B. 2.

The jointer is made somewhat longer than the fore plane and has its sole
perfectly straight from end to end. Its office is to follow the fore plane
and to shoot an edge perfectly straight, and not only an edge, but also a
board of any thickness; especially when a joint is to be shet [shot]. Therefore the hand must be carried along the whole length with an equal bearing weight, and [al]so exactly even and upright to the edges of the board,
[so] that neither side of the plane inclines either inward or outwards,
but that the whole breadth be exactly square on both its sides. Supposing its sides straight, [then] so will two edges of two boards, when thus
shot, lie so exactly flat and square upon one another that light will not be
discerned between them. It is counted a piece of good workmanship in
a joiner to have the craft of bearing his hand so curiously [in this way],

Moxons jointer plane . Ever wonder why the handles look so odd on the
plane? I dont think theyre particularly British. These illustrations were borrowed
from the French.

14

The Art of Joinery

even the whole length of a long board. And yet it is but a sleight [task] to
those [where] practice hath accustomed the hand to [it]. The jointer is
also used to try tabletops with {large or small}, or other such broad work.
And then joiners work as well upon the traverse with it, as with the grain
of the wood, and also angularly or corner-wise, that they may be more
assured of the flatness of their work.
Its iron must be set very fine, so fine, that when you wink with [close]
one eye, and [look at the iron with your open] eye, there appears a little
above a hairs breadth of the edge above the surfaces of the sole of the
plane, and the length of the edge must lie perfectly straight with the flat
breadth of the sole of the plane. [With] the iron being then well wedged up
and you working with the plane thus set, [you] have the greater assurance
that the iron cannot run too deep into the stuff; and consequently you
have the less danger that the joint is wrought out of straight.

z Analysis
In Moxon, the primary job of the jointer plane seems to be working
edges to make them straight and true. Not only to make them pretty but to
glue them up into panels.
Now here is one area where Moxon vexes me. Moxon calls for the jointer
plane to have an iron that is sharpened perfectly straight across, like a chisel.
And the way you correct an edge is through skill Moxon says it looks hard
to the layman but is easy for joiners.
As one who has practiced freehand edge-planing with a jointer plane
that has a straight-sharpened iron, I object. I think its easier to correct an
edge with an iron with a slight curve. You can remove material from localized spots by positioning the iron to take more meat off one area.
This jointing technique with a curved iron appears in British workshop
practice throughout the 20th century. It is today a fight as fierce as tails-first
or pins-first in dovetailing. So give both jointing techniques a try and take
your side. And just be glad Moxon doesnt write a word about dovetailing.
One note here on long-grain shooting boards. Moxon doesnt mention
them, though they are frequently mentioned and employed starting in the
18th century. When you use a jointer plane with a shooting board to true an
edge of a board, the iron of the jointer plane can be either curved or straight.
Both approaches work.

Joseph Moxon

15

Proper edge jointing. Whether you use a straight or curved iron, this is
the proper way to joint an edge. The fingers of your off-hand serve as the fence
against the work.

Several of my contemporary hand-tool woodworkers have suggested

that perhaps Moxon simply could not see that the jointer planes iron is
slightly curved. And indeed, the curve used on the edge of a jointer planes
iron looks straight if you dont show it to a second piece of straight material.
However, I prefer to simply take Moxon at his word here. The joiners he
observed use jointers with straight irons.
Other jointer techniques in Moxon are quite helpful. He says you can
traverse with a jointer and that you can work diagonally (corner to corner)
across the grain with wide stock. Both of these techniques help flatten your
boards because the jointers sole is removing high spots at the corners, which
is commonly known as twist or wind. Note that Moxon says joiners use
this for tabletops or other boards that are quite broad.
Other period accounts discuss other long planes. Richard Neves The
City and Country Purchaser (1703) calls out two long planes: The Long
Plane, which is about 24" long, for faces of boards; and the jointer plane,
which is about 30" long, for edge joints.

16

The Art of Joinery

Criss-cross. Working corner to corner is a powerful technique for flattening a

board. You can work both ways, though youll get more tear-out one way than the
other.

Moxons instructions for setting a jointer plane can be interpreted as

follows: Turn the plane over and sight down the sole. Close one eye. Peer
down the sole and adjust the iron until you see it as a fine black line (about
the thickness of a hair) that is even all across the width of the sole. Thats a
good description of what it looks like. To my (one) eye, a hairs breadth usually gets me a shaving thats about .004" to .006" thick.

S. 5. The use of the strike-block.

The strike-block marked B 3. is a plane shorter than the jointer, having
its sole made exactly flat and straight, and is used for the shooting of a
short joint because it is more handy than the long jointer. It is also used

Joseph Moxon

17

It takes a steady hand. With your plane in one hand and the work in the
other, Moxon says you can clean up miters this way. Ive worked miters this way,
but I prefer to brace the tool against the bench.

Moxons strike-block plane. Its shorter than the fore but longer than a

smoothing plane.

for framing and fitting the joints of miters and bevels you are to fit. You
must hold it very steady in your left hand with the sole of it upwards and
its fore-end towards your right hand; and you must hold your work in
your right hand very steady. Then apply the sawn miter or sawn bevel at
the end of your stuff [work or work piece] to the fore-end of the strikeblock and so thrust it hard and upright forwards until it passes over
the edge of the iron. So shall the edge of the iron, with several of these
thrusts continued, cut or plane off your stuff the roughness that the teeth

18

The Art of Joinery

of your saw made. But if your work be so big that you cannot well wield it
in your right hand, you must set the end of your work in the bench-screw
and plane upon it with a smoothing plane.

z Analysis
The strike-block entry is a curious animal. As shown in Moxon (and in
Flibiens plate 31 see page 152 of this book) it has no tote or knob, but its
longer than a smoothing plane. Its a bevel-down plane. Handplane historian
John M. Whelan surmises that the strike block was a forerunner of the miter
plane, and the tools uses listed by Moxon back that up fairly well.
It is used for shooting short edges and miters. The part about edges is
easy to visualize. The part about how to shoot a miter is unusual. Its a freehand activity. Hold the strike block in your off-hand with the sole facing up.
Point the plane at your dominant hand. Then, in your dominant hand, place
the sawn miter on the sole of the plane at the toe of the tool. Push the miter
across the mouth. If the miter is too big for this activity, put the miter in your
vise and clean it up with a smoothing plane. This hotdogging maneuver, as
you might imagine, takes a bit of skill and practice.

Moxons smoothing plane. The extended sole at front and rear is unusual.
No explanation is given in the text about the extensions, though they appear later
in the historical record on miter planes.

S. 6. The use of the smoothing plane.

The smoothing plane marked B 4. must have its iron set very fine
because its office is to smooth the work from those irregularities the fore
plane made.

z Analysis
Moxon doesnt discuss smoothing planes much in Mechanick Exercises. But what he does say is remarkably illuminating. Perhaps the early

Joseph Moxon

19

woodworker didnt fuss as much over this tool as we do. As someone who
uses handplanes like Moxon describes, this is a frustrating entry. There are
clues in the text that some of the tricks we use today were well-known then
(such as the fact that high-angle tools are good for difficult grain, and that
different planes have different mouths). But it would be good to know more,
such as how the smoothing plane was used on the work.
Most woodworkers push the smoothing plane so its body is parallel to
the grain of the board. But you dont have to do that. Experience shows that
circular motions, traversing and the like can all be used with smoothing
planes.
Other questions for the now-dead printer and observer: Would they
skew the plane to make the work easier? Was the smoothing plane the last
tool to touch the work or was it followed up with early abrasives (or scrapers
made from steel or glass)? Is B 7 in Plate 4 a coffin smoothing plane? These
topics are discussed in more detail starting in the 18th century.
But one thing Moxon does say about smoothing planes is important for
the beginner to note:

its Office is to fmoothen the work from thofe Irregularities the Foreplane made.
So Moxon says you can go from the fore plane to the smooth plane
skipping the jointer plane. Modern practice is to use the planes in this order:
fore, jointer then smoothing. I think Moxon is giving us a clue here that you
can skip the jointer plane at times. Later on in the text he discusses how to
take a finer shaving with a fore plane to finish up a piece of work.
After reading Moxon, I adopted the practice of planing in this way:
1. Use the fore plane with a rank-set iron to remove as much material
as possible and get the surface fairly flat.
2. Use the fore with a fine-set iron to clean up the surfaces.
3. Use a jointer plane to flatten any surfaces that require a face or edge
to be flat, straight and true for joinery such as an edge or the interior of a
carcase side. All other surfaces are left alone.
4. Finish with a smoothing plane all surfaces that will be seen by the
owner of the piece.
This approach is consistent with Moxons admonition to use the coarsest
plane for as long as possible. And I end up using the smoothing plane after
the fore plane quite a lot.

20

The Art of Joinery

Moxons (and Flibiens) rabbet plane. Its a bit long in the stock for a
typical English rabbet plane, at least the kind that I typically see.

S. 7. The use of the rabbet plane.

The rabbet plane marked B 5. is to cut [away] part of the upper edge of a
board or other stuff straight; that is, square down into the board so that
the edge of another board also cut down in the same manner may fit and
join into the square of the first board cut this way. And when two boards
are thus lapped on the edges over one another, this lapping over is called
rabbeting.
The rabbet plane is also sometimes used to strike a fascia in a piece of
moulding, as shall be shown in its proper place.
The sides of the iron are not enclosed in the stock of this plane, as
the foregoing planes are, but the iron is as broad as the stock is thick,
[so] that the very angles of the edge [that is, the corners] of the iron may
not be born [held] off the stuff, to hinder the straight and square cutting
down[ward]: Nor does it deliver its shaving at a mouth on the top of the
stock as the other planes do. But it has its mouth on the sides of the plane
and delivers its shavings there. Its iron is commonly about an inch broad.

z Analysis
Again, Moxons rabbet plane doesnt look like the typical English or
American rabbet plane. It looks a bit French. The typical English rabbet plane
is shorter. And the escapement (where the shavings eject) is a different shape.
But the function described by Moxon is dead on. It makes square
trenches on the long edges of boards, such as shiplap joints. Or a tongue
that will fit into a groove. Or it creates a flat area (fascia) that will be incorporated into a moulding.
This form of rabbet plane went through many evolutions. Moxons rabbet plane has an iron that extends to both cheeks of the plane. Some later
tools opened to only one side and were fitted with an integral fence and
nickers for cross-grain work.

Joseph Moxon

21

Highly evolved rabbet. This moving fillister has an adjustable fence, a

depth stop and a nicker for scoring the grain ahead of the iron. The additional
features require additional attention, but the rabbeted results are more predictable,
which is good for production work not so much when you need to be flexible
and fast.

If the fence was fixed in position, the tool was a standing rabbet or fillister. If the fence could move, it was called (no surprise) a moving fillister.
Simple rabbet planes employ the users fingers as the fence and the tool
is used to work up to gauge lines. There also is evidence that moving fillister
planes were used for roughing out the work and rabbeting planes made the
finishing cuts. More research is needed here.