Bench Stops and Hooks Eight stone-simple designs for gripping your work by Andy Rae Until woodworkers evolve a third hand, we will continue to search for new ways to clamp or hold work to our workbenches. These humble- looking collection of stops and hooks still rank at the top of my list. As far as shop-made tools go, these extra hands are stone simple to make, and more importantly, just as easy to use. Bench stops and hooks work by preventing a workpiece from moving around while dressing it with a hand tool. In many cases, this mechanical advantage provides all of the holding power you may need to complete a task, without the need of additional levers or screws. Without fussy adjustments, stops and hooks Bench Stop Tips save time and enable you to • Lightly chamfer the bottom • Wax the soles and sides shift quickly and seamlessly “working” edges of stops and of the planes that contact from one step to the next. fences to provide clearance the jigs for better control Stops and hooks won’t replace for dust and debris. and an easier cut. a standard bench vise, but most • Finish your jigs with a couple • Drill hanging holes through don’t require a bench to work. coats of shellac or varnish. your stops, and then position In fact, with a few clamps or One or two thin coats them on a nearby wall, or screws, they can transform any should suffice. Be careful under your bench, so that work surface into a serviceable not to overdo it: a thick they’re ready when you are. workbench. Wherever they’re finish may cause your tools used, these simple jigs will give to stick instead of slide. youPhotos: a Andy firm Rae grip on your work. Feb/Mar 2014 woodcraftmagazine.com 63 Simple Stops A bird’s mouth Planing sti ck One of the simplest types of bench stops is a bird’s A pint-sized version of the beams used by Japanese mouth. As the name suggests, this jig is a board craftsmen, a planing stick offers a simple, yet with a V-notch cut that holds boards entirely solid surface for sizing and smoothing thin and by friction. Although it does require a clamp narrow sticks using the power of a single nail. 1 in order to secure it your workbench, once it’s Mill a 1 × 1 2 × 24" stick from a softwood, clip a Clamped between dogs, a sti ck and a nail may be all 3 attached, you can get a quick grip on thick or thin 6d nail to about⁄ 4" long (keeping the head end), the jig you need when planing thin, narrow work. workpieces for edge-planing and drive the nail⁄ into one end of the plank so 1 without the tedium of clamping, that the head sticks about 8" above the surface. unclamping, and re-clamping Depending on how you secure⁄ it to your the stick so that the nail is at the far end. each piece. Unlike a bench vise, Fitti ng a board into benchtop, this jig works equally well with that(Note: the nailThis is jig at doesn't your end. require For pushany �inish. cuts, flip this setup keeps stock from the bird’s mouth jig Eastern- or Western-style planes. For pull A freshly-planed surface gives the right bowing by allowing it to rest provides plenty of cuts, clamp the stick between bench dogs so amount of ‘stick’ to hold the work.) on the surface of your bench. support for edge- I made this stop from a planing. To switch 1 × 4 × 10" block of hardwood. boards, simply lift Cut-off Hooks The notch can be cut on the one board out and By raising boards above the work surface, cut- standard (Western) push-cutting saws, register bandsaw or sawn by hand. I sized slide in the next. the hook against the front of your bench. If you 1 the opening about 1 2" wide, without slicing up your benchtop. How you use use pull-style (Japanese) saws, reverse the hooks off hooks can help you start and finish a cut but you can adjust the⁄ size to them depends on the saw preference: for use with so they engage the back edge of the bench. Choose accept your thickest boards. a straight-grained hardwood for the hooks, and Pop these slide-up bandsaw them to the profile shown below. stops above the Slide-up stops bench for thick or thin work. in slots cut into your benchtop,Slide-up stops ready fit for snugly service at a moment’s notice. You tap them out from the surface of your bench to register and stop your work. They hold all kinds of work, but they’re particularly useful for restraining thin stock. Hook the back edge of your bench Cutoff hooks protect your bench and hold your work 1 Rout or chisel a pair of 4"-wide × 2"-long when using a pull-style saw. when making Western-style (push) crosscuts. through mortises on the left side of your ⁄ Half-size patt ern, enlarge 200% bench (if you’re right-handed; if you’re a 3 3 ⁄8" ⁄4" dia. Full-sized patt ern available for download on lefty, go right). Choose a dense and hanging hole woodcraft magazine.com/magpatt erns.html resilient wood for the stops, such as rosewood, and thickness them aligning both mortises with a bench dogfor a hole, snug, which sliding will fit. allow I recommend you to stop By positi oning the morti ses in line with a bench dog, 1 3 5 wide work against three points. you can use all three stops to support wide boards. 1 square= ⁄4" Note: Bandsaw hook from 1 ⁄4 × 1 ⁄8 × 11" hardwood block. 64 woodcraftmagazine.com Feb/Mar 2014 Feb/Mar 2014 woodcraftmagazine.com 65 Shooti ng Boards Shooti ng refers to the process of hand-planing edges fl at and straight. Most jigs are set for 45° or 90°, but you can make a jig for any angle. Shooti ng slices into the fence, but as long as the plane’s blade is not as wide as its sole, there should sti ll be enough material remaining for the tool to register against. Stop and hook 1 1 1 ⁄8 × 1 ⁄8 × 11" This bench hook’s broad surface protects your By enabling you to shave the end of work straight With steady pressure against the stop, even heavy Plywood base and fence 1 bench from the scars that can come from and square–without leaving your bench–a boards can be held in place with one hand. ⁄2 × 11 × 11" Workpiece bears against chiseling, sawing, and slicing small parts. shooti ng board quickly earns its keep. stop. Edge-miter shooti ng board A chopping hook End-shooti ng board An edge-miter shooting board (also known as a Arguably my most-used bench stop, this jig serves Because so much of my work involves several purposes. By hooking one edge against my square cuts, this is my most used shooting welcome aid for tuning long or short miters to bench, and then using the opposing hook as a stop board. With it, I can trim a board for an precision.donkey’s ear This for stop its floppy-looking is a bit more elaborate shape), is than a 1 ⁄16" chamfer and the edge of the base as a fence, this stop serves as a decent shooting board. (See the photo on page correct a mis-cut end to precisely 90°. wide or standing miters, such as those found in a 63.) However, this jig suffers much more use and exact fit, one plane shaving a time, or miteredthe other box stops, or the but corner when youof baseboard need to fine-tune molding, abuse as my place mat when chopping, sawing, or sure that the stop is perpendicular to the this jig is worth the time takes to assemble. 1" screw slicing small parts. (To double its working life when fence.Make To the shoot fixture a workpiece, as shown position below, making its end Despite its appearance, the jig is easy to make. Plane sole bears the primary chopping surface wears out, simply a hair past the stop. Set your iron for a super- If your bench has dog holes, simply build as against plywood. light cut, and lay the plane on its side. Next, shown below, and grasp the jig between dogs, register the plane’s sole against the fence and as in the photo. (If you prefer to use your vise to flip the board over and use the opposite side.) secure the jig to your bench, attach a beam to the Flat-miter shooti ng board past the workpiece, while pressing the work underside as shown below.) Whichever design Fitting miters can be fraught with frustration. three-way miters. With a hook on each end, steadilyuse firm, into swift the movements plane. (Small to pushplanes the such plane as you choose, take care to rip the ledge to 45°. You Typically, it’s the last corner that needs some you can trim miters from either direction: may also want to assemble this jig with screws; prefer longer, heavier planes because the extra that way you can shim the fence if needed. miter shooting board tackles the most common also lets you tackle miters that have only one massblock powersplanes work the cut. fine For for best small results work, in but end I tweaking for a tight-fitting frame.