Workbench Workmates 10 Ways to make your bench work harder, better By Joe Hurst-Wajszczuk T he cabinetmaker’s bench in In order to grab, guide, and revolutionary, but I’ve tweaked our shop is the nicest that I’ve hold, a workbench needs an the designs to better complement ever used, but despite its beauty arsenal of bench mates. The right each other, multiplying their and brawn, it didn’t compare accessories can transform even versatility. (These fixtures work with the quirky slab-topped a solid-core door into a capable just as well with power sanders filing cabinet sitting in my and comfortable workstation. and sanding blocks as they garage. After a few months of Tired of coming up with Rube do with chisels and planes.) struggling to do tasks that came Goldberg-style solutions for If you’d like to take your naturally at home, I recalled common woodworking chores, workbench up a notch, here’s the lesson that turned that old I picked my favorite fixtures your chance. Building these slab into my shop apprentice: A and adapted them to fit our new accessories is a lot easier than workbench42 woodcraftmagazine.com is a work in progress.Dec/Jan 2010bench. These accessories aren’t trying to grow a third hand. Planing stops, dogs, and wedges A good vise is only half the The dogs equation. In order to catch and show why hold, you’ll need a few flexible round dog holes points to clamp against. (If your have the edge bench doesn’t have dog holes, it’s over square time to reach for your drill. Make holes. The two parallel rows of ¾"-diameter round studs A holes along your bench’s front allow the heads Partner up square dogs and small wedges to join thin edge and a perpendicular row to rotate and stock. Waxed paper prevents the panel from sticking. aligned with your end vise. automatically Space the holes 6" apart.) find clamping Planing stops, as seen in the points on parts opening photo, are plain simple. that don’t They’re nothing more than line up with 3/8"-thick wood strips studded the vise. This with a pair of dowels sized and rotational spaced to fit the bench. The advantage stop’s thickness leaves enough comes into wood to achieve a decent glue full play when joint with the dowel, but doesn’t teamed with B usually interfere when planing Photoa wedge. A As Slide the workpiece into the hook to lock it in place. thin stock. (When planing or shown in Tap the wedge's small end to release the vise-like grip. scraping thinner material, , the place your work on top of a combo can piece of 1/8"-thick hardboard.) replace clamps Dogs, or single-dowel stops, for delicate glue-ups. the stock doesn’t bend when come next. I rank them just A larger wedged stop can be planing, scraping, or sanding. under planing stops because a simple but effective substitutePhoto B To make a wedged stop, fit a they don’t work well without for a vise, especially when planing stop diagonally across a partner such as a stop, vise, dressing small parts ( ). your bench and then work out or another dog. For planing or In addition to providing an the angle on a piece of cardboard scraping, a planing stop works instantaneous grip, the stop before transferring the pattern well enough on its own. uses the top as backup so that onto 3/8"-thick plywood. Planing Stop Wedged Stop Square Dogs Small Wedge Photos: Jim Osborn Dec/Jan 2010 woodcraftmagazine.com 43 Board jacks and vise Board Jack Tip Alert Boards and panels usually Quick-drying shellac is a perfect require some edge work, whether jig and fixture finish. Wax can be it’s planing off burns or saw useful, but go lightly. A little can marks, jointing, or mortising a help lubricate a sticking dowel; hinge. To make full use of the too much will cause accessories front of your bench you need a to slide around your bench. board jack, a solid point to rest the free end of your workpiece so that you can grab the other end with your vise. Jacks come Vise Spacer in almost as many flavors as workbenches, but most fall into two categories: built-ins that slide along the front and after-the-facts that clamp into a tail vise. The first work well with short boards, but it’s hard to justifyPhoto the Cretro-work involved in such an upgrade. My jack ( ) is easier than a major retrofit, but like a “slider,” it moves easily along the front of your bench and works independently of an end vise. Made from cheap 2× and 4× stock, the jack stands in the corner when not in use. Use the figure as a guide, but note that you’ll need to adjust the height of the face so that the head fits under your benchtop. Drill the pin holes so that the face of the jig sits flush with the front edge of your workbench. Sometimes one fixture leads to the next. When I first put the jack to use, the wide jawed vise racked (the open end closed more than the other); consequently, it failed to provide the necessaryInset grip. This self-setting vise C spacer ( ) solved End vises need the help of a board jack and spacer to put the the problem. To use the spacer squeeze on long boards and wide panels. Set the pin on the “sandwich,” set it on the opposite jack’s face to hold the panel at a comfortable working height. end of your vise. As the jaws open, 44the strips woodcraftmagazine.com will fall into the gap.Dec/Jan 2010 Shooting boards Those who sometimes struggle sandwich the parts together end of your stock will help you with blade burnPhoto or needD to sneak with glue, clamps, and screws. gauge your planingPhoto progress.) E up on a perfect fit will appreciate Next, use a square to set the The shooting board also this fixture ( ). With a fence and attach it to the base fine-tunes miters ( ). sharp plane, a shooting board with screws and glue. Attach As shown in the figure and can remove a few thousandths the front face with screws but photo below, the miter fence is of an inch to both smooth and no glue so that you can shim it a plywood triangle with a grip- square the end of a board. I as needed to make it perfectly friendly recess in the center and made this jig larger than some perpendicular to the runway. sandpaper stuck to the working others to suit the large No. 6 To use the shooting board, edge. (Additional miter angles are WoodRiver. (The mass and wide set your plane to make a very only a few mitersaw cuts away.) sides of larger planes make them light, square cut. Hold the The bench hook supportsPhoto long D, easier to shoot.) Note, too, that workpiece firmly against the Insetboards and serves as a planing a shooting board also works— fence, and extend one edge over platform for short stock ( albeit more slowly—with a the runway. As you plane, focus ). I made the hook’s base square-edged sanding block. on keeping the tool flat on its longer than the shooter and Cut the subbase, base, and side and snug to the edge of the attached the fence with blade- runner on your table saw and base. (A few pencil lines on the friendly dowels instead of nails. D E Use a plane and Attach the triangular fence to fine-tune miters. shooter to sneak Adhere sandpaper to the working edge of the up on a perfect fit. triangle to prevent the stock from slipping. The matching hook works as both a Shooting Board support and a stop. Bench Hook Dec/Jan 2010 woodcraftmagazine.com 45 Saw guides Photos F G Mitersaws replaced miterboxes ( and ). Although they the cutting mat (available at craft for good reason, but big blades look different, both miter blocks stores). Finally, use your mitersaw don’t play well with small parts. are built in the same fashion. to cut the 45° and 90° angles. Unless you like trips to the ER, you Size the fence to fit your saw. To attach the multi-piece fence, need small-part sawing stations. Adjust the thickness so that the I clamped a straight board to the The woodworking world is split tips of the teeth just touch the base for reference and then used n between push and pull saws, base. Next, cut a small rabbet the saw to position each block Push-Sawso I built a pair Miter of saw Blockguides along the fence’s frontPull-Saw edge to fit Miter one Block blade width from the next. Push- and pull-saw miter blocks guide the blades and help hold short stock. The cutting mat protects the saw teeth and jig and provides F G ballpark measurements. Serving Tray Sharpening Station This simple station has everything Diamond stones, used with I need to maintain my most- a few drops of mineral oil, used edge tools, but portability quickly fix nicks. Honing is its main selling point. Place film, attached to a granite the tray on your bench or plate, provides a reliably flat counter, and you’ll find yourself surface that’s for touching sharpening when you should. up an edge. The lid keeps the I sized the tray to fit my two abrasive dust-free and helps favorite sharpening systems.