Wood bench dogs..........finally

[Jebediah Eckert]

Well this "project" reminds me of a something Mark Twain said about the classics......something like-people are happy to have read them but not at all happy reading.....

I know this is no "masters" project but I have wanted to make them for years. Some metal bench dogs came with my bench and I have always been afraid of banging a plane or chisel into them. It was never top on my list but today I managed to knock out 8 of them. The number was for no other reason then that is how many blanks I was able to cut out of a scrap piece of 1/4 sawn oak scrap I had. Turned out to be very efficient with only a few slivers of scrap. Since they do get used and handled so much I had to take the extra unnecessary step of breaking the edges and corners. Why not, 8 should last a long long time.

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[Kent A Bathurst]

Very cool.

Nicely done.

[Jebediah Eckert]

Thanks Kent

[glenn bradley]

Yay! you'll plane with greater confidence now. Nice job.

[Jim Koepke]

Nice looking bunch of dogs you have there.

Why not, 8 should last a long long time.

Believe me, once you get used to having them stored in the dog holes, you will want to make some more.

Some metal bench dogs came with my bench and I have always been afraid of banging a plane or chisel into them.

My wooden dogs have taken enough hits to know my planes would not be safe with metal dogs on my bench.

jtk

[Winton Applegate]

uhmmmm . . .
I'm not SURE about this . . . not having made ones shaped like yourn . . .
and I don't want to rain on your parade . . .
and . . . ahhhhhh I like the look of them and stuff . . .
OK now that I have hemmed and hawed
errrr Jebediah,
have you tried them out yet ?
I am thinking that the tapered lower end is going to tilt toward the work and the upper business end is going to tilt away from the work and disaster could, very likely, be imminent.

Case in point see these dogs both metal and wood. The bottom end of them are full not tapered. I am thinking along the lines of gripping thicker rough planks like in my photo but . . .
. . . how do the work for you?

[Jebediah Eckert]

Hey Winton-

I'm not sure exactly what you mean? If they weren't tapered they wouldn't work in my bench. The bench is a Sjorberg and they aren't just square holes if that matters. It was basically just a copy of the metal dogs I have been using (cautiously) for years. I gave it more taper to get the proper tension on the spring so they didn't just fall out the bottom. Most of, if not all of the taper hangs below the bench top anyhow, only the top 3 1/2" are in th bench.

I did test them and they are rock solid. Maybe the design I came up with wouldn't work on a different bench, I don't know? But so far so good with these.

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[Winton Applegate]

The bench is a Sjorberg and they aren't just square holes

they are rock solid.

I see.
Excellent !
Carry on.

PS: I'm still a little concerned and wonder how you get a constant angle of the grip end tilted a couple degrees toward the work if the bottom end is sliding up and down in a taper but I don't have to understand them if they work for you.

[Jebediah Eckert]

Yeah, I think I understand what you are saying. So far so good anyhow after and hour or two of use. I'm not sure if they tilt towards the work, they are more 90 deg out of the bench. But the metal ones by Sjoberg don't tilt towards the work anyhow. For a real thick board I guess I could use the metal. The wooden ones I'm sure have some flex when they are several inches up over the top.

[Winton Applegate]

for thick wood like if I wanted to grip my shoulder vise component shown in the second photo or
use the dogs REVERSED
for pulling joints apart see first photo.
When reversed doesn't the taper mess with the angle of the gripping face of the dog then ?
I am looking at the photo you posted of your metal dog and it is not tapered. And I think you said it worked in your bench.
Be careful when you get those new dogs up on their hind legs.

[Winton Applegate]

Sorry, looks like I was writing while you were writing.
Sounds like the wooden ones will work great for nearly everything.
As far as the tilt, my and the Klausz bench in general have the dog holes tilted two or three degrees toward each other. Looks like he may have used at least one custom made dog just for putting in the holes backward.
Anyway , glad you "finally" made some nice bench dogs for yourself.
Thanks for posting them.

[John Sanford]

That's a fine lookin' pack o' pups you've got there. Well done, well done good sir.