Clisby Clark
05-22-2010, 5:51 PM
I just finished my first real bench this winter. Last month I installed the LV front vise and made some Home-brew oak bench dogs. I thought I had the final solution. Unfortunately, the more I used the bench the more I realized how underwhelmed I was with my workholding situation. After a lot of net and magazine research, I built four appliances this week which have amazed me with their accuracy and efficiancy.
First, the common bench hook- A board with a cleat screwed on to opposite sides. I made mine with mini mitre box function by cutting opposing 45 degree slots in one cleat using a Stanley 150.
Second- a ramped shooting board for edges and 90 degree edges. If you make one of these, I would HIGHLY recommend a two part fence I gleaned from a FWW video. First, you install a small 1/2 inch thich by 1 inch wide subfence to your board. Then cover the subfence with a larger fence that has a rabbet cut out of the bottom to slide over your subfence. This serves two purposes. Fist it allows you to easily tweak the shooting angle to sqare by putting small pieces of veneer tape on either end of the subfence. This will push the top fence piece in or out until you get sqare. The second reason for the subfence is it allows you to slide the top fence piece over as its edge becomes worn so you can plane a new flush edge-this will help you prevent tearout. To do this you must cut a slots in the top fence to allow for lateral movement-the Domino does this very well!
Third-a 45 degree shooting board for mitres. I made mine by routing out a 90 degree section of a board and inserting a square block at 45 degrees. In retrospect although it looks really cool, it doesn't allow for much adjustment if the mitre doesn't turn out exactly 45 degrees. I've found that the No. 6 works well-good mass- as does the LN low angle jack on the shoot boards.
Finally, a simple plane stop which is nothing more than a piece of 3/4 plywood with two slots cut in it which slide over hanger bolts drilled into the endgrain on the side of my bench. Unless a board is badly warped, it is not necessary to dog it down to plane the face. Just raise the stop to where it is slightly lower than your stock and plane away.
Sorry no pics, but I'm the last guy on Earth w/o a digital camera.
First, the common bench hook- A board with a cleat screwed on to opposite sides. I made mine with mini mitre box function by cutting opposing 45 degree slots in one cleat using a Stanley 150.
Second- a ramped shooting board for edges and 90 degree edges. If you make one of these, I would HIGHLY recommend a two part fence I gleaned from a FWW video. First, you install a small 1/2 inch thich by 1 inch wide subfence to your board. Then cover the subfence with a larger fence that has a rabbet cut out of the bottom to slide over your subfence. This serves two purposes. Fist it allows you to easily tweak the shooting angle to sqare by putting small pieces of veneer tape on either end of the subfence. This will push the top fence piece in or out until you get sqare. The second reason for the subfence is it allows you to slide the top fence piece over as its edge becomes worn so you can plane a new flush edge-this will help you prevent tearout. To do this you must cut a slots in the top fence to allow for lateral movement-the Domino does this very well!
Third-a 45 degree shooting board for mitres. I made mine by routing out a 90 degree section of a board and inserting a square block at 45 degrees. In retrospect although it looks really cool, it doesn't allow for much adjustment if the mitre doesn't turn out exactly 45 degrees. I've found that the No. 6 works well-good mass- as does the LN low angle jack on the shoot boards.
Finally, a simple plane stop which is nothing more than a piece of 3/4 plywood with two slots cut in it which slide over hanger bolts drilled into the endgrain on the side of my bench. Unless a board is badly warped, it is not necessary to dog it down to plane the face. Just raise the stop to where it is slightly lower than your stock and plane away.
Sorry no pics, but I'm the last guy on Earth w/o a digital camera.