Dog hole positions

[Kevin McMichael]

I know that many recommend the dog holes three inches apart. I want to know how close to the edge does one make the row of holes.

How about the position of the holes for the holdfasts on the other side?

[Michael Peet]

I think there are a few schools of thought. One is to place the holes close (say, 2") to the front edge of the bench, as this will be a comfortable planing position.

Another thought is to place them about 4" in from the front edge so you can clamp an 8" wide board on its centerline.

Yet another is to place them even further in so as not to interfere with the leg joinery, depending on your bench construction.

I am building according to the first, but I have never done this before so I cannot make a recommendation other than to confirm that I have an easier time planing a board that is close to the edge of the bench.

Good luck!

Mike

[Peter Cobb]

If you have an end vise it may dictate the best placing of the holes. Otherwise I guess it depends on the work you do most. Try to plan ahead and, if you go for round dogs you can always add an extra later!
Cheers,
Peter

[harry strasil]

basically it depends on what type of work you want to do. I have round dog holes and they also all get used for holdfasts. 39 in the bench top and 36 in the Apron. It may be a bit hard to see the ones in the top in this picture.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/nu%20bench/coatedbench050809.jpg

[Randy Bonella]

I'm just making my bench and am no expert at this but I placed mine in about 3" from the edge pretty much let my bench design dictate where to put them. I had the same question earlier prior to setting in the dog holes and I've seen them within an inch or two of the front to quite a ways back 6-8"

http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy139/rmbonella/workbench/26bbenchboltsinalittlebottomflatten.jpg

This is the bottom of my bench, I don't have a good shot of the top just yet.

Randy...

[John Schreiber]

Centered on your end vise and / or as close to the front as you can get them would be my answer. Mine are 3 1/2" back from the front and centered on my 7" vise. I can imagine reasons for having them closer to the front, but not further back.

[Don Dorn]

All are 4" on center - the front ones are a mere 2" from the front and the back ones are 10" from the front ones. I like the front ones close so that I can have part of the board hang off the front for rabbeting and for fielding, the board is secured by two sets of dogs. I added three dogs in the back so that I can move a light to any position on the bench that I need it.

A friend had this arrangement for years and suited him enough that he duplicated on his new bench. So far, I haven't the occasion to re-think it.

[Eric Brown]

I used a 2" thick x 6" high apron around my bench. The front edge dog holes are just behind the apron, not in the apron itself. The dog holes in the face of the apron are positioned at the same height as the vise guides. Where I messed up was in that my apron holes were lined up with the top holes. This sometimes causes interference. More holes solve this issue.

As for the spacing of the top dog holes, consider your holdfast lengths. (Not all are the same length).

Eric

[glenn bradley]

This is really an 'it depends' question with no right answer. I started with a single row centered on the vises and leading out on 6" centers. I quickly added two more rows (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=147021&d=1270177543) at the face vise followed a little while ago at the tail position. (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=147022&d=1270177543)

[Tommy Squires]

Glenn makes a good point. I would start with the minimum number that you think you can live with and let your work guide you to more and their positions. That said, I bought Chris Schwartz's book and placed them on the back where my hold fasts would just overlap. No regrets so far.

[Sean Hughto]

For operations like grooving and making edge treatments, it is often necessary to have the board's edge overhang the front so that the plane (or its fence) has room to work (no interference from the bench top). As such, having the dog holes close to the front is much more convenient. The dogs will still do a fine job of holding even the widest boards.

Here's mine, fwiw, and while I've sometimes wished they were a bit closer to the front, I've never wished they were further away.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3255/3229764833_c85be22498.jpg

[Michael Peet]

This is what I am building:

154442

It is similar to Sean's except I am going with a tail vise.

Mike

[Sean Hughto]

looks like a slot for a wagon vise? Mine is definitely a tail vise. ;-)

[Michael Peet]

Yes, I have seen them called wagon vises too.. Benchcrafted calls it a tail vise, hence my obvious confusion ;)

Your bench looks great, Sean.

Mike

[Mike Olson]

I found out the hard way that you need to measure what ever vice you will be using. They may force you to use a specific spacing.

154516

As you can see, the 2 dog holes near the left vice are farther in that the rest of them. I decided on 2" in from the side and went along drilling the holes until I got to the vice, it had some nice holes in the mounting bracket to drill for Dog holes, but they were further in than the 2". I'm just glad I had the vice attached when I did, else I would have probably had to redo the top completely.