3/4 or 7/8 Holes in Bench Top?

[Pat Barry]

Working on a new bench top. Trying to decide if I should drill 3/4 or 7/8 holes. What does everyone think? Should I size it for a holdfast or not worry? Is there an advantage to 3/4? Note the top will approx 2 1/4 thick laminated Ash, Thoughts appreciated!

[Michael N Taylor]

When I built my bench I found more holdfasts and accessories in 3/4" size than any other.

[John Coloccia]

I have a Sjoberg Elite. It has 1" dog holes. I HATE THEM. I'm about ready to drill additional 3/4" hole in my bench so I can use standard accessories.

[Andrew Gibson]

I went with 3/4" holes. I use the LV bench dogs and the TFWW holdfasts. No complaints with either

I will say this, My next bench will have square dog holes and a proper wagon or end vise... and I hope it to be 9'+ long. :)

[Russell Sansom]

John, not to divert your thread, but I'd be tempted to inlay a 3/4" X 1" square hole into each of those round holes. After a lifetime of using rectangles I can't imagine giving them up.

[John Coloccia]

Rectangles don't work well for me. Most people use their bench to make material square. Most if what I work with is oddly shaped. Having dogs that swivel are important to me. If not for that, I might agree :)

[Richard Dooling]

I've never used square holes. What's the advantage? Doesn't it restrict the way you lay the board on the bench?

[Russell Sansom]

I don't want to divert Pat's thread. If time avails itself I'll do a little research and start a thread.

[Johnny Kleso]

I have 3/4" square dogs and can also ise 3/4" round and hold fasts..

Where some see swiveling as a plus I see it as a negtive as if I want swiveling I use round dogs..

The advantage to squares are you use a router to make them and they are cocked inward 3º-5º to help hold work to table and not spring out of dogs..

[Jim Fay]

+1 on 3/4" holes. I use round dogs and my holdfast is a 3/4 as well (LV). I love the flexibility of round for what I do.

[Jim Koepke]

There are a lot of accessories made for the 3/4" round dog hole.

That is the approximately size used on my bench, it is European and it seems the dog holes were drilled a loose 18 mm.

This makes it easy to make all kinds of fixtures to sit on the bench with just a couple of dowels to hold it in place.

One thing that has drawn me to the idea of rectangular dog holes is at the LN tool shows they have dogs with springs in each hole and just a reach under the bench pushes one up where it is needed. Also, in some of the bench plans it shows these being made during the lamination stage of building the bench. That could save a lot of work as opposed to drilling a lot of holes. Then again, drilling a lot of holes is not that hard a job.

My plans do include the eventuality of building a new bench. My current plan is to use 3/4" round holes.

jtk

[tim duplin]

hi guys
i am also working on my bench and want to make some bench dogs, is it as simple as drilling a 3/4 " hole and squaring it off with a chisel any comments would be helpful still can't figure out how to post pics computor not my gig
thanks tim

[Edward Miller]

hi guys
i am also working on my bench and want to make some bench dogs, is it as simple as drilling a 3/4 " hole and squaring it off with a chisel any comments would be helpful still can't figure out how to post pics computor not my gig
thanks tim

It depends on how your bench top is constructed. If it's some flat boards and you need dog holes in the middle of one board, drilling a hole and squaring it off may be your best option. I made mine modern roubo-style (lots of laminated 2x4 strips), and cut dadoes in the side of one of the boards prior to laminating it on to the other boards. For my bench top, I think that was far better than drilling a hole and then squaring it with a chisel. YMMV.

[Johnny Kleso]

I have some poor pics of when I built my bench routing the slots with the template..
My Bench Pictorial
http://home.comcast.net/~rexmill/projects/bench/bench.htm


David Charlesworth's Bench Artical
Page No.3 on my website

Note the three dog holes used as a planing stop just to right of front vise

[John Sanford]

3/4". As for round or square, well, I ain't got a dawg in that fight, although my dogs are rotund. Both work, both have advantages and disadvantages. Just make your decision before you build your top, or you'll find your choices severely constrained. ;)

[Brian Deakin]

I have 3/4" square dogs and can also ise 3/4" round and hold fasts..

Where some see swiveling as a plus I see it as a negtive as if I want swiveling I use round dogs..

The advantage to squares are you use a router to make them and they are cocked inward 3º-5º to help hold work to table and not spring out of dogs..

Please clarify are you saying both round and square dogs should be cocked in or just square

regards Brian

[Pat Barry]

Thanks for the input folks. I had basically planned on using the 3/4 round holes. Happy to see that many use this. Yesterday erarlier doing some reading and it was mentioned to use the 7/8 so thats what got me thinking. 3/4 will be it for me. I previously had ruled out the square holes due to simplicity and flexibility of the round approach.