Planing stop design

[Marko Milisavljevic]

I would like to put a planing stop on the end of one half of a split top workbench - the kind of a stop that is a board attached to end of workbench with a couple of hand-tightened knobs and can be raised 1/2" to act as a wide planing stop. I am hoping for suggestions on attaching this board. My initial idea is to first attach a 8/4 end cap with heavy bolts, and to put a couple of propell nuts in it to receive a knob on a 1/4-20 bolt. It seems unnecessarily complicated. Other suggestions? I am unable to gauge if long term wear would be an issue if I mount the stop directly in end-grain douglas fir.

[J. Greg Jones]

Here is the one I added to my bench a couple of years ago. I put two 1/4 x 20 brass inserts in the end of the bench top and slotted the walnut stop. I have enough range of movement that I can set it for different board thicknesses and I also use it as the end support for longer pieces that I saw on the bench hook.

http://i.imgur.com/IUMCq.png

[Jim Ritter]

I went a older route, these are my stops.

http://i1135.photobucket.com/albums/m628/boatman53/workbench/88566a52.jpg

http://i1135.photobucket.com/albums/m628/boatman53/workbench/c5815638.jpg

http://i1135.photobucket.com/albums/m628/boatman53/workbench/bc89002b.jpg

http://i1135.photobucket.com/albums/m628/boatman53/workbench/c663084a.jpg

[Trevor Walsh]

Jim, those are real nice.

[Jim Matthews]

+1 on the end mounted board - mine installed in less than 30 minutes.

I think the through stops are slick, and less likely to be damaged by exuberance - they can also be cut down if the top is frayed.
I just don't take that kind of time to modify my tools. You have to admit that these are both nice looking appliances, both of which will do.
227823

[Jim Ritter]

The time consuming mortice was thought out and planed before construction began. So when I glued up the top I put a spacer in the laminate that I knocked out after the glue set. Everything else took very little time as you might imagine.

[Trevor Walsh]

Quite a good way of accomplishing that feature. They look perfect.

[Prashun Patel]

Jim M/Greg-
Do you find that a mounted board loosens up over time? In your designs the threads of the bolts are used to resist the force of planing. The integral, "Kirby/dog-style" planing stop that Jim R has seems like it would tolerate a lot more force.

Adequate work holding and resistance to movement eludes me and has been the bane of my planing existence!!!

[Augusto Orosco]

The time consuming mortice was thought out and planed before construction began. So when I glued up the top I put a spacer in the laminate that I knocked out after the glue set. Everything else took very little time as you might imagine.

Now, that's one of those things that make you slap your forehead and say "why didn't I think of that?". I am going to shamelessly steal that idea, thanks!

[Prashun Patel]

An alternative approach would be to make a stop that has two dowels mounted through it, which would mate into dog holes drilled near the end. This (IMHO) would be stronger than bolting through the end grain. To make it variable height, make the stop 1/4", and then have a series of 1/4" spacers that can be placed underneath to raise it up.

[Jim Ritter]

Your welcome. The trick is to get them lined up so they are parallel with the upper stretcher. I put a threaded insert in the stretcher for the knobs. I glued the top in a couple of sessions. First the pieces that will be the middle, then the ones that have the stop mortices. The mortice that houses the leg tenon was also cut out of a full laminate width but I stopped a 1/2" from the top so it is not a thru mortice. Then as the bench was assembled the front laminate was glued on. I'll start a new thread tonight about the bench I built and we can go from there.

[Mike Holbrook]

Great thread I have been tossing this same issue around.

I have read several threads in which people said they were not going to use dogs or boards in a vise as a plane stop because doing so would cause the vise to rack. It sounds like the idea of a board held at the end of the top by a threaded system might suffer the same problem of the force against it prying the attaching members loose. Is this speculation or is there evidence?

Veritas makes a devise called a Bench Anchor, which attaches a plane stop board to a pair of sub surface round dogs. Although it appears to be a little more complicated to use it may be a more stable option and it would work with a round hole holdfast system. The Veritas: Bench Stop, Bench Blade, Surface Vise, Dogs & Pups and the Inset Vise all offer solutions. I am trying to figure out which I want to use.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

On my bench-in-progress, I've just screwed two short, heavy screws into the top of the bench, and then but a board across those. Not elegant, but it works.

[Jim Koepke]

I just use a piece of wood clamped to the apron at end of my bench.

Infinite adjustability for height and size.

jtk

[Zahid Naqvi]

I use a more simplistic approach, so far no issues after 1 year of use. I have actually slightly modified this now. The dowel hole in the middle of the bench now houses a bench hook, which serves the dual purpose of keeping the planing stop steady as well as clamping down on a lateral support if/when needed.

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Jim, I really like your plane stops, if I was doing this again I'd use your setup.

[Sean Richards]

I use the same idea as Prashun and Zahid. A piece of 3/8" ply with a pair of 3/4" dowels which drop into holes in the bench. I have mine located on the right hand side of the face vise - suits me better there even though you lose a couple a foot of bench.

[Jim Matthews]

I just use a piece of wood clamped to the apron at end of my bench. Infinite adjustability for height and size.jtk

That's the spirit. Total assembly time is only complicated by using the board in a project.
This is the sort of fixture that can be over-thunk.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I believe it was in one of Chris Schwarz's books that I saw it, but has anyone tried a thin (1/4"ish) piece of wood screwed/nailed onto a block (like a bench hook minus the top hook) that clamps into the leg vise as a planing stop? The idea being that you can angle it a bit to raise the planing stops effective height, lifting the front end as you close it in the leg vise. Seems like a quite fast method, but I wonder how well it work in practice, fighting against the rotational forces applied to it.

[Mike Holbrook]

I think I have seen that too Joshua. Sort of like Sean mentions, clamping a board to the work top except, he makes a hook so it resists twisting better. I thought he held it in place at the hook with a clamp to the edge or apron and to the further side with a holdfast.

[Jack Curtis]

On my bench-in-progress, I've just screwed two short, heavy screws into the top of the bench, and then but a board across those. Not elegant, but it works.

You don't even need to add the board, the screws do the whole job on my bench.

[Mark Dorman]

I think the birds mouth planing stop I made last weekend is going to work for both edge work and flat work.
I made it 3/4" thick and may have to plane it down a bit to be more usefull but it has promise.227860

[Michael Peet]

I believe it was in one of Chris Schwarz's books that I saw it, but has anyone tried a thin (1/4"ish) piece of wood screwed/nailed onto a block (like a bench hook minus the top hook) that clamps into the leg vise as a planing stop? The idea being that you can angle it a bit to raise the planing stops effective height, lifting the front end as you close it in the leg vise. Seems like a quite fast method, but I wonder how well it work in practice, fighting against the rotational forces applied to it.

Yes, I made one, and like Mike mentions I use a holdfast on the other end to resist twisting.

Edited to add the photos. I mainly use this setup for planing multiple pieces simultaneously.

227908 227910

Cheers,

Mike