Holding small and narrow workpieces

[Tony Caro]

I find myself drawn more and more to small boxes but one of the frustrating things is how to hold the box ends for rabbeting etc. I have a front vice which is ok but if I need to run a large shoulder plane to say clean up a rabbet it's challenging. Box liners which tend to be small can also be difficult to hold. I don't have a tail vice and not sure that would help much anyway. So what do you do for small workpieces eg 2 inch by 2 inch by 1/4 inch thickness?

[Winton Applegate]

Tony,
I'm not sure if I fully understand your needs but as far as planing thin work I use this planing beam with screws for stops. The beam also has side stops using concrete nails that fit snug in holes that allow them to be pushed down bellow the surface when not in use.
The side of this beam has a plane rest/guide rail for planing the edges square to the face.

I know you said rabbets. It seems you could set up the stops and use them to hold the boards for rabbeting etc.
The last photo is of my main work bench . . . see the slot in the surface . . . bellow that is a wide thin dog that can be pushed up from the bottom for similar work.

[Tony Caro]

Hi Winton,

It's more about working with the short edges of a box than the long edges as per your pictures. I've got enough workarounds for the long edges but struggle on the short edges as there's not much there to hold. Like your set up though and that gives me some ideas. Should also say it's not so much planing thin or short pieces it's holding them down so that I can correct a miter or rabbet.

[Stew Denton]

Hi Tony,

I don't do what you do, so please take my thoughts with a grain of salt. That said, what I would try is to cut an "L" shaped piece of some thin stock, like 1/8th inch paneling. The "L" shaped piece would then be clamped down on the bench, and I would put the 2 inch square piece on the inside corner of "L", thus trapping it there. You can then plane either of the two sides that are not against the "L" shaped piece.

I am not sure how clear the above is, but you could also push the back of the 2" piece backward against a stop like Winston uses in the pictures above, thus trapping 3 sides of the piece.

Stew

[Tony Caro]

Hi Stew,

I like to make small boxes usually with rabbet, mitered edges and dovetail joinery. I'm just looking for better, more consistent ways of holding the small workpieces so that I can clean up edges whether that be with block planes or shoulder planes and the like. Most methods that I have tried have had the workpiece move or the workpiece is smallish so there's just not enough of it to grab/hold down.

[Marc Seguin]

Maybe try a doe's foot batten and a stop made of 1/8" hardboard ? Failing that, there's always double sided carpet tape.

[Tony Caro]

Both good solutions Marc, had variable results with the carpet tape as it sometimes leaves a residue.

[Jim Matthews]

Failing that, there's always double sided carpet tape.

+1 on this. It's my 'go-to' method.
When the stock is thinner than a brass screw head,
this works. Cut the stock over long.

Getting it to thickness might be dicey,
if you don't have a depth stop set for your plane.

Tape and a hardwood strip will make a clean standoff
to afix to the bottom of your plane.

The video below shows how to do it in a production manner.
Instead of fixing the depth stop to the plane, the plane
rides on 'tracks'.


https://youtu.be/O32Jfg0YpAM

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

For me, the trickiest part of rabbets on the end of a small piece (say, something only a couple inches wide) is balancing the length of a plane so I don't get a radically out of square piece, requiring a lot of clean up work. I find small pieces easier to do accurately with a chisel and crosscut. When I can, I like to strike rabbets while the piece is wider, before ripping out pieces, if I want to use a plane. Of course, all my rabbet and fillister planes are wooden. Maybe it would be easier with a rabbet block plane.

Another great way to hold small parts for me has been opposing wedges. Tack a couple of straight pieces parallel on a flat piece of stock, and use a pair of thin wedges to capture the work, then hold the base board with holdfasts or what have you. Also works well for gluing an edge band on thin narrow stock, with the right wedges. You can shim beneath the work piece with model maker ply to get it above the height of the jig if it's super thin.

[Derek Cohen]

I find myself drawn more and more to small boxes but one of the frustrating things is how to hold the box ends for rabbeting etc. I have a front vice which is ok but if I need to run a large shoulder plane to say clean up a rabbet it's challenging. Box liners which tend to be small can also be difficult to hold. I don't have a tail vice and not sure that would help much anyway. So what do you do for small workpieces eg 2 inch by 2 inch by 1/4 inch thickness?

Tony, make yourself a sticking board. I build an adjustable one for grooving small drawers (ordinarily I would have added slips but I needed to create a secret drawer in the lower section of the base) ...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/AdjustableStickingBoard_html_6e549f5a.jpg

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/AdjustableStickingBoard_html_m610743f0.jpg

Link: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/AdjustableStickingBoard.html

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Eric Schubert]

Like the sticking board idea. That could definitely help for smaller pieces.

On a side note, I couldn't help but notice the bottle of Montblanc ink. As a fountain pen user myself, I have to give this idea a second thumbs-up!

[Mark Stutz]

Like the sticking board idea. That could definitely help for smaller pieces.

On a side note, I couldn't help but notice the bottle of Montblanc ink. As a fountain pen user myself, I have to give this idea a second thumbs-up!


+1 on the fountain Pen. Looks like a nice portable writing desk.

Winton, that's a pretty impressive beam. The Western version of a Japanese beam? What is the base made from?

[Tony Caro]

Tony, make yourself a sticking board. I build an adjustable one for grooving small drawers (ordinarily I would have added slips but I needed to create a secret drawer in the lower section of the base) ...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/AdjustableStickingBoard_html_6e549f5a.jpg

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/AdjustableStickingBoard_html_m610743f0.jpg

Link: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/AdjustableStickingBoard.html

Regards from Perth

Derek
Hi Derek,
Already have one, they work great along the length, now let's say you want to run a groove or fix a shoulder on a 2 inch by 2 inch by 3/8 inch piece?

[Tony Caro]

For me, the trickiest part of rabbets on the end of a small piece (say, something only a couple inches wide) is balancing the length of a plane so I don't get a radically out of square piece, requiring a lot of clean up work. I find small pieces easier to do accurately with a chisel and crosscut. When I can, I like to strike rabbets while the piece is wider, before ripping out pieces, if I want to use a plane. Of course, all my rabbet and fillister planes are wooden. Maybe it would be easier with a rabbet block plane.

Another great way to hold small parts for me has been opposing wedges. Tack a couple of straight pieces parallel on a flat piece of stock, and use a pair of thin wedges to capture the work, then hold the base board with holdfasts or what have you. Also works well for gluing an edge band on thin narrow stock, with the right wedges. You can shim beneath the work piece with model maker ply to get it above the height of the jig if it's super thin.
Thanks Joshua.

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Derek,
Already have one, they work great along the length, now let's say you want to run a groove or fix a shoulder on a 2 inch by 2 inch by 3/8 inch piece?

Tony, for something that short, I would score the lines with a cutting gauge, deepen with a knife, then remove the waste with a chisel and router plane. One could even just use a gauge, saw and chisel.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Derek Cohen]

Like the sticking board idea. That could definitely help for smaller pieces.

On a side note, I couldn't help but notice the bottle of Montblanc ink. As a fountain pen user myself, I have to give this idea a second thumbs-up!

Eric and Mark

Well, fountain pens are handtools! :)

They are another interest of mine. But perhaps we should have a separate thread if this conversation were to continue.

Regards from Perth

Derek