What do you use as a planing stop?

[Thomas Crawford]

I've been using an L-shaped piece that I clamp into my leg vise on my Roubo, but I'm tired of having to clamp and unclamp it. Do you use a some piece that fits in dog holes, or use holdfasts or the spiked version like benchcrafted sells? Something else?

[Patrick Chase]

I've been using an L-shaped piece that I clamp into my leg vise on my Roubo, but I'm tired of having to clamp and unclamp it. Do you use a some piece that fits in dog holes, or use holdfasts or the spiked version like benchcrafted sells? Something else?

I use a combination of:

Bench dogs. It takes some practice, but it really isn't hard at all to "balance" your work on a bench dog for quickie jobs. Two stops alongside and one at the end provides a secure stop even for heavier work, for that matter.
One of the cheap LV mortised pop-up stops (http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=31148&cat=1,41637).
Batten-type stops (http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=69837&cat=1,41637) in both axes for larger work or when traversing.

[bridger berdel]

battens clamped to the bench, for the most part.

[Bob Leistner]

I took 3- 5/16x 2 1/2 hanger bolts and mounted them 3inches apart and 4 1/2 inches from the end, on the left end of my bench.
I took a 10 1/2 x 2 1/2 piece of cherry and slotted it to fit the hanger bolts.
I move it up and down and hold it with 3 5/16 knobs from Lowes.
It is the last stop I will ever need and is cheap and quick to build.
I've had all the others and they always were lacking one way or another.

[Brian Holcombe]

Piece of wood and four screws. :)

[Joel Thomas Runyan]

I process by hand, so a dog and a tail vise. Nothing more annoying for me than having to switch clamping set-ups when switching the direction of planing.

[steven c newman]

Just some screws, and a few pieces of scrap wood..
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[Todd Stock]

Dog/tail vise. Holdfast & cleat if needs be.

[Doug Hepler]

It depends on the work. I cramp larger boards between dog on vise and a bench dog. For smaller work I use plain brass and wooden homemade bench dogs, Veritas low-profile work stop , homemade 1/4" and 1/2" plywood stops, birdsmouth stops for edge planing narrow work, all fit in 3/4" dog holes; holdfast; Veritas surface clamp.

I realize that's a pretty broad response. If you focus your question maybe we can provide a more specific response

Doug

[Pat Barry]

I process by hand, so a dog and a tail vise. Nothing more annoying for me than having to switch clamping set-ups when switching the direction of planing.

+1 - end vise (actually a rockler quick release vise with a built in adjustable dog) and a wooden bench dog at the other end. This works fine for me. Easy to release and reclamp if the board needs to be reversed or flipped upside down. If the board is too long for this, then I sometimes resort to a quick release hand clamp and clamp the board down to the bench top. Otherwise I can always plug in the old Ridgid lunchbox planer LOL

[Stu Gillard]

Seems I'm in a minority, but I actually use a planing stop :)

(top left)



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[Jim A. Moore]

One or two drywall screws driven into the bench top.

[Frederick Skelly]

This is what I use. Link (http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=70683&cat=1,43838,70865).

[Bill Houghton]

I've been experimenting with one like Leistner's, except mine is high-grade plywood. It's been working pretty well.

[Bob Leistner]

Bill, when I made mine, I was trying to plane some 1/4" hard maple. I was worried that a plywood edge would break off with that little support. The cherry was just something that I picked up from a scrap bin that looked like it would work. The gentleman that started this post ask about a planing stop and that was what I was replying to, not work holding solutions such as vises and dogs.

[Sheldon Funk]

I use a stop similar to the LV batten mentioned above, except a little more rustic as befitting my bench and skill set :)
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[Mike Holbrook]

Dogs in a tail vise and the LV Planing stops work well. The Veritas Bench Anchors work if you need an extra sturdy stop that does not have to be too thin. I am thinking about adding a planing stop, Schwarz mentions in the latest version of his Workbenches book, to the bench I am working on. He attaches a board with a T-track to one end of his bench. Ridding in the T-track are a pair of star knobs through another board (jaws). The star knobs are in two vertical slots in the board. This arrangement allows the clamping board (jaw) to move up and down and side to side. Schwarz put sandpaper on his mobile jaw. I am thinking about a piece of neoprene.

[Jim Koepke]

One of my planing stops is like Bob Leistner's except my bench has an apron on the end so a piece was clamped on. In many cases it could be left in place without interfering with other work.

For many easy tasks just a bench dog serves as a good planing stop. I have also set a piece of wood thinner than the piece being worked in front of a couple of dogs raised across the bench.

Your L-shaped piece might work well if it were held in place with a dowel affixed to it in a way to fit into a dog hole. One way to do this is to clamp the piece in place over a dog hole and then start to bore it from underneath. If your dog holes are in a straight line it should work in all of them.

My favored method mostly involves a tail vise, a dog and an anti rack spacer stack (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?183743-Anti-Rack-Spacer-Stack).

This is one advantage of an inexpensive and simple vise. The simpler a vise, the more likely it is to rack. One solution to racking also prevents the vise from over tightening on thin stock. This in turn keeps the work piece from bowing under vise pressure.

jtk

[Mike Baker 2]

Piece of wood and four screws. :)


This is what I have used for the last 8 or so years.
I built a very simple stop on the end of my bench a while back. but I used Brian's method for a long time, sometimes using clamps instead of screws. It worked just fine.

[Stanley Covington]

Brass dogs, battens, and Peter Ross's hook. The hook is very stable. I flattened the top a bit so the teeth would project cleanly above the benchtop's surface. I have no idea what Mr. Schwarz was thinking when he shaped his teeth as shown below.

I borrowed these pics from the LostArtPress website.

https://lostartpress.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/forp_stop_img_6967.jpg?w=600&h=450
https://lostartpress.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/forp_stop_low_img_6973.jpg?w=600&h=450

[Mike Holbrook]

Stan,
The stop in that picture looks like the Planing Stop Benchcrafted makes, available for $24. Maybe Lost Art Press just does not have permission to use Benchcrafted pictures or there are commercial considerations? Benchcrafted's stop attaches via their Barrel Nuts, so the one you show is not it, or an earlier version or...... Benchcrafted suggests cutting a depression in the bench so the teeth can be lowered below the benchtop. Maybe the small recess for the teeth has not been made yet in the picture you show. Benchcrafted>Tools>Planing Stop provides pictures and video.

[Jake Rothermel]

I use a stop similar to the LV batten mentioned above, except a little more rustic as befitting my bench and skill set :)
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+1 on Sheldon's batten, which is not unlike Lee Valley's version, only: mine's made fro cherry (because...scrap...) just slightly under 1/4" w/ two oak dowels glued & mortised (w/ a brace) right where my dog holes are. Slots in, holds really well, and is removable if I want. Like almost any planing stop, I imagine, it takes a little getting used to in order to keep the piece from moving on you - the advantage of a tail vise, I imagine - but no more than any other task new to you/me, i should think.

[John Schtrumpf]

I use the stop on my shooting board / bench hook, sometimes in combination with a clamped board. I also use Veritas planing stops (the dogs move when I open/close the top on my workmate).

[Stanley Covington]

Stan,
The stop in that picture looks like the Planing Stop Benchcrafted makes, available for $24. Maybe Lost Art Press just does not have permission to use Benchcrafted pictures or there are commercial considerations? Benchcrafted's stop attaches via their Barrel Nuts, so the one you show is not it, or an earlier version or...... Benchcrafted suggests cutting a depression in the bench so the teeth can be lowered below the benchtop. Maybe the small recess for the teeth has not been made yet in the picture you show. Benchcrafted>Tools>Planing Stop provides pictures and video.

It is a reproduction of a very old style identical to the one in the old plate in Benchcrafted's webpage copied below. It was made by a rather famous blacksmith named Peter Ross.

Unlike Benchcrafted's widget which uses screws, the Peter Ross product is hand-forged with a square cross-section pointed tail that secures it in the block as shown in Fig.5. This block is a friction fit in the benchtop, and can be raised/lowered as necessary. Very solid. A serious tool.

I use it mainly with Japanese planes so it is mounted at the opposite end of my bench. This location works better with my large Frankenstein leg vise too.

I have used nails and screws like Brian mentioned above. They work, but are less than ideal. There is also a similar kind of forged stop to the Peter Ross product used in Japan traditionally, but it is not as heavy duty.

Stan
https://benchcrafted.com/Graphics/Tools/PS_illus.jpg

[Brian Holcombe]

I agree Stan, I've knocked a few of them clear off the bench if I use them as a backstop for chopping. I've sheered the brass heads clean off. Still, I persist. I'm nervous that I will skate a plane over the steel stop one day. Might not be a realistic worry but it's a concern that causes me to act too cautiously and slows down my efforts.

[Mike Holbrook]

Unless I am misunderstanding, the Benchcrafted offering is designed to work in the same sort of friction feed block as Peter Ross's device? The Benchcrafted "screws" use a system which places a hole in the side of the piece so a metal cylinder with threaded bolt holes can be inserted to hold one, or in this case two bolts. Benchcrafted and Lee Valley offer similar systems for seating bolts in metal threads. These may be used to add knockdown capabilities to workbenches.

I am wondering if Stan or Brian are sceptical about this system providing good strength or if their issue has more to do with classic aesthetics? I believe these bolts are typically used to hold mortises and tenons together, sort of like drawboring. I am considering using the Benchcrafted and or Lee Valley bolting systems for some of the joinery in my bench. I will have to move my bench after it is built.

[Jim Koepke]

Another holding method for use on a bench without a tail vise came to mind.

A bench dog and a doe's foot works great for planing pieces that are shorter than one's bench.

Here is one post on the doe's foot or notched batten:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?231158-The-Notched-Batten-years-late

jtk

[James Pallas]

For heavier pieces I use my wannabe Moxon. For thinner pieces I use the pictured blocks in the vise. On rare occasions I'll use the the vises dog.
Jim

[Stanley Covington]

Unless I am misunderstanding, the Benchcrafted offering is designed to work in the same sort of friction feed block as Peter Ross's device? The Benchcrafted "screws" use a system which places a hole in the side of the piece so a metal cylinder with threaded bolt holes can be inserted to hold one, or in this case two bolts. Benchcrafted and Lee Valley offer similar systems for seating bolts in metal threads. These may be used to add knockdown capabilities to workbenches.

I am wondering if Stan or Brian are sceptical about this system providing good strength or if their issue has more to do with classic aesthetics? I believe these bolts are typically used to hold mortises and tenons together, sort of like drawboring. I am considering using the Benchcrafted and or Lee Valley bolting systems for some of the joinery in my bench. I will have to move my bench after it is built.

I'm not at all critical of the Benchcrafted product. I was not aware it existed until I saw your post. I simply don't own one to evaluate. The traditional one works far better than any other I have used, but I see no reason why the Benchcrafted adaptation would not perform satisfactorily.

[Stanley Covington]

I agree Stan, I've knocked a few of them clear off the bench if I use them as a backstop for chopping. I've sheered the brass heads clean off. Still, I persist. I'm nervous that I will skate a plane over the steel stop one day. Might not be a realistic worry but it's a concern that causes me to act too cautiously and slows down my efforts.

Brian

Know exactly how you feel, because I have chipped more blades and gouged more plane soles than I care to admit. The problem with nails is time consuming to adjust projection, and eventually the bench or planing beam gets too many sloppy holes .....

Screws are easier to adjust, but they don't have the same grip, and eventually bend/break, especially the brass ones. Work hardening? I kept having to use screw extractors to get broken brass and steel screw shanks out of my benchtop.

For the most part, I use brass bench dogs on my western-style workbench, but when I need do serious planing, the Ross hook comes up.

I have different arrangement on my planing beam, which I did not bring to Japan with me this time. It is a 25mm square stick friction fit into a hole near the end of the beam so it can raise or lower. I have nails drilled through this stick, at a slight upward angle so the points are flush with the stick's top. The nails grab the wood being planed, but the whole widget can be removed if not needed. Works well for kumiko and other thin/long stuff. Not an original invention.

Ross's planing hook might be too big for kumiko.... maybe not.

A friend named Chris gave me the Ross hook, otherwise I would never have considered it.

The Benchcrafted widget looks pretty good. If I did not already have the Ross hook, I would buy it or make something similar. You should think about it, Brian. The stability is awesome, and the speed of adjustment is great.

[Jim Koepke]

Know exactly how you feel, because I have chipped more blades and gouged more plane soles than I care to admit.

That is why there aren't any metal stops on my bench. My planes haven't suffered this fate. With metal stops it is inevitable, especially if others use your bench and tools.

jtk

[Stanley Covington]

That is why there aren't any metal stops on my bench. My planes haven't suffered this fate. With metal stops it is inevitable, especially if others use your bench and tools.

jtk

Sound policy, but wooden planing stops simply won't hold thin, narrow material in place. It might be doable with a hard-plastic stop with teeth that will dig into the wood being planed, but I have not seen one yet.

Stan

[Brian Holcombe]

Stan, I agree when the stock is under 1/4" thickness it gets very hard to successfully use a stop. I've used brass screws, much like one would use a nail, for planing kumiko and that worked pretty nicely.

I'll certainly consider the bench crafted, likely it is made for a real workbench and not the bowling alley strips that make up mine, haha, so when I build a real bench I may well consider it. I've been waiting to simply luck into a big big slab that I can turn into a workbench, for instance one of my friends just built a beautiful bench from a huge piece of Chestnut that he came across.

As much as I'd like to use a planing beam on horses...I kinda really want a Roubo bench :D I feel I've used my bench long enough at this point that I'm starting to really understand what I want in a workbench.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

For very thin stuff, I sometimes make the piece significantly longer than I need, clamp one end, and plane away from the clamp. It is hard to use a stop without having it

[Stanley Covington]

For very thin stuff, I sometimes make the piece significantly longer than I need, clamp one end, and plane away from the clamp. It is hard to use a stop without having it

Wouldn't it be easier and more economical to just have a stop that worked?

[Rick Malakoff]

I have a small bench 20'' x 47'' tucked into a corner on the right. On the left I installed a 1/4'' strip with dowels as a stop which works quite well, later added the small vise on the front as an option.
The scraper bars from the swap meat for a buck each will be re purposed into Peter Ross's type hooks.
Rick
369093

[Stanley Covington]

I have a small bench 20'' x 47'' tucked into a corner on the right. On the left I installed a 1/4'' strip with dowels as a stop which works quite well, later added the small vise on the front as an option.
The scraper bars from the swap meat for a buck each will be re purposed into Peter Ross's type hooks.
Rick
369093

I like the re-purposing idea. Those scrapers should work well.

You wrote you got them at the swap meat.... did you trade some bacon for them? :D

[Nicholas Lawrence]

Stanley, I have been able to do down to 1/4 or perhaps 3/8 without a problem. I am talking about thinner stuff, which always seems to want to flex if you try to plane it into a stop.

[Rick Malakoff]

Stanley, I would never swap Bacon for anything, I am so used to referring to the swap meet as "the swamp meat" with my friends!
Rick

[Stanley Covington]

Stanley, I have been able to do down to 1/4 or perhaps 3/8 without a problem. I am talking about thinner stuff, which always seems to want to flex if you try to plane it into a stop.

Brian and I both use a special kind of wooden-bodied plane to plane thin stuff to a very precise thickness. I think he calls his an "airplane plane" or something like that, while I learned to call them "goroganna." They have precisely dimensioned skids mounted on the plane's sole that ride on the benchtop's surface to determine the final thickness, and a spring-loaded plate in front of the mouth that keeps the material from being pulled up from the workbench and/or buckling. They are quite effective at keeping the material from flexing or buckling, but need an effective stop to work in a production situation where one needs to thickness plane hundreds of such thin pieces.

Are we talking about the same sort of thing, Nicholas?

[Stanley Covington]

Stanley, I would never swap Bacon for anything, I am so used to referring to the swap meet as "the swamp meat" with my friends!
Rick

Glad to see you have your priorities right!

[Nicholas Lawrence]

Brian and I both use a special kind of wooden-bodied plane to plane thin stuff to a very precise thickness. I think he calls his an "airplane plane" or something like that, while I learned to call them "goroganna." They have precisely dimensioned skids mounted on the plane's sole that ride on the benchtop's surface to determine the final thickness, and a spring-loaded plate in front of the mouth that keeps the material from being pulled up from the workbench and/or buckling. They are quite effective at keeping the material from flexing or buckling, but need an effective stop to work in a production situation where one needs to thickness plane hundreds of such thin pieces.

Are we talking about the same sort of thing, Nicholas?

No, we are not.

I have not followed this thread religiously and must have missed the point at which it went from a general discussion of planing stops to one where only specialized planes are being discussed.

[steven c newman]

Some take an old saw blade, drill a couple holes, bend the plate a bit, and screw down to a dog or the benchtop......and let the saw teeth do the job..
369105
Piece of thin pine scrap....while I scrubbed some 3/8" thick poplar Came time to smooth plane said ( now 1/2" thick) poplar.
369106
Scrap was too tall. 4 drywall screws....two at the end, and one on each edge.

[David Bassett]

Can't say it's a good solution, but it does solve the screw hole loosing up problem a few have mentioned. I've installed a 1/4-20 Insert (http://www.leevalley.com/us/Hardware/page.aspx?p=44203&cat=3,41306,41311&ap=1) and use flat head brass machine screws. Quick, cheap'ish, and about as good as my current "bench", erh work table. (One of these days, soon I hope, I need to build a better sturdier bench.)

[Bruce Haugen]

For very thin stuff, I sometimes make the piece significantly longer than I need, clamp one end, and plane away from the clamp. It is hard to use a stop without having it

I'm with you. Many times when planing thin laminates or instrument sides, a stop simply won't work. The wood buckles and there's no plane with skids that will stop that.

[Jim Koepke]

Sound policy, but wooden planing stops simply won't hold thin, narrow material in place. It might be doable with a hard-plastic stop with teeth that will dig into the wood being planed, but I have not seen one yet.

Stan

There are limits to almost anything. How thin are you thinking?

Much less than 1/8" and the problem becomes a matter of keeping the work from bowing from the forces introduced by the plane.

Most of the time for holding work on the bench top my tail vise is used to secure the piece. My impression is the OP doesn't have a tail vise. I have experimented with round wooden dogs and an inserted piece of metal as Steven pointed out above. My advice is if one wants to use a dog for a stop it is a good reason to have at least one rectangular dog hole. The round dogs can turn with sideways force from the planing.

One of the continuing challenges for a woodworker is how to hold a piece so it can be worked on in a safe and productive manner.

jtk

[Thomas Crawford]

Been super busy and didn't check back in, thanks for all the great responses. Now to read them :)

[steven c newman]

On those thin boards: Maybe get a piece of plywood, clamp it to your bench's top. Pick out a spot about the size of the thin parts you want to plane. Remove an area that is about the size of the part, about one ply from the plywood. Double stick tape to hold the part in place. Stick part into the recess, and plane away.

[Bruce Haugen]

On those thin boards: Maybe get a piece of plywood, clamp it to your bench's top. Pick out a spot about the size of the thin parts you want to plane. Remove an area that is about the size of the part, about one ply from the plywood. Double stick tape to hold the part in place. Stick part into the recess, and plane away.

That would work, too, or I could just cut the piece long and plane it with the wood in tension, not compression.

[Warren Mickley]

I have used a two inch wide block of beech as a planing stop since 1979. Before that I used a stop with iron teeth. I like the plain wood stop because it does not mar the work. My stop is a friction fit in a mortise that goes through the bench top. Some seasons of the year it gets a little stiff or a little loose depending on humidity. Generally my stop is about 1/2 inch above the surface, but sometimes is made low for thin stuff or flush for some other kinds of work. I generally plane with the grain but for occasional cross grain planing, I put the board athwart the bench and plane toward the same stop as described by Moxon (1678) and Nicholson (1812).

I have planed stuff that is 1/16 thick or even a little less using this set up, but if the piece has some length, I do as others have said, clamping the rear end of the piece and planing with the stuff in tension.

[Stewie Simpson]

Double sided tape is an excellent strategy for securing very thin stock.

http://i1009.photobucket.com/albums/af219/swagman001/The%20Chapin%20Stephens%20Jack%20Plane/_DSC0003_zpstvuwiw1y.jpg (http://s1009.photobucket.com/user/swagman001/media/The%20Chapin%20Stephens%20Jack%20Plane/_DSC0003_zpstvuwiw1y.jpg.html)

[Patrick Chase]

Double sided tape is an excellent strategy for securing very thin stock.



+1 for the "carpet tape solution" (and I mean that sincerely)

[Stewie Simpson]

+1 for the "carpet tape solution" (and I mean that sincerely)

I wouldn't recommend you use carpet tape Patrick. The adhesive bond is way too strong.

[Matt Lau]

When I googled "Ross Hook" I found some stock market diagrams.

The Ross Hook looks a lot like a beefier version of a Whipple hook from Lee Valley. Personally, I'm thinking of just making some square dogs on one end of my floorbench and some dovetailed stops on the other end.



Brian

Know exactly how you feel, because I have chipped more blades and gouged more plane soles than I care to admit. The problem with nails is time consuming to adjust projection, and eventually the bench or planing beam gets too many sloppy holes .....

Screws are easier to adjust, but they don't have the same grip, and eventually bend/break, especially the brass ones. Work hardening? I kept having to use screw extractors to get broken brass and steel screw shanks out of my benchtop.

For the most part, I use brass bench dogs on my western-style workbench, but when I need do serious planing, the Ross hook comes up.

I have different arrangement on my planing beam, which I did not bring to Japan with me this time. It is a 25mm square stick friction fit into a hole near the end of the beam so it can raise or lower. I have nails drilled through this stick, at a slight upward angle so the points are flush with the stick's top. The nails grab the wood being planed, but the whole widget can be removed if not needed. Works well for kumiko and other thin/long stuff. Not an original invention.

Ross's planing hook might be too big for kumiko.... maybe not.

A friend named Chris gave me the Ross hook, otherwise I would never have considered it.

The Benchcrafted widget looks pretty good. If I did not already have the Ross hook, I would buy it or make something similar. You should think about it, Brian. The stability is awesome, and the speed of adjustment is great.

[Robert Hazelwood]

On those thin boards: Maybe get a piece of plywood, clamp it to your bench's top. Pick out a spot about the size of the thin parts you want to plane. Remove an area that is about the size of the part, about one ply from the plywood. Double stick tape to hold the part in place. Stick part into the recess, and plane away.

I like this method for very thin parts if the part is not too long. A variation I have done is to take a flat board and super glue some thin shims to it. The shims are the same thickness as the finished part, and are glued in a pattern that the part can fit into to hold it still.

This can be refined by making sure the shims create a running surface wider than the plane, and adding a fence to keep the plane going over the same area every stroke, which prevents the shims being planed thinner with each part. This can make quick work of getting a consistent thickness on a bunch of small thin parts. I used this to make a bunch of Christmas stars a few years back.

[Mike Holbrook]

I think I found the "iron planing stops" Stan mentions finding on Schwarz's Lost Art Press site. Page 150 of Schwarz's recently revised book on workbenches has a picture of 3-6 of the same stops. Maybe Schwarz had some made that became the "models" Benchcrafted used. Maybe Peter Ross made Schwarz's or at least influenced them. Schwarz certainly has a habit of reviving "older" technology, particularly regarding bench design & fixtures.