Bench dogs holes, how close to the front edge?

I'm currently in the middle of making a new top for my workbench and was wondering, how close to the front edge are your bench dog holes?

Been googling around and there doesn't appear to be any rule of thumb. Read somewhere its good to have them close (say 1½ - 2") so one can use a fenced plane, but in many photos the holes appear to be ~ 4", some even more. Currently mine are ~ 3¼" and I haven't encountered many problems, but I'm also not using many fenced places... yet... hope too in the future. Others have stated it's good to have the dogs approximately centered on a 8" wide board that you might be aggressively planing.

Thoughts?

Little less than 2". I process all my stock by hand, haven't had any problems holding things down while traversing, as long as the dogs are in good shape. I say get them as close to the front as you can. It's definitely helpful when using a plow.

When I was building my bench, I remember reading Chris Schwarz's advice to put the dog holes as close to the edge as possible. But I had a face vise that I wanted to repurpose as an end vise, and it wasn't practical (with this vise) to put the dog holes any closer than 4" from the edge, so that's what I did. I have always regretted it; in fact, it is really the only thing I don't like about my bench. If I build another (hopefully not for another 15 years or so!) I will definitely put the holes closer.
One thing to keep in mind is that if you're using an end/tail vise, that will partially dictate how close you can put the holes.

Also less than 2" and no issues so far. Also ditto that an end vise is a major consideration. Good luck.

C

In line with the vise screw ;-)

About an inch. The other row is also close in that they are less than 9" from the front row. The only thing I would change when I eventually build a new one is the second row would only be every other hole as I've found these only to act as support. I would not change the front row because I commonly use a plow on faces as well as a #050 with a beading blade. I'm able to secure fairly narrow work with that front row and still have a little off the edge for those planes.

Mine are about 3 inches (maybe less) from the edge, and no complaints thus far from me.

As close as possible. My current bench has round dog holes centered 2" from the edge...in the bench I am currently building has square holes that begin 1" from the edge.

Ok guys thanks for your advice.

1-1/4" or so. So far, so good. I really don't try and kill anything with my vises, but I've put some torque on them In a handful of occasions and it's been no issue.

Without knowing what the rest of your bench look like it is hard to give a good answer. Are you going to have a sliding deadman? If so having dogs very close to the edge will interfere with it. Do you intend to clamp to the bench? Do you intend to do a lot of chopping? You get the idea, I prefer to have the dogs at least 2" from the edge. I've had a second row of dogs on previous benches and can't every remember using them.

There is roughly 1 and 7/8 inch of wood between my dogs and the outer face of my bench. Why such a screwy number ? Because in the real world it is 5 centimeters.

How did I arrive at this ? It is about what Frank Klausz used in his bench in the original one that is in FWW magazine.

As far as centering on an eight inch plank . . .
in actual practice I found no need to center at all. See photos. Bubinga planks, many of them, all planed from the rough with a LN scrub and a LN bevel up jack going full out and I think I had one plank pop out of the dogs but it was my fault. I think the end of the plank was cut at an angle from the supplier and I didn't pay attention.
No problem at all clamping the planks way off center and planing across and diagonal to the grain.
I have found no need for metal dogs or to have a grip surface on the dog. These dogs are purple heart.


http://i801.photobucket.com/albums/y...ps40f4961b.jpg


http://i801.photobucket.com/albums/y...ps1b0d98f8.jpg

Now there is another consideration; planing the edge of a board, jointing etc. I would not want the dogs much further away from the edge than mine are for that type of planing. Note the slot for the planing stop which makes a liar out of me but I put that in because it was in the plans.
Any way for small stuff I just stand the board on edge against a single dog and plane the edge. I don't clamp it with the tail vise or anything else. Huge stuff I might clamp in the face vise and or use a bench slave but for every thing mostly I just put it on top of the bench; even the big 'ol plank in the previous photos. My bench is quite low so that works out great.

http://i801.photobucket.com/albums/y...ps3d52c739.jpg

http://i801.photobucket.com/albums/y...psb2ae9d44.jpg

I am building my bench and couldn't decide how far from the edge to drill my bench dog holes until I read this thread. I am going to drill 3/4" holes centered 2 inches from the edge. That will make them 1 7/8" from the edge of the bench.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gregory McDonald

I am building my bench and couldn't decide how far from the edge to drill my bench dog holes until I read this thread. I am going to drill 3/4" holes centered 2 inches from the edge. That will make them 1 7/8" from the edge of the bench.

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If my math is correct, your dog holes will be 1 5/8” from the edge.

2” - 3/8” = 1 5/8”

I like them close to the edge. If using square dogs, it is easiest to cut the slots in the aprons prior to gluing to the rest of the top and end vise core. Mine have a 1 or 2 degree inward slant.