Nothing in my shop is more useful or attracts more attention when I teach woodworking classes than the sharpening-stone holder that I use every time I sharpen a chisel or a plane iron. After being frustrated by stones shifting around as I honed cutting edges, one day I solved the problem by nailing together this variation of a bench hook. It holds sharpening stones firmly in one place, and it also keeps my bench cleaner.

The base of this setup is a pine board, long enough to hold the stone and its case. I angled the front end to 85 degrees to make it more comfortable to use. I’m right-handed; a left-handed version should angle away from you in the opposite direction.

Two dowels locate this holder in a couple of bench dog holes and keep it from shifting off the bench as I hone the edge of a cutting surface. As an alternative hold-down technique, you could simply clamp the fence in a vise.

Drawing: Jim Richey