I’ve finished my new workbench and am eager to start beating it up. It has three rows of round dog holes. The thought of paying some manufacturer for bench dogs seems so twenty-first century, so I want to make my own.
I bought a 3/4″ birch dowel from the hardware store and was chagrined to find that it doesn’t fit through the holes. Then I wrapped some 100 grit sandpaper around the end of the dowel and worked it over the outer ten inches. That part of the dowel now just fits into the holes. I want a snug fit after all, and the dogs will only be about 2-1/2″ long, so I should be OK. I guess I’ll have to sand the entire dowel before I cut it into segments.
Now I’m wondering if wood dogs will be the right choice in the long run. It’s summer so I suspect the dowel is now the fattest it’s going to be throughout the year. Maybe that’s why a 3/4 dowel doesn’t go into a 3/4 hole.
Has anyone been through this? Are the dogs going to shrink in 6 months?
Replies
B,
They may shrink or swell. You can fit a small dowel thru the end of the dog, or mount a cap at one end, or glue a small wedge at one end. Anything to keep it from falling through the hole. I'm eventually going to turn some brass ones - just waiting to hit the lottery so I can afford some brass dowel stock....
-Jerry
Those brass ones will be fine. Good luck with that.
This is so funny, I just stole time to make the dogs for my new bench this morning. Mine are 7/8 holes and what I did was mill stock at between 12/16 and 13/16 square and then put a substantial chamfer on all edges with the TS (before crosscutting) to make a tight fit. After I was this close it was easy to sand/ plane the outermost edeges of the small pieces to fit the way I wanted. Because of the way a longer stick goes through the TS, each dog fits just a little differently, and also some of my holes are not perfectly straight. Over all I am very, very happy with the results. I like this system because it gives my four flat surfaces on each dog to use in clamping without having to cut a special notch in each to provide a flat surface. And they are not square, either, so the won't wear grooves into the mortises or anything. They're a cross between round and square dogs.
I made stopped holes in my bench, which simplifies the dogs even further, though I will have to vacuum them out rather than just letting debris fall through. But that's cool, I love my new shop vac and keep it close at hand. Much, much better than sweeping. My bench is hard maple and the vise handles and dogs are katalox, the most dense wood I have ever had the pleasure of working with. Does any of this seem useful?
Brian
You can purchase small, round bullet catches to drill into the sides of your round bench dogs. They will then exert a little pressure on the sides of the holes in the bench and keep the dogs in place.
I use them on my rectangular dogs, but there's no reason they couldn't be used on a round dog. Then you can make the dogs loose enough to slide up and down easily - rain or shine. It's hit-or-miss making them to friction fit. In the summer they'll be too swollen to move and in the winter they'll be so loose they'll likely fall right out of the holes.
Zolton
If you see a possum running around in here, kill it. It's not a pet. - Jackie Moon
Zolton,
I suspect you're right about the seasonal changes. My goal is to have them fit in without having to force them, and to cap them off on the top so they don't fall through in the winter.
b52,
I don't think mine have shrunk but the holes I use tend to be used repeatedly and they may have enlarged a bit, not sure. At any rate, I cut up some half inch stock into 2" squares, drilled 3/4" hole in the middle of the square and glued in a short piece of dowel. I then cut on bandsaw to provide 1/8", 1/4", 1/2", 1" thick stops.
Well, I made six of them today and I made them exactly as you did. The tops are 3/8" thick and square. I beveled two sides of the tops about 4 degrees to grip the work.
b52,
Great, sounds like your ready to hurt some wood.
You might want to use that left over dowel for the dead man...
OK, what's a dead man?
b52,"OK, what's a dead man?"A pictures worth a thousand words, when you hit the home page here...there is a workbench with a dead man to support long stock while planing on edge...look below the top. http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/
Edited 7/3/2008 1:10 pm ET by BG
I guess I'm the dead man for not knowing the jargon. Yes, I think the dowel idea will work nicely for this. I was wondering if I was going to go through the effort of making Frank Klausz's stand, but this idea is more compact.
One more thing to build instead of furniture, but it should be quick.
Thanks.
Looking at the picture on the home page hasn't helped me learn what a dead man is. I don't know what to look for.
Just call me Dumb man.
Hawar,
Story of my life...shortly after I posted that link they changed the picture on the home page, gees. The picture I referenced was of a fine workbench with a dead man attached. A dead man is a piece of stock that is positioned between the underside of the workbench and the floor, usually at the opposite end from the front vise. It has holes in it to accommodate a piece of dowel at various heights off the floor. The purpose is to support long stock that is being edge plane or jointed. It's very handy. Sorry about that.
Thank you! I have one of these and knew its use, just not its name.
Hope you had a happy Fourth.
David
Brian,
Fascinationg technique, to start with square. Thanks for the insight.
The dowels will be fine, any season of the year. I use both round and square dogs, prefer the round. I have a lathe so I made my own round dogs.The dowel part is 3/4" shy and the top is 1 3/8" with a flat spot cut on one edge.
mike
Use a band saw or a coping saw and cut a slot in one end of the dowell aprox 1" long.
Slightly chamfer the sloted end and push the dowell into the bench dog hole.
That's to fit it in if it's tight, I presume? I was able to get the full dowel to fit by switching down to 50 grit paper and sanding it down. Now the six little dogs slide right in. But thanks for the suggestion.
My bench dogs are round cylinder wood with a rubber chair leg tip on one end. The rubber protects what you are clamping and prevents the wood from falling thru the bench hole. I tried crutch tips first but they ae tapered too much. Cheapie rubber/plastic chair tips work perfect.
I wanted low profile dogs so I used 3/8" wood blocks for the tops. I didn't think I could get small rubber caps like that, and there was the wood, so I just cut them up in the shop.
For what it's worth, purchased dowels are rarely truly round - they're not turned, they're cut by forcing stock through a die. That said, your dogs will shrink a fair amount in one direction and not the other (i.e., they'll be more oval shaped than they are now), so they should still be a reasonably tight fit in round holes.
If they give you trouble, one quick and dirty solution is to glue some used-up 220 grit sandpaper along on side of the length. Those will grip even if the moisture content changes fairly drastically.
"...they'll be more oval shaped ..."
I've thought of that. Let's see what winter brings.
I can't remember now if someone else has already pointed this out, but for me, at least, it was necessary to cut a slight wedge out of the face of the top inch of my round bench dogs so that the resulting wedge tends to force the held piece down against the bench.
I found that, if I leave the dogs straight sided, when they are in their loose phase they tend to tilt upwards against the held object and said object lifts off the bench just enough to make me swear.
Mike D
Edited 7/5/2008 5:07 pm ET by Mike_D
I did bevel a 3 - 4 degree slope on the wooden caps of the dogs, and the dowels go completely through the 2-3/16" thickness of the top, so if I get angling due to shrinkage I'm hoping the cap's pitch will keep things down. We'll see.
I may have to live once through the seasons with the wooden dogs to see if they remain faithful to the mission.
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