I need a decent workbench with holddowns, and I see the traditional workbenches have a single row of dogs while others have a double row. Intuitively, it would seem that a double row would be better. What say you?
Boris
“Sir, I may be drunk, but you’re crazy, and I’ll be sober tomorrow” — WC Fields, “Its a Gift” 1934
Replies
My homemade bench has a double row. The front row is used for sticking or planing narrow stock. Both are used for planing larger panels. I would go with the double.
Boris,
If I had my druthers.....two rows one on each edge...with a veritas that spanned the width of the bench on one end. That way when the grain went the opposite way I could plane from the other side of the bench ..
Boris
Double... triple.... the more you got, the more versatile. May never need em, but you already got em if you do.
sarge..jt
Proud member of the : "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
"the more you got, the more versatile." Boris' next post: "Workbench collapse, too many holes?" You're settin' him up, aren't you Sarge? LOL!forestgirl Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>) -you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
FG........ shame on you..... as if Sarge would do such a thing....
He's just making it multi role.... doubles as a downdraft table...
;)Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
"doubles as a downdraft table." ROFL!forestgirl Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>) -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
FG
"Ask not what you can do for your work-bench, but what your work-bench can do for you".
How many holes are enough? Same as clamps, one more than you'll ever need. You've obviously never seen a "Swiss" work-bench have you? :>)
I can't believe your laughing at me and you've got the whole Wallace Clan from Scotland joining you. This is a sad day indeed. I'm considering recluse, but will just take a nap on top of the holes on my work-bench instead. With any kind of luck, I'll be able to forget this whole disturbing incident by morning. ha..ha.. ha..ha..ha..
sarge..jt
Proud member of the : "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Edited 11/26/2003 12:03:25 AM ET by SARGE
What about the Carl Sagan designer special, with "beeliuns and beeliuns" of holes?! ROFL!forestgirl Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>) -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
FG
The more holes, the less amount of water that will stand on top if your shop roof leaks. In Switzerland leaky roofs are very common. That's why they use a lot of holes in cheese, work-benches, etc. Not quite sure of the number you metioned as it's beyond my range of fingers and toes. Sounds like a lot though.
:>)
sarge..jtProud member of the : "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Sarge,
why is FG in Switzerland? when is she coming home? is she on her honeymoon? careful of that cheese..don't want to get bound up on your honeymoon....lol
BG
Seeking neutrality.....
Not sure, perhaps after her watch is fixed.....
No....
Have to agree about the cheese, but the swiss has holes in it to help alleviate that. Another reason for "mo holes".
:>)
sarge..jtProud member of the : "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
You two are..........TOOOOO FUNNY!forestgirl Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>) -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Heyyyyyy.... gimme a break Sarge...I was sticking up for you......
Ahem...
Honest.....!!!!
;)Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
Mike
Hey, you best be nice. I got a few friends in the "Black Watch". If they even thought you were "picking on me" they would probably fly down and ruffle up HRM's grass on the lawn at Buckingham Palace with prop blast from their assult heli-copters.
Come to think of it, I probably shouldn't have told you that. With all this detente stuff, you just can't have any fun anymore. ha..ha...
sarge..jtProud member of the : "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
hang on.....hang on.......it'll come to me...
if I....... then you'll.......
ummmm...... Queenie....????
<thinking cheese is gonna come back into this any second now.....
I'm far too sober to make sense of this.......... but I'll work on it...
Slange Vaar....
Ohhh... nearly forgot..
re Black Watch...
perhaps I should mention that your contacts depend on my old Corp to keep their toys functional....
<formarly 33 Platoon B Company 2nd Bn REMEMike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
Mike
Just attempting a "poker bluff", if it doesn't work we just move on to the next hand. There is no sense to it, I just babble a lot after I eat the large meal we have here on the "Thanksgiving" holiday.
It's even worse on 4th of July when we celebrate "Independence Day". HRM probably gets more than her lawn ruffled then. More like "ruffled feathers" over the loss of the Colony. Hey, should have known better than to burden us with the heavy tax and allow no representation. Royalty probably had to take a 10% pay cut on that little blunder. ha..ha..
Regards...
sarge..jtProud member of the : "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
It's even worse on 4th of July when we celebrate "Independence Day".
I can well imagine.... We used to have one of them, time upon a once. The "Act of Union" put pay to that.... Typical huh..?.. fight like hell for centuries to win independence only to give it away....
But that's politics I guess...Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
Boris,
A double row, by all means. This is not a prejudice I have just because my bench has two rows. I actually have reasons:
If you have an odd-shaped bit you need to plane or do whatever, you can wedge it between two dogs across from each other, and then clamp it in place with another dog or two in the end vise.
If you need to saw something with one end sticking out over the bench's front edge, you can clamp it between two dogs across from each other and one or two more in the end vise. That way the board cannot pivot the way it could if it was held against only one dog.
More elegant than above, you can use only two dogs that are off-set so that the stock cannot pivot.
In a pinch, with proper cauls and waxed paper, you can use the bench as a glue-up clamp.
There are lots of other things that are made easier with a double row of dogs that I'm blanking on right now. One thing though, hold-fasts can be made to do many more wonderful things using two rows of holes. (This is also advice to obtain at least two hold-fasts.)
Alan (who still maintains that W.C. did not utter any variation of that Churchillian quip)
I am just finishing building a bench. I put 4 columns of holes and 11 rows - 44 holes in all on the benchtop. They are on a 6" grid, which I drilled with a home made template, as accurate as I could get them. My front vise has 1 dog hole and my end vise has 2.
If I make my bench stops accurately, too, I'll be able to use 2 of them in a perpendicular arrangment to clamp up square caabinets and the like.
It did take a while to drill all the holes through a 2 1/2 inch top.
Bill
Alan wrote: "(who still maintains that W.C. did not utter any variation of that Churchillian quip)"
Which Churchillian quip was that, Alan?
--
Lee in Cave Junction, Oregon;
Gateway to the Oregon Caves
To a fellow breaktimer:
Boris, my bench is an MDF top with four rows the length of the table, 3 sheets of MDF 2' x 6' and a veritas twin-screw vise on the end. I've been using hardwood dowels for dogs but am sick of them dropping through the holes when tension lets off. So going to a specialty woodworking supply store this afternoon after some finish and have decided from your post to get myself a couple nice dogs. thanks for getting me thinking...
remodeler
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