Bench Hook for Holding things in Place.

   Newman specials wood work posted a Youtube 

 shorthttps://www.youtube.com/@NewmanSpecialsWoodwork/shorts on a clever type of bench hook.  There are other short videos on the page but the bench hook is one that caught my eye.

  

  My square, at this time does not have a track in which to run but that may well be next.  I like the idea of this bench hook for planing and certain types of assembly.  I made my hook/square from elm as it is strong and I have a bunch of short boards handy.  The thick cross piece is pine instead of elm.  Elm as well is being strong is heavy and when the thick rail was elm the jig needed to be held down or is would tip off the bench.

  In making the jig I cut a dado for the right angle piece first.  I then used glue and dowels to hold it in place.  My rule with jigs and fixtures is no metal fasteners when they can come into contact with blades of any type.  The angled cross piece is held in place by pocket screws but they are on the back, well out of the way.

At this time I will just clamp the jig to the bench.  This will let me see if it works as well as I think it shall.

cheers ianw

Finished Mini Work Bench

My mini bench clamped to the big bench in my vise. 

  Just about the time I decided it was time to design and build another small work bench I found a piece of a Workmate leaning against a tree awaiting the weekly pick up. The piece of workmate is not real wood but....it does have all of the dog holes pre-drilled and I have a Workmate in the garage so have all the dogs and clamps designed to fit already.

  Construction of my bench involved a 2 x 8 and long screws. While the benches in my last video were used to support hand planing most of the heavy planing in my is done by machine.(you knew I have a hybrid shop). My bench needs to provide support for cross cutting, shooting and edge sanding as well as assembly of small parts. 

Bench hook on the mini bench.

  You can see that the mini bench has two legs beneath it providing support against side ways forces. Holding up the end of the bench hook is a blue box in which I keep the various dogs and clamps to be used on my mini bench.  I made the box to be exactly the correct hight to support the end of my bench hook and shooting board.

  Now I am going to take toy makers bench and my standing bench apart because this latest effort fills my needs better and takes up less space in my shop when not in active use.

  cheers, Ian W