Hello to all on the porch!

My name is Eric Cooper and I kind of backed into woodworking about 2
months ago.  We were cleaning out my grandfather's
mostly-metal-and-general-all-around-putzing shop and two of the items I
obtained were a box of Disston & sons Assorted needle files and a
smallish metal-working vise.  Well, what good is a vise without a
workbench, and rather than buy one at the big-box store, I decided to
build one myself.  A quick google search led me to the (new-to-me) world
of wood-working benches.  These were not what I had in mind to mount my
vise, but I started thinking--always dangerous--that a woodworking bench
would be kinda cool.

So here I am about 1/2 through Bob Key's beginner bench and having a
blast!  Just lurking here on the list has helped my in many ways, and
I'm sure I'll have many questions as I move along on the bench.

I do have one question:  What size do most people make their bench dog
slots?  Just by eye-balling it seems to me that a rectangular shape
would work best and I have laid out 1" wide (side to side) by 3/4" deep
(front to back).  Any problems?

Thanks again,

Eric Cooper
Columbia, Missouri
ecooper@c...

Or make your own a la Garrett Hack's article in the current FWW

--- Mark van Roojen  wrote:
> Welcome Eric!  My advice is to buy the dogs and size to fit. 

Steve - Kokomo galoot

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At 08:07 PM 3/12/02, Eric T. Cooper wrote:
>I do have one question:  What size do most people make their bench dog
>slots?  Just by eye-balling it seems to me that a rectangular shape
>would work best and I have laid out 1" wide (side to side) by 3/4" deep
>(front to back).  Any problems?

Welcome Eric!  My advice is to buy the dogs and size to fit.  When I made 
my bench I thought they were 3/4 inch or thereabouts.  When I scored some 
at a couple of flea markets I found I was wrong.  Using my Dad's milling 
machine to Mill them down to fit the slots was a lot of work.  Better to do 
it with dogs in hand.

best,

Mark

Mark van Roojen
Department of Philosophy
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
1010 Oldfather Hall
Lincoln, NE 68588-0321
(402) 472-2428 (w)

Home:
POB 83836
Lincoln, NE 68501-3836
(402) 4383724  (h)
Webpage: www.geocities.com/mvr1.geo/

or      www.mvr1.com

Hello Eric :-)

I have a wooden bench dog on my current bench and I had a similar
one on my last real bench. Both were about 1.25" square and made
of strong hardwood (latest one is from Eucalytus Regnans an
 Australian tree sold as Victorian/Tasmanian Ash, KD Hardwood, etc).

I pokes up through a hole adjacent to the front, left leg of the
bench. It has a 3/8" slot that rides over a coach bolt and a large
flat washer and a wing nut enable adjustment of its height.

Peter Williams            | Tel +61 3 5279 7456
Network support/Webmaster | Fax +61 3 5279 7414
Hendersons Industries     | peter.williams@h...
PO Box 4 Nth Geelong 3215 | http://www.hendersons.com.au/
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Eric T. Cooper
> 
> My name is Eric Cooper
Snip
> What size do most people make their bench dog slots?
> Just by eye-balling it seems to me that a rectangular shape
> would work best and I have laid out 1" wide (side to side)
> by 3/4" deep (front to back).  Any problems?
> 

Welcome Eric, I too am rather new. I like the hardwood bench dogs. Easy
to make, cheap, work well, and easily replaced, cheap. I think I've got
my point across.

-Jay Who's going to wait on the flea market journey (too cold for good
stuff to show?!)and start concentrating on the antique shops (a little
more scary).

-----Original Message----- From: Mark van Roojen [mailto:msv@u...] Sent:
Wednesday, March 13, 2002 03:01 PM To: ecooper@c...;
OLDTOOLS@www3.law.cornell.edu Subject: Re: New Bio & Bench Dogs

At 08:07 PM 3/12/02, Eric T. Cooper wrote:
>I do have one question: What size do most people make their bench dog
>slots? Just by eye-balling it seems to me that a rectangular shape
>would work best and I have laid out 1" wide (side to side) by 3/4" deep
>(front to back). Any problems?

Welcome Eric! My advice is to buy the dogs and size to fit. When I made
my bench I thought they were 3/4 inch or thereabouts. When I scored some
at a couple of flea markets I found I was wrong. Using my Dad's milling
machine to Mill them down to fit the slots was a lot of work. Better to
do it with dogs in hand.

best,

Mark

Mark van Roojen Department of Philosophy University of Nebraska -
Lincoln 1010 Oldfather Hall Lincoln, NE 68588-0321
(402) 472-2428 (w)

Home: POB 83836 Lincoln, NE 68501-3836
(403) 4383724 (h) Webpage: www.geocities.com/mvr1.geo/

or www.mvr1.com

The appropriately last-named Eric Cooper wrote:

>So here I am about 1/2 through Bob Key's beginner bench and having a
>blast!  Just lurking here on the list has helped my in many ways, and
>I'm sure I'll have many questions as I move along on the bench.
>
>I do have one question:  What size do most people make their bench dog
>slots?  Just by eye-balling it seems to me that a rectangular shape
>would work best and I have laid out 1" wide (side to side) by 3/4" deep
>(front to back).  Any problems?

Yes - you have a serious problem. You have been bitten by the bug, and there
is no cure. Congratulations, and just move a little bit more over this
way... that's it... a bit more - right here where the ground sort of starts
to angle downward away from you here. Wait a minute - just dip the soles of
your shoes in this grease - there you go. Now inch forward just a bit...
right, like that. We'll all give you a gentle shove, and the really cool
thing is, we'll also all be waiting for you with some black and tan at the
bottom!

- Bill Taggart
- On the road in Hartford, CT