Question of the Decade. Benchdog holes, Round or square

I use round ones. Mine are 3/4” but if they were a tiny
bit bigger Festool accessories would fit them.

3/4” holes accept 3/4” shank bolts, Veritas wonder dogs,
and other stuff too.

Square dogs are easy to make I guess… and they’re traditional.

The big issue I have had with bench dogs is it’s really hard
to hold thin stock for planing with them. If you make your own
wooden square dogs you can set them flush with the face
of the board and plane/sand off the tops of the dogs as
you go.

I went with round on my bench. Loren is right square holes aren’t hard to make if you plan ahead, but round holes are breeze. I also wanted to use traditional holdfasts, so I went with round. I bought Veritas bench dogs. There are more options if you go with round.

-- http://theinquisitivewoodworker.com/

You know, I have been wondering the same thing…. I can’t wait to see how this turns out :)

-- "Everything that is great and inspiring is created by the individual who labors in freedom" -- Albert Einstein

I use round and I’picked up some Link Pins from a tractor supply They are round and have a 7/8” ring toward the top. You can them put a wooden block on the top that is curved or flat that will match up to the piece of wood that you need to hold.

Here are the ones that I use from tractor Supply called SpeeCo Top Link Pin 3/4×2 3/4 in 3 Point. Price is $2.29 each

You can use a screw into the slot to hold on your block.

-- I've been blessed with a father who liked to tinker in wood, and a wife who lets me tinker in wood. Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

Round. The nice thing about the round versions is you can cinch down on odd shapes, round, hex, etc. Square ones demand some other solution to be useful in such situations.

always,
J.C.

-- "Imagination is more important than knowledge" -- Albert Einstein

Round, you just use dowels to make wooden dogs. Theres a post on one of the areas about making dogs with bullet catches to help hold them into the bench.