# Drilling dog holes in new bench



## botietruck (Oct 31, 2009)

I am finishing the top of my first workbench. I am using scrap lumber and materials that I have recently collected. The top consists of a solid core wood door cut down to size and a layer of 3/4" white oak flooring glued, screwed and walnut plugged to both sides of the door material. It is just under 3" thick. Can some of you folks tell me what you used to drill your dog holes? I had a fellow to tell me he used his plunge router with some type of a straight cut bit. I could use my forsner bits, but I'm not sure that would be the best way. Any thoughts/ideas?

Thanks, Bob


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## Rick Dennington (Aug 27, 2009)

Greetings Bob: The best way I can tell you to drill the holes is with a spade bit. I presume they will be 3/4" standard size holes. If you drill all the way through, the spade bit does the trick. I've built 5 benches, and I built a jig to drill dogholes to keep them all lined up. You could use a router and a Forstner bit, but I don't think I would. The spade bit will do the trick. Once the holes are drilled, put a 45 degree chamfer bit in your router, plunge it in the hole about 1/8", and go round and round a couple of times . Makes a nice clean chamfered hole. Hop this helps…....... keep on keeping on.


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## TheDane (May 15, 2008)

A 3/4" router bit long enough to do dog holes is not cheap. Unless you have other uses for it, I wouldn't invest that kind of money in a router bit you may only use once.

My benchtop is 3 1/2" thick, built with kiln-dried Douglas Fir. In my experience, spade bits can produce a lot of tear-out so I started each hole with a 3/4" forstner bit, drilling in about a 1/2". I used a drill guide to make sure I was drilling in at 90-degrees.

I then clamped a 2×4 across the underside of the bench to serve as a backer board and switched to another drill with an Irwin 3/4" auger bit. It made a mess of the backer board when it punched through, but the holes in the benchtop were clean on both sides.

With all of the holes drilled, I chucked a 45-degree chamfer bit, set the depth to just a skosh under 1/8", and did as Rick suggested.


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## Rick Dennington (Aug 27, 2009)

Dane: You are dead-on right on the tear-out with the spade bit, if you use solid or plywood. My bench is 3" thick MDF glued and screwed, and with the doghole jig I made, I had no tear-out at all. I'm like you-the reason I didn't suggest the router bit was the cost, plus maybe only using it once for this job. I have a 3/4" bit, and very costly. I thought of an auger bit, but I didn't have that size….. lol. But the chamfer looks good…


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## Pimzedd (Jan 22, 2007)

Rick,

Did you really intend to say a router and a forstener bit? Or did you mean a router or a forstner bit? A forstner bit in a router is probably an accident waiting to happen since forstner bits are not designed to spin as fast as most routers run. Of course most forstner bits probably will not chuck up in a router.

Just don't won't a newbe to try something that sends them to the emergency room.


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## botietruck (Oct 31, 2009)

Thanks for the input guys!! I think I'll start the holes with my forstner bit and then work with the spade bit maybe. But not to worry guys, I would not try to use a forstner bit in my router. I do appreciate the concern Bill. You guys are great!


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## Pimzedd (Jan 22, 2007)

Just wanted to make sure that no one reading would misunderstand.

I was in a shop when a guy put an auger bit for a brace and bit in a drill press. He turned it on, bit bent sideways, ripped open his palm.

Safety rule - Always use the correct tool or machine for the job. (One of my 15 general safety rules from my days as a shop teacher.)

Merry Christmas Bob and everyone.


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## TheDane (May 15, 2008)

I was using the Irwin #49912 Power Drill I-100 Auger Bit


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## gizmodyne (Mar 15, 2007)

Hi,

I started my holes with a forstner and ended with a spade bit.


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## Rick Dennington (Aug 27, 2009)

Greetings pimzedd: Whew--- glad you caught that! NO, I did not mean to use a Forstner in a router. I meant to say(clerical error) he could use a Forstner chucked up in a hand-held drill, or use a 3/4" bit in a router and drill the holes that way. Sorry for the misplay on words. You're right, don't want anyone hurt cause of mis-understanding. Thanks for catching that error. I appreciate it…...........Sounds like he's got it covered, and on the right track.


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## AbeLow (Nov 14, 2007)

Subject covered-- except it would be great if the holes would be drilled leaning about 2 degrees toward the vice.


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## chriswright (Nov 13, 2008)

The Lee Valley round bench dogs don't call for any lean, their square ones do though. Any drill bit should be fine, forstner, twist, brad point, etc. I've drilled a set on a drill press. You'll need a buddy or a stand for help.


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## JimDantin (Nov 26, 2009)

I'm building a bench from LVL - based on the Woodworking Magazine Gluebo. I'm going to try to use a Forstner bit chucked up in my Sherline milling machine. I will remove the head and column from the Sherline's base and temporarily mount the column to a piece of hardwood, MDF, or aluminum that can be clamped to the workbench. I'll use some sort of guide rail to help position the rig. The vertical feed and precision alignment should make for a nice set of dog holes.

I haven't tested this idea yet-I certainly will before actually drilling into the bench top!

Has anyone tried this approach?


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## JimDantin (Nov 26, 2009)

What did you use to do the drilling and hold everything square?

I already have a set of forstner bits-the brad point bit would certainly work well, but why do you think it would did a better job than a forstner?


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## Taigert (Nov 20, 2007)

That 3/4" Forstner bit would be some thing else at 25,000 rpm, down right scarry,


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## JimDantin (Nov 26, 2009)

No responses on how you guys aligned the dog holes so that they are perpendicular with the bench tops-does EVERYONE just rely on calibrated eyeballs? A plunge router with a 3/4" bit will certainly work, but what else has proven to be practical?


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## Eric_S (Aug 26, 2009)

I used a 2" long 3/4" straight bit with 1/2" collet in a plunge router which cost me around $40 I believe. Not the easiest thing to do with a straight bit and I burned a lot of the inside of the holes but don't really care since its just a workbench.

I lined up all the holes by making a square 1/4" hardboard template with a circle cut into it for the router to sit snug. I marked on the outside edges of the template where the center of the router was. I then drew two straight lines across the workbench and just lined it up with the center marks on the template and worked my way down. The first line across the workbench was lined up so that the template could sit at the edge of the workbench and the center of the template would sit on the line. The second line was done by aligning the bottom of the template to the first line. Clamping the template down helps too. I did this after following a video on fine woodworking that shows exactly how to do it but I can't seem to find it now. At least I think it was from FW.


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## Uncle_Salty (Dec 26, 2009)

I used a piece of 4×4 scrap from a deck project to align mine. I chucked in a 3/4" spade bit in the drill press, used a backer board under the scrap, set the fence, and drilled the first hole all the way through. I then measured the distance I wanted the dog holes apart, marked and drilled the second hole in the 4×4.

I then screwed a piece of scrap plywood to the bottom of the block and screwed a piece of scrap parallel to the 4×4 to the plywood on the underside for a fence gauge so my hole would be the same distance from the bench edge as the dog holes on my end vice.

You should consider drilling your dog holes all the way through on your bench. That way you won't have to use a shop vac to clean them out every time you use them or when you drop a screw or something in them. 
I used a 3/4" auger bit in a 1/2 drive drill. The 4×4, plus the 1/2" ply gave me about 4 1/4" guide to keep my auger bit vertical while I drilled out the holes. You'll want to make sure you clamp a backer board to the underside of the bench to help avoid tearout before you begin drilling your dog holes. After I drilled the first hole out, I pulled out the bit and stuck in a long piece of 3/4" dowel with a spring clamp attached to the top (to keep the dowel from falling though) to keep the holes indexed while I drilled the next hole and so on until I was done.

When It was time to drill the next run of holes, I used another piece of scrap ply for alignment, and so on.

The chamfer at the top of the hole is a great idea. I didn't do this, but there is still time! The 2 degree tilt toward the vice dog is also a superior idea. Have to try that on my "Next" bench.


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## cristyrain (May 8, 2010)

Hi Deke, I agree the Colt 3/4" Brad Point Bit is the best choice. I picked it up at Woodcraft and it has great chip clearance, and the tight outside cutting spiral makes it run true. I set up my Zyliss vise per the example that came with it, in the drill press configuration, attached it to a flat foot, clamped it down and it worked perfectingly. The 3/4" bit was the perfect length - when attached to 3/4" plywood platform, the center point just cleared the surface of the bench. Using the squeeze clamps (one above, one below the drill mount) you can exactly limit the depth of cut. I cut horizontal holes in the 3" deep, 2" wide maple edging on my table by hanging the contraption off the side of the table. I screwed a stop block to the bottom of the platform, so each hole was in the same location vertically. Then took off the stop block to use the contraption vertically for the benchtop holes.

Thank you for the information on the bit. At the hardware store I was getting nowhere. The fellow recommended a Speed-Bor bit (ok for electricians wanting to hog through a stud, but it can pull the drill out of your hands and its cutting spiral is long (allowing side wobble) and shallow so it does not eject chips well. He also recommended a 3/4" hole saw. Another bad idea for holes where I'm not going all the way through, it would have ended up with a nice dowel shaped center with no way to remove it unless I chiseled it out. I already had a set of Colts but it did not include the 3/4" size (3/8" shank) and I've used them with very satisfactory results. When the holes were done, they were clean with no burn.

I used a spherical (about 1" diameter) rock to put a 1/32" chamfer on the edge of the holes.


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## revrok (May 1, 2014)

A simple jig or straightedge on the bench with pre-marked and pre-drilled holes would give good alignment. Either a forstner or a spade bit would follow a small pre-drilled hole quite well. I like the 2 degree idea, though a cutback dog like LV's does make it unnecessary.


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## revrok (May 1, 2014)

OK, this might be overkill, but I LIKE overkill! Posted before I finished posting mine… just disregard me! LOL



> Hi Deke, I agree the Colt 3/4" Brad Point Bit is the best choice. I picked it up at Woodcraft and it has great chip clearance, and the tight outside cutting spiral makes it run true. I set up my Zyliss vise per the example that came with it, in the drill press configuration, attached it to a flat foot, clamped it down and it worked perfectingly. The 3/4" bit was the perfect length - when attached to 3/4" plywood platform, the center point just cleared the surface of the bench. Using the squeeze clamps (one above, one below the drill mount) you can exactly limit the depth of cut. I cut horizontal holes in the 3" deep, 2" wide maple edging on my table by hanging the contraption off the side of the table. I screwed a stop block to the bottom of the platform, so each hole was in the same location vertically. Then took off the stop block to use the contraption vertically for the benchtop holes.
> 
> Thank you for the information on the bit. At the hardware store I was getting nowhere. The fellow recommended a Speed-Bor bit (ok for electricians wanting to hog through a stud, but it can pull the drill out of your hands and its cutting spiral is long (allowing side wobble) and shallow so it does not eject chips well. He also recommended a 3/4" hole saw. Another bad idea for holes where I m not going all the way through, it would have ended up with a nice dowel shaped center with no way to remove it unless I chiseled it out. I already had a set of Colts but it did not include the 3/4" size (3/8" shank) and I ve used them with very satisfactory results. When the holes were done, they were clean with no burn.
> 
> ...


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## rwe2156 (May 7, 2014)

Spade bits will work fine if you use a new one with spurs and use them correctly.

What I mean by correctly is get the rpm's up before the blade contacts the wood and it will cut a clean hole.

Try some practice holes.


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## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

No one using a bit brace?


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## boatz (Nov 17, 2013)

Here is what Christopher Schwartz recommends in Popular Woodworking:

Making Holes
Another common question I get is about the best way to make holes in workbenches. I'm partial to a brace with a 14" sweep and an auger bit. But there are faster solutions. Senior Editor Glen D. Huey introduced me to the wonders of using the plunge router, a 3/4"-diameter up-cut spiral bit and an edge guide.

When I have a lot of holes to bore - like on nine benches last week - this is the best way to do it. First plunge as deeply as you can with the router bit. Then finish up the hole with a spade bit.


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## BinghamtonEd (Nov 30, 2011)

> No one using a bit brace?
> 
> - WayneC


That's how I did all of mine, in my DF benchtop. I had a 10" swing brace. I used an awl to make a starting point for the auger, and once the screw tip was in, I eyeballed the bit next to a 6" combination square as I went in. They all work just fine.

A, auger bit will make quick work of a DF benchtop. Just be sure to clamp a supporting piece underneath to avoid tearing out the bottom.


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## BigMig (Mar 31, 2011)

I used a Brace and bit (an Irwin Auger bit) - definitely old-school, but it worked.

To be sure I was close to 90 degrees, I stood 2 try squares on the bench next to the proposed hole and turned…came out great. Absolute dead-on-balls-accurate 90 degree holes aren't needed, in my opinion.


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## rwe2156 (May 7, 2014)

I've also seen Mr. Schwarz promote the use of a spade bit.

He made the point (as I did) that if you get the ones with a spur and get the rpm's up before you enter the wood, you can get a very clean hole.

It's not really that critical to me, because after you've pounded a bench hook in a few dozen times, you'll never know how clean the hole was!


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## canadianchips (Mar 12, 2010)

One of these works.
Or a bench top drill press with bottom table backwards


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