# Bench Dogs



## hiswillus (Jan 24, 2013)

Just ordered me a Draper 45233 from Amazon and it's on it's way. Getting prepared for my bench dog set up. I'm a noob and been using only clamps for a couple months now and sooo look forward to having my work piece actually stable while I'm working on it.

Just opening up this for discussion and tips from anybody that has wisdom to offer in this area. I noticed that the guys "Get started in Woodworking" from Fine Woodworking set up there starter bench with the vice as a face vice with the dog holes running away from the worker along the short side of the bench. Does anybody know why they did it this way or what the benefits of this way might be opposed to putting the vice on the side of the bench and running the dog holes along the long width of the bench. I can only assume they want the length of the bench to suport a long board when necessary with a peg in the far leg.

Also does anyone have any tips for keeping a plum hole when you don't have a drill press.

Thanks,

Jeff


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## Kreegan (Jul 10, 2012)

Most likely they did it that way to support the smaller work that a lot of beginning woodworkers will do, like boxes and small shelves and such. When I built my bench, I did dog holes in a kind of L shape, with 2 rows parallel to the front of my bench and 3 rows going up the right side aligned with my face vise. This has worked very well for me thusfar.


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## woodworker59 (May 16, 2012)

You got the right idea with the square, now just add a mirror that you can place so that you see the side of the drill opposite you.. then use the square and the mirror to keep it straight.. I ran my dog holes the length of the bench… It allows me to hold work of almost any length.. I also have a leg vise on the front of the bench and placed a couple dog holes in the side of my top so that I can put a long dog in the hole to support the other end of the board for planning the edge.. I made all my own dogs, so it was easy to make a few that were long enough to use for this task.. you can do the same thing with a dead leg, but the dog holes work great and were much easier and less time consuming.. Have fun, stay safe and keep your tools sharp.. Papa


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