# No bench? No problem



## pendledad (Sep 5, 2012)

I just stumbled across these pictures and I though I'd share. During my Japanese saw horse project all I had to work on was a shop bench and an old workmate. I needed to do some planing, and I couldn't get a setup that was sturdy enough.

So I remember reading the Toshio odate book about how they would just slam a board into a wall or huge stump to provide a planing beam.

I did the same thing here. Clamped a 2×4 in the workmate and pushed it up against the wall. Then I used the plastic dogs to hold a plane stop… it actually worked pretty good.

Not a bad solution until I have a real bench with a vice.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

pretty creative


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## MikeyLikesIt (Nov 22, 2012)

that is awesome and your timing is uncanny as I too am without a bench at the present!! Thanks for posting!


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## jusfine (May 22, 2010)

those workmates never die, I still have one I purchased about 35 years ago…


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## pendledad (Sep 5, 2012)

The best part is this workmate was my grandfather's. My dad passed it down to me… lol … instead of heirloom planes & chisels, we roll workmate style in my family.


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## bernwood (Aug 19, 2010)

Yea - somewhere in the "workbench smack down" LJ thread, some guy didn't have a workshop or bench so he used his porch as his shop and the rail as his bench. Thought it was very creative.


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## Wdwerker (Apr 14, 2012)

I clamped a planing stop to a clients deck railing and used my block plane to shave down a small board.


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## bandit571 (Jan 20, 2011)

is this the railing you remember?









I have since moved to another locale. The back porch on the old place was even covered with it's own roof!









A nice. solid 2×4 rail. Just about anything could be clamped up on it.


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## bernwood (Aug 19, 2010)

If you posted those pics in "work bench smack down", they would be the ones. I'm impressed by what folks can do when they have nothing, as a matter of fact, that make do bench impressed me more then the real fancy benches I can't tell you anything about.


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