Metal Planing Stops?

[Luke Dupont]

Does anyone use them? And, if so, what are your thoughts comparing them to dogs?

I'm speaking of the type that usually either knock up/down, or have some kind of screw mechanism, and usually have metal teeth. I don't see many people talking of them, or demonstrating their use, so I was curious.

The metal teeth seem to be a double-edged sword; I could see how they would be great for holding the wood down when dimensioning rough lumber, or before you've made your final cuts, but surely you don't want to mark up your work in many cases? I suppose you just put a small piece of wood in front of it when that's the case?

Does anyone still make/sell these? What styles are available, and what do they normally go for?

I'm deciding what to do with my bench, and I think I want to go with a very minimalist setup. I won't have an end vise, so an extensive dog system is not really necessary. I was thinking of just going with a few holes for my hold fast, a planing stop of some sort, and a small front vise. I have, of all things, a canvas hanger with teeth that looks like it would make a neat makeshift stop - I may just screw it to my benchtop temporarily to see if I like the concept and want to get a permanent one.

[Richard Line]

Lee Valley has several items that may be of interest to you. Look under the 'Bench' category. More specifically they have a metal planning stop with teeth - http://www.leevalley.com/US/Wood/pag...48&cat=1,41637

I have and use their brass dogs, and some plastic dogs from Rockler and elsewhere. Hold fasts of course are handy (understatement). Check out the use of a doe's foot batten with holdfasts and planning stop for work holding.

[Luke Dupont]

Lee Valley has several items that may be of interest to you. Look under the 'Bench' category. More specifically they have a metal planning stop with teeth - http://www.leevalley.com/US/Wood/pag...48&cat=1,41637

I have and use their brass dogs, and some plastic dogs from Rockler and elsewhere. Hold fasts of course are handy (understatement). Check out the use of a doe's foot batten with holdfasts and planning stop for work holding.

Awesome! Thanks. That's exactly the style of planing stop I was looking for, actually. A lot cheaper than I thought they'd be, too!

[James Waldron]

Another source, at an even better price: http://woodworker.com/flush-mount-be...p&searchmode=2

It looks like the same product as the LV entry above.

[Kirby Krieger]

I'm aiming for a metal-free bench. Battens, Notched-battens, a good planing stop, a Nicholson slot-stop, simple round dogs, bench hooks, holdfast holes places in line with the planing stop, holdfasts, and a circumferential apron seem to provide all the work-holding I need, though, caveat lector, I'm a beginner.

I use the planing stop, often with a batten perpendicular to the front of the bench and anchored by the the planing stop, a holdfast shaft, and the holdfast, optionally with a Notched-batten held by another holdfast, for nearly everything. It's all I need for going from rough-cut lumber to S6S, unless the width is much taller than my planing stop (in which case I use the apron and a sliding "Siemsen-style" hook (a/k/a "crochet"). I have no vises.

I do modify my notched battens in a way I haven't seen (and that I think is much improved over the Schwarz-approved 3M-skid-stop mod): I glue foam mesh (a/k/a rug padding, a/k/a router piece holder) to the underside of my Notched-battens; they don't slip.

Proof-of-concept, which works so well I haven't upgraded:

[Kenneth Fisher]

I'm aiming for a metal-free bench. Battens, Notched-battens, a good planing stop, a Nicholson slot-stop, simple round dogs, bench hooks, holdfast holes places in line with the planing stop, holdfasts, and a circumferential apron seem to provide all the work-holding I need, though, caveat lector, I'm a beginner.

I use the planing stop, often with a batten perpendicular to the front of the bench and anchored by the the planing stop, a holdfast shaft, and the holdfast, optionally with a Notched-batten held by another holdfast, for nearly everything. It's all I need for going from rough-cut lumber to S6S, unless the width is much taller than my planing stop (in which case I use the apron and a sliding "Siemsen-style" hook (a/k/a "crochet"). I have no vises.

I do modify my notched battens in a way I haven't seen (and that I think is much improved over the Schwarz-approved 3M-skid-stop mod): I glue foam mesh (a/k/a rug padding, a/k/a router piece holder) to the underside of my Notched-battens; they don't slip.

Proof-of-concept, which works so well I haven't upgraded:

I'm gonna have to steal that idea from you, very nice thinking!

[Kees Heiden]

I made one myself. It's just a tapered square "nail" with the end hammered flat and bend over 90 degrees. The hard part is making the corner square.

Planestop.jpg

With hindsight, I should have made it wider. The board still swivels very easilly around this stop. So it takes a bit of care to always plane in line with the stop. Of course it leaves little dents in the ends of all the boards, but it gives good positive grip, much better then just a single wooden benchdog. This way of working is also pretty fast, you don't need to crank endvises up and down like when you clamp the boards between dogs. You just drop the board on the workbench, shove it into the dog and start planing.

When the ends of your boards are in sight you can just leave the evidence, like they did back in the middle ages. Or you make the boards a little longer and cut them to size later. In reality, many project boards end up somewhere inside a joint and then it is no problem of course.

Edit: When you don't do blacksmithing yourself or you don't have a blacksmithing friend, I have seen people use a nit of sawblade fastened to the end a large oak peg like this. You do need to fasten it very well though, it takes quite a beating and nails and screws in endgrain are not so secure.