Newbie question re workbench dogs and holdfasts

[John Clark-COLORADO]

In a relatively soft workbench top (i.e., solid core door), is it possible/practical to use bench dogs and holdfasts? Could they be useful without stretching the holes and racking? Is there any way to reinforce the holes, e.g., inserts of some kind, or a hard wood inlay?

I'm building a basement workshop and just finished a quickie weekend workbench project. It's a variant of the bench project in August Home Publications' "The Complete Small Shop": stout, stiff base made of lapped/screwed/glued 2x4s, topped with a 30x80 solid door. (I know... in this forum, that's a laughable excuse for a bench, but I need to bootstrap with *something* to give myself time to see how I use it and what I'll ultimately want in a better bench.) I'm just getting into WW and would like to keep my mistakes on the less expensive side...

John

[Chuck Hamman]

John,
There's nothing wrong with the bench you built. If it's relatively flat, has some weight to it, and doesn't flex when your doing heavy work on it that's all your after. Everything else is just pretty. If you want to beef it up around the dog holes I would just screw an oak or maple strip on the underside where the holes will be located and drill down through it all. You don't need very many holes to be functional.

Happy woodworking,
-Chuck

[Glenn Madsen]

Here's the other thing: It takes a bench to build a bench. When (and if) you build a beauty bench, the one you're finishing now will be very useful in the construction.

I built my bench, very much like yours, about 8 years ago now. I MIGHT sturdy up the base a little bit, but otherwise...

[Wendell Wilkerson]

John,

Your bench sounds exactly like the bench I first built. I made mine from a Woodsmith article. I have never had any problems with mine moving around or flexing. It's plenty heavy.

I never put any dog holes in mine because I wasn't sure how they would hold up. Does anybody what is typically used for the "core" of a solid core door?

Wendell

[Frank Martin]

I did glue in copper sleeves in my plywood top (4 layers of 3/4") workbench for the same reason.

As suggested you can first increase the depth by adding a layer of hardwood below where you plan to drill the dog holes, then drill the dog holes and glue in copper sleeves (cut from copper pipes from your local hardware store).

Of course all of this assumes you are interested in round dog holes, which I prefer because of all the accessories available for it, especially those from Lee Valley.

Good luck!

In a relatively soft workbench top (i.e., solid core door), is it possible/practical to use bench dogs and holdfasts? Could they be useful without stretching the holes and racking? Is there any way to reinforce the holes, e.g., inserts of some kind, or a hard wood inlay?

I'm building a basement workshop and just finished a quickie weekend workbench project. It's a variant of the bench project in August Home Publications' "The Complete Small Shop": stout, stiff base made of lapped/screwed/glued 2x4s, topped with a 30x80 solid door. (I know... in this forum, that's a laughable excuse for a bench, but I need to bootstrap with *something* to give myself time to see how I use it and what I'll ultimately want in a better bench.) I'm just getting into WW and would like to keep my mistakes on the less expensive side...

John

[Randy Klein]

I have a solid core door bench with dogs and haven't had any problems.

[John Clark-COLORADO]

Thanks for the helpful (and quick!) replies. It would appear that a solid core door benchtop needn't preclude the use of dogs and holdfasts. The door was under $50 new, so it's a good platform to experiment with, and easy to replace if/when I make a mess of it...

John

[John Schreiber]

You won't have any trouble with dogs. Holdfasts are more demanding and might require building up the bottom and or making a hardwood insert.

Congratulations on the bench. Any bench is better than no bench and you'd be surprised by the beautiful things you can make on the ugliest of tools.