>Bench Stop Review
- 2011-02-07
- By Mark Rhodes
- Posted in Uncategorized
>This is a short review of the little adjustable metal bench stops, that I fitted to my bench three years ago. These are a very reasonably priced accessory, if I remember correctly, they were about £5 each. They are made from Alloy, so you do run the risk of nicking your plane blade, although I never have. When I first saw them, I thought they would be a good solution to my problem. When I first made my bench, I didn’t think to make provision for any mortices for wooden bench dogs at the time. This was very short-sighted of me to say the least. So these seemed like a perfect solution, its just a matter of routing them into the bench top, and you are ready to use them.
The maximum height that these will open up to is 12mm, this is just not enough. Sometimes you need much more than this, like for holding stuff. The holding edge is a bit like a razor blade, so you always need a cramping block. When you use a cramping block, because its only held at the bottom it has a nasty habit of slipping when you plane anything. If you use a piece of mdf or softwood, the razor sharp holding edge will split your cramping block when you apply pressure. There is no provision for using them for pulling work-pieces apart either. I have tried really hard to make these work for me for the last three years, however I now cramp work-pieces to my bench instead, and these bench dogs are now not used at all. If you are thinking of buying these, they have very limited uses, I would suggest you don’t.
>My boss has some of these on his bench he rarely uses them for the same reason you dont. Also these cut trhough skin rather well should you catch you hand on them. Other than that a good but poorly executed idea
>They are indeed truly dreadful, and if you forget you have one up, you can nearly write off any finished piece they come into contact with.