• About Jim
  • Carved Toolchest

Jim the Chairmaker's Blog

~ hand made chairs, boxes, and other furniture

Jim the Chairmaker's Blog

Tag Archives: Patternmaker’s Vise

Too Many Dog Holes?

Featured

Posted by jimmy_acanthus in hand tools, woodcarving, woodworking

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Dog Holes, Gunstock Carving Vise, Patternmaker's Vise

image

One thing you learn as a woodworker is that what is good for somebody else might not be good for you. Alternately, what works for you might not work for another person. Take my chairmaker’s bench that I built roughly a year ago already, I love the bench. I modified a design from woodworker Drew Langsner and incorporated some other features. After seeing the storage compartment on a Chris Schwarz bench, I added one to mine. I like having a storage compartment underneath. I would have liked to build the whole bench longer with an end vise/tail vise, but I had space constraints. The trick with the hinged storage area underneath is you don’t want to store things on top of it. Dah. In particular, I love having all the dog holes through the bench top. I’ve heard other woodworker’s complain at different times that they don’t like benches with that many dog holes. That’s when you hear that a bench top looks like Swiss cheese, but my response so don’t have them. Having that many dog holes works for me and I like them. My clamping needs and preferences are clearly different than yours if you only need less than 10 dog holes. Even my Ulmia carver’s bench which has two rows of square dog holes has 30. It might not look as esthetic for others to have 30 plus holes, but as a practical woodworker I appreciate the capability. Whether it is making a spoon, fabricating chair parts or holding a woodcarving, I want those clamping options. When I invested in the Veritas twin screw vise, it made all the holes that much more important. Don’t get me wrong, some day I’ll build a thick Roubo bench with dovetailed legs, wooden threaded leg vise, and a nice tail vise, with significantly less dog holes. I don’t plan to do it for awhile though. Other than having a fastener or dust fall through one of the many dog holes on my current chairmaker’s bench, the benefits for me far outweigh the disadvantages.

What is an exciting new addition to my chairmaker bench is that I now have a WoodRiver Patternmaker’s or Gunstock Carving Vise. If you don’t have one, it is sweet for holding anything higher on the bench. I just used it to trim some tenons on some dining table aprons. All it takes to mount the vise is to find a dog hole to attach it anywhere on the bench. Options for changing orientations of stock are there. How cool is that? Like some others, I confess I drooled a little over the elegant Benchcrafted Carver’s vise, but I simply couldn’t afford the cost. Nor could I find the time to build a similar carver’s vise from scratch right now. If you’ve looked you know that there are some nice designs for building a vise for above the bench top clamping. Other than the lower part being cheaped out on the Woodcraft carving vise, by using stamped steel instead of cast iron, I am quite happy with the new vise. Replacing the light weight base with something heavier is one of the upgrades I’ll eventually make.

Woodcarver's Vise

Woodcarver’s Vise

Woodcarver's Vise

Woodcarver’s Vise

Since woodworking is such a broad application, I am glad for being blessed to do it. Whatever the interest level a person has in woodworking, there are numerous publications out there that can feed you with inspiration, new knowledge, and offer project ideas. To that end I have enjoyed Popular Woodworking Magazine for years and it was Fine Woodworking Magazine before that, but let’s face it our tastes change and publications change. I’m a currently a subscriber to Popular Woodworking, but I find other woodworking magazines also helpful at different times. The fact is that we have many opportunities to share woodworking information through magazines, blogs and websites, to take a class, to buy a DVD, or to watch a video clip on YouTube. What’s growth for me though has been to focus on my experiences of hand tool work in the moment. I find that my just doing the activity of woodworking gives peace, provided the performance goals are kept reasonable. If you read contemporary spiritual leader Thich Nhat Hanh sometime, you’ll get the idea that savoring our experiences is key to finding joy and contentment. Perfectionism can hold some of us back from the enjoyment part and if that is our experience sometimes, then think about using mindfulness as a way to keep the fun in woodworking. I won’t define it here, but suffice it to say that it involves greater appreciation for what you are doing as you do it. If your shop time gets squeezed in with all the other priorities, or you succumb to feeling some pressure to accomplish a lot on a free day, then enjoying the experience in the present tense may help you as well.

Advertisements

Share this:

  • Google
  • Twitter
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Websites/Blogs

  • Black Swamp Windsors
  • Early American Life Magazine
  • Fiske and Freeman
  • Jennie Alexander’s website
  • Marham Church Antiques Site
  • Mary May's Carving
  • Milan Village Arts School
  • National Norwegian-American Museum and Heritage Center
  • New England Journal of Antiques
  • New Sweden Centre in Wilmington, Delaware
  • Norsk Wood Works, Ltd
  • North Dakota Council on the Arts
  • Peter Follansbee, Joiner's Notes
  • Peter Ross Blacksmith
  • Scandinavian Heritage Association
  • The Society of American Period Furniture Makers
  • Windsor Chair Resources
  • Wood Carving Magazine and Woodworking Crafts Magazine
  • Woodcarving Illustrated Magazine
  • Woodworker's Journal Magazine

Categories

  • 17th Century Oak Furniture
  • Ale Bowls
  • Antique Woodworking Tools
  • Campaign Furniture
  • Carved wooden spoons
  • chairs
  • Foot powered lathe
  • foot-powered scroll saw
  • Furniture
  • hand plane
  • hand tools
  • Handmade Molding Planes
  • Handmade Windsor Chairs
  • Handsaws
  • saw till
  • sharpening
  • Tables
  • tool restoration
  • tool sharpening
  • Uncategorized
  • Victorian
  • Windsor Chair Experts
  • windsor chairs
  • woodcarving
  • woodworking
  • Work Bench
  • workbench

Pages

  • About Jim
  • Carved Toolchest

Calendar

February 2019
M T W T F S S
« Jan    
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728  

Top Posts & Pages

  • Drill Press for a Chair maker
  • A Restored Stanley 360 Mitre Box
  • Chairmaker's Bench Project
  • Tail Vise Tale
  • Homemade Frame Saw

Earlier Posts

  • January 2019
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • April 2017
  • February 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • July 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • August 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • October 2011
  • August 2011
  • March 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2009
  • October 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008

Blog Stats

  • 57,353 hits
Advertisements

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
%d bloggers like this: