Bench Build - Dog Hole Distance from Front Edge

[cputnam]

Most of my bench top will be soft maple. I am going to use hard maple for the leading edge and want to get a handle on how much to get. The centerline of the HNT Gordon tail vise is about 5/8" from the outer edge of the casing. Add another 1/4" for the top cover and you get 7/8" needed for the vise. There needs to be some wood left on the outside of that so it does not blow out. All of which means that I can get close to the front edge of the bench.

The primary use of the tail vise will be simply holding boards and panels in place for face planing. I have dreams of making moldings but may never get there. HNT Gordon recommends a distance of 75 mm (2.95") which seems somewhat excessive to me. His reasoning is that one would want to use the bench as a shooting board. I can see me wanting to do that but the direction is awkward for a R/H Veritas shooting plane - although any bench plane could be used. The general recommendation is to get them as close to the front edge as possible. I have not looked up CS's thoughts yet. I am not aware that Woodnet wisdom has ever steered me wrong.

How far in are your dog holes and is there a specific rationale for that distance?

Your thoughts will be much appreciated.

[Large Wooden Badger]

I have rectangular dogs but I would say the center of my dog holes are probably about 3 inches from the front of the bench.

[jerry s]

Most of my bench top will be soft maple.  I am going to use hard maple for the leading edge and want to get a handle on how much to get.  The centerline of the HNT Gordon tail vise is about 5/8" from the outer edge of the casing.  Add another 1/4" for the top cover and you get 7/8" needed for the vise.  There needs to be some wood left on the outside of that so it does not blow out.  All of which means that I can get close to the front edge of the bench.

The primary use of the tail vise will be simply holding boards and panels in place for face planing.  I have dreams of making moldings but may never get there.  HNT Gordon recommends a distance of 75 mm (2.95") which seems somewhat excessive to me.  His reasoning is that one would want to use the bench as a shooting board.  I can see me wanting to do that but the direction is awkward for a R/H Veritas shooting plane - although any bench plane could be used.  The general recommendation is to get them as close to the front edge as possible. I have not looked up CS's thoughts yet.  I am not aware that Woodnet wisdom has ever steered me wrong.

How far in are your dog holes and is there a specific rationale for that distance?

Your thoughts will be much appreciated.

mine line up with the dog holes in the tail vise, their probeley 2" in from the edge. i just finished making a english bench, im going viseless on that bench it more of a assembly bench its 3" taller than the european style bench i made 20 years ago. i cant see as well as i use to thought the taller bench might help some times.   jerry

[Bill_Houghton]

My original line of bench dogs - still there in the benchtop - were about 3-1/2" from the front edge of the bench because the metal vise I was using as the tailvise had 7" wide jaws, and the dog was in the center, so, well, that required dogs in line with it.  There were times, working on narrow boards, when this was too far back.

I installed LV's inset vise (this one) last year, but haven't wound up working on any projects that required a tailvise, so I haven't even gotten around to boring the new dog holes; but, when I do, they'll be more like 2" from the front edge.  I'll see how that works out, and what new problems it creates.[url=https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/workshop/workbenches/benchtop-accessories/66819-veritas-inset-vise][/url]

[5thumbs]

[attachment=21979]I built a modified Benchmade split top bench (see pic). The dog holes are about 5" from the edge, in line with the wagon vice. So far, they seem to work well.

[Cooler]

There are many diagrams on line:  https://www.google.com/search?q=bench+to...66&bih=654


and

https://www.popularwoodworking.com/ameri...ers-bench/

You will have to do some math to derive the distance from the edge.

[cputnam]

There are many diagrams on line:  https://www.google.com/search?q=bench+to...66&bih=654


and

https://www.popularwoodworking.com/ameri...ers-bench/

You will have to do some math to derive the distance from the edge.

I am probably reading your drawing incorrectly, but since total bench width is not given nor is the width of th tail vise, I do not see how I can compute the distance from front edge to centerline of dog hole strip. The spacing between dog holes is an entirely different issue.

[identity_crisis]

Mine line up with the middle of a crappy small end vise. It allows me to use the ctr vise dog in line with the bench dogs. I measured and its about 3 inches from the bench edge. I was told years ago on this forum to keep it approximately in this distance to allow for skinny boards to the edge.

While I’ve not had much time to woodwork recently- when i use them its quite natural - so the logic I received early on seems sound

Andy

[Philip1231]

Front edge of bench to centerline of dog: about 2-1/4"




[attachment=22000]

[Brent V.]

The centers of mine are 2 3/8" from the edge of the bench and directly in line with the dog on my tail vise. This placement has served me well.