Simple Workbench Dogs

In this video I make some simple dogs for my workbench.  

Before I started, I wasn't sure I'd need/use them, but fancied giving it a try - and now they're installed I haven't stopped using them

I started with a scrap of oak that was around 33mm square which I'd use to make the dogs.

I picked the back left hand corner of my workbench for a few reasons - I have access to the underside of the worktop in this area, it's also in a good position to plane/sand etc, and finally it's out of the way of the main surface area of the worktop.

I started by drlling 30mm holes through the worktop with a forstner bit in my drill.  I drilled a few more holes with and then chiselled out the rest of the material until I had a square hole to fit my piece of oak. My worktop is plywood which wasn't the easiest thing to chisel, but it worked OK.

Once the dog fitted the hole, I then mounted an offcut of plywood to the underside of the worktop with woodglue and brad nails to cover half of the square hole. Then I inserted the dog, and made a pencil mark from underneath. 

I cut away 5mm in from the bottom of the dog and halfway through the workpiece on the bandsaw so that the bottom of the dog fits in and protrudes below through the plywood mounted to the bottom. With the dog seated fully in the hole, I then drew a pencil line around where the dog was flush with the worktop surface, and cut all the way through the workpiece with the bandsaw.

The dog can then be used by pushing it out from underneath, rotating it 90 degrees, and re-inserting so that the dog sticks out around 5mm from the top of the worktop.

I ended up adding a second dog level with the first one which will be useful for working on wider boards.

This was a really simple project that only took a couple of hours and has been a really good addition to my workbench.