Secure a board to be planed.

[Trainee neophyte]

I love the idea that you have built a shiny new bench, and now don't want to hurt it - that is so me. I think the best solution is just wait - eventually your bench will be an old friend, and you can abuse it as much as you like at work, and it will still buy you a pint in the pub afterwards.

 

[Nigel Burden]

My bench is a rough boarded affair, but I planed flat, a board about a foot wide by about two foot six inches long to plane on. I screwed some screws in one end as a stop. This has now evolved into a more complicated affair with a series of holes bored lengthways and diagonally to take short pieces of dowel. I can then use a piece of wood in the vice to secure one edge of the piece to be planed with wedges between the dowels and work piece holding the other side, and the end resting against a couple of dowels. The board has two larger holes bored through the centre and is secured by cut off broom handle into corresponding holes bored in the bench. This holds the wood securely. I do not have any holdfasts and have no use for them as I can use a clamp if necessary. Instead of holes, to secure the board to the bench, a piece of baton fixed on one edge could be used to secure it in the vice.

For thin stock I revert to using the screws at the end of the board.

Nigel.

 

[MusicMan]

Nigel

I think you have reinvented the Roman workbench (see Chris Schwarz's books and YouTubes). Nice!

 

[thetyreman]

I was the same when I first built my bench, depends how you work but if you do a lot of sawing entirely with hand saws in the vice it's inevitable that there will be a few saw marks near the edges of the apron, I don't really worry about it anymore as it's basically a hobby for me, I found that stopping worrying about it make me enjoy it a lot more, the more I build the happier I get.