Yesterday evening I spent a very happy few hours making a couple of bench hooks. Bench hooks were my first project in woodworking class some time when Queen Victoria was on the throne and I’d forgotten just how important they are. After all kinds of contortions trying to hold some small pieces of wood still for accurate cutting I decided to use a couple of pieces of hard maple to make two of them – small but with two if made the same you can use them spaced apart for longer pieces. I also wanted one of them with a lower hook for possible small parts planing as well. This is how they ended up. I found a piece of amazonian rosewood to make the “hooks” on one of them and also used it to fill the end of the dado that I used to set in the hook. Fun to do, very quick and easy to make and unbelievably useful. Next project will be a shooting board along the same lines
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…and I still havent figured out what to do with the bits left over. If I leave it there long enough I’ll think of something.
Trees, Tools and Granite 