Even in a contemporary workshop filledwith power tools and timesaving devices,it often is more practical and convenient toperform some woodworking tasks, suchas final fitting of joinery and detail work, atthe workbench using hand tools.

Since temporarily relocating with myfamily to a two-bedroom apartment indowntown Washington, D.C., I’ve em-braced this notion to the extreme. My shophere, tucked into the corner of one of thebedrooms, consists of my bench andmy most essential hand tools. Just asimportant is a collection of benchhooks that I draw on regularly,which are capable of performing arange of tasks, including cuttingsquare and mitered ends as wellas fine-tuning miters and ends toperfection. Even in less extremeshop conditions than mine, these benchhooks are indispensable tools.

Beyond the basic bench hookIn its simplest form, the bench hook is aplatform that can be held steady against aworkbench for performing tasks such ascrosscutting and handplaning. A hook onthe underside of the platform fits over theedge of the bench and keeps the platform

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Expand your workbench with versatile bench hooks

S TA N D A R D B E N C H H O O KThis bench hook excels at holding stock whencrosscutting as well as handplaning. An extensionarm adds support for long stock, and an auxiliarydeck can be used for planing thin stock.

Hook one end over the workbench. The benchhook makes easy work of cutting the shoulder on atenon (above). The step on the edge of the benchhook provides a true and square surface to guide abench plane for trimming the end of a board (right).

An auxiliary deck raises thin stock. Asolid-maple shim reduces the height of thestop block to accommodate thin stock.

TASKS FOR THE STANDARD BENCH HOOK

Platform, maple,7⁄8 in. thick by 81⁄2 in. wide by171⁄2 in. long Hook, 7⁄8 in. square,

sits in a 1⁄8-in.-deeprabbet.

Planing step,3⁄8 in. deep by2 in. wide

Dust trap, 1⁄8 in.deep by 1⁄8 in. wide

11 in. between hook and stop block

Auxiliary deck,11⁄8 in. thick

Stop block, 1 in. thick by13⁄8 in. high by 61⁄2 in. long,sits in a 1⁄4-in.-deep dado.

Extension arm,7⁄8 in. thick by13⁄4 in. wide by13 in. long

steady as forward pressure is applied. A stopblock on top of the platform, perpendicu-lar to the edge of the bench hook, supportsthe work while it’s being cut or planed.

The bench hook I favor expands on thisbasic design. On the right side of the plat-form I cut a wide rabbet that serves twofunctions: First, it protects my workbenchfrom being damaged when I use the jig tocrosscut material with a backsaw. Second,it guides a handplane when the benchhook is used as a shooting board. I use thisfeature often to square and true up endgrain after crosscutting.

The bench hook is handy for workingtenon shoulders and cheeks, but I get fur-ther use from it with a thick auxiliary plat-form, which raises the worksurface toabout 1⁄8 in. below the planing stop. In thisconfiguration I can plane small, thin piecessuch as loose tenons or splines.

I also have a second, narrow hook, whichI use with the standard bench hook to

by a buildup of sawdust between the jigand the plane.

Two bench hooks for mitersI prefer to cut and fit small bits of moldingright at the bench. The precision thismethod affords is hard to beat: It cuts downon trips across the shop floor to the mitersaw or tablesaw; and I’ve found it to be thesafest way to handle small and fragilepieces of molding. To make perfect mitersconsistently, I use a pair of bench hooks: amiter block for rough-cutting, and a mitershooting board for fine-tuning.

A miter block is a version of the benchhook designed to guide a sawcut at a 45°angle in two directions. It serves as a simpleversion of a miter box. I made mine of solidalder. On the miter block, the hook andstop block are attached to the platform witha dado, similar to the standard bench hook.

There’s only one secret to the miterblock, and that’s setting the 45° kerfs in the

steady long stock. Both hooks arethe same thickness, and the stop on the nar-row hook is set the same distance from theleading edge as it is on the standard hook.

Use solid, stable materials—Because Iuse the bench hook so often in my day-to-day work, I made it from 7⁄8-in.-thick hardmaple, which is relatively stable. For largerbench hooks you might consider usingthicker stock. Quartersawn lumber is ideal,if available, because it’s more stable thanplainsawn stock.

I also cut dadoes in the platform wherethe hook and the stop block attach, to en-sure that they hold steady and remain per-pendicular to the edge of the platform.

I find one other detail about my benchhook useful. I cut a small groove in the in-terior corner of the planing step to collectsawdust that accumulates when trimmingwith a plane. The groove eliminates po-tential inaccuracies that could be caused

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M I T E R B L O C KDesigned for rough-cutting miters, the miter block is a combination of a bench hookand a miter box. Forward pressure keeps it steady on the bench while the workpieceis held tight against the stop block, and the sawkerfs guide the sawblade.

Rough-cut miters. The miter-block bench hook is con-venient for cutting small pieces of trim or molding.

Platform, ash, 7⁄8 in.thick by 61⁄4 in. wideby 12 in. long

Hook, 7⁄8 in. thick by 7⁄8 in.wide by 12 in. long

Rabbet, 1⁄8 in. deepby 7⁄8 in. wide

Stop block, 13⁄4 in. thick by 2 in. tall by 12 in. long

Stop-block dado,1⁄4 in. deep by 13⁄4 in. wide

Sawkerfs

fence to guide a backsaw. Lay out the kerfswith pencil lines and cut them by hand witha backsaw. Just make sure that the kerfsaren’t any wider than the blade on thehandsaw you plan to use with the jig, orsloppy miters will result.

Miter shooting board finishes thejob—Cuts made at the miter block generallyare rough. So I use a second bench hook—a miter shooting board—to tune miters to aperfect 45°. I made mine from two stackedpieces of 5⁄8-in.-thick Baltic-birch plywood,which is relatively stable. I glued a strip ofhardwood in the location of the planingstep, which allows me to true up the jigafter construction without having to use ahandplane on plywood.

Like my other workbench accessories,the shooting board is designed to hook the

board. Any material that extends into thepath of the plane will be trimmed off. Holdthe stock snug against the fence, and passthe plane over the stock with repeatedstrokes until it stops cutting.

Other tips for using a shootingboard—To keep a plane cutting smoothlyon a shooting board, apply wax to all of theworking surfaces of the plane and benchhook. It also is important that the plane’sside be perpendicular to the sole and thatyou tune up the plane correctly for the task.Align the plane blade parallel with its sole,and adjust it for a light cut. Always makesure the side of the plane is firmly regis-tered on the planing step.

When trimming harsh end grain, whichtends to dull the blade rapidly, dampen theend grain with water prior to planing. �

edge of the bench during use. However, itrequires a hook on both ends because thejig is designed to be reversed for trimmingmiters in opposite directions. My shootingboard sits on the bench at a tilt, which isn’ta problem; however, you can make it longenough to straddle the bench.

Two fences set at 45° (together forming a90° angle) are secured to the platform withglue and screws. Care should be taken toensure that the fences are accurate, be-cause they serve as a reference for all sub-sequent cuts made at the shooting board.

A step rabbeted into the edge of theshooting board, as on my standard benchhook, is used to guide a handplane. It alsohas a small groove for dust accumulation.

When using the miter shooting board, Igenerally align the layout line of the miterwith the end of the fence on the shooting

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M I T E R S H O O T I N G B O A R DSawn miters often require fine-tuning. That’swhere the miter shooting board comes in handy.Two 45° fences made of hardwood support theworkpiece as it is trimmed with a jack plane.

Planing step, 3⁄8 in.deep by 2 in. wide, israbbeted into thehardwood insert.

Platform, 11⁄4 in. thick (twopieces of 5⁄8-in.-thick Baltic-birchplywood) by 7 in. wide by 24 in. long

Dust trap, 1⁄8 in. deep by 1⁄8 in. wide

Hardwood insert, 5⁄8 in.thick by 21⁄4 in. wide

Fences, 1 in. thick by 11⁄2 in. wide, glued andscrewed to the platform at45° to the planing step

Hook (one on each end),7⁄8 in. thick by 1⁄2 in. wide,is glued and screwed tothe underside of theplatform.

How much shouldyou cut? Any mater-ial that extends be-yond the stop blockwill be trimmedaway. Use your lay-out lines as a guide.